Big Mack Goes Back: Part 1
Tuesday September 6th
After last years events you will forgive me for being ever so slightly paranoid about hurricanes and their ability to wreck the holiday of your dreams! Let’s just say that in the weeks leading up to our departure I became a rather frequent visitor to the National Hurricane Centres website.
It had already been a busier than normal hurricane season but things seemed to be going our way. Hurricanes Maria and Nate were heading out into the mid Atlantic and I was feeling pretty confident that there would not be a third one before we departed on Friday. Well that was until I checked my computer tonight and to my utter amazement saw yet another little black dot on the NHC map [msneek], just a tropical depression for the moment but the forecasted track took it right over Orlando and made it a hurricane by Friday night.
Well my heart sank and I felt a little queasy, could this really be happening again. I tried to console myself with the thought that if MCO did have to close Friday then surely Icelandair would take us into Tampa rather than cancel, wouldn’t they?
Wednesday September 7th
After a rather sleepless night I was up at the crack of dawn to check the latest advisory. Happily this one had the storm moving more eastward and just skirting the Florida coast. What was frustrating however was that it was moving dead slow and stop as if it was just waiting for us to arrive.
Friday September 9th
Finally departure day had arrived, and after watching Tropical Storm Ophelia toy with the Floridian coastline over the last few days it was now looking more likely that she would start to turn north eastwards and leave us alone after all.
We were all up around 5am and my father and mother in law arrived at 6. We went through the exact same routine as last year and were in the departure lounge at Glasgow buying perfume and sweets before we knew it. I could not resist one last check on Ophelia’s progress so I logged onto one of those internet machines to see what she was up to. When I returned to my family the big smile on my face confirmed that she was indeed heading northeast and shouldn’t bother us in the slightest, so it really was time to wave goodbye to rainy old Scotland and say hello to the sunshine state once again.
After an uneventful flight (and some inedible food!) we touched down in a very wet and very cold Iceland. The trip to the blue lagoon was very good as usual, it was great fun running through the wind and freezing rain in your trunks to get into the lovely warm water of the lagoon…… honest it was!
Before we knew it we were back at the airport and boarding our flight to MCO.
We arrived at MCO around 9pm local time and made our way through the various security checks etc. We emerged on the other side at the dollar pick up point one hour and twenty minutes later. This took us longer than last year simply because we were further down the plane and so further down all of the queues that we had to wait in, still we were in Florida mode now and a few extra minutes waiting were not going to bother us one bit.
Our eight seat MINI van duly arrived and as I had been appointed chief driver for this holiday I took up my position behind the wheel. Driving in Florida does take a little bit of getting used too especially after being on the go for 20 hours and I have to admit to driving like a coffin dodger until I hit the 417, only then did I manage to get above twenty mph!
This year we were staying on Tuscan Ridge and I had gone to town with maps etc before leaving Scotland so I had no difficulty in finding highway 27, however the seven rumbling stomachs demanded food and I did have a little more difficulty finding somewhere that was open. After a couple of trips up and down the 27 we finally stopped at the gas station on the junction with highway 54, they had a Subway sign outside and too our amazement it was open all night, yeehaa!
After stocking up on some essentials like steak and meatball subs, milk and beer we finally headed back up to Tuscan Ridge and put the key in
