Our Trip 20th April to 4th May 2003

[Biggus]

K4LGB,
Glad to hear that you had a fantastic time, had certain similarities with the trip to Tropicana field - know what you mean about the 'shady' areas around the stadium.......not the kind of places that you would stop to ask directions!! Glad you enjoyed Highlands Reserve - the scoff is not up to much, but the forgiving nature of the course is quite an ego boost. What did you say you finished with dbogey or worse on the last 4 holes? I guess it must have been tiredness - I somehow managed to make birdie on the last despite being in the bunker on the right from the tee - my only one of the day!!
Better go - new job so can't spend all day hooked up

[K4LGB]

Biggus

Yes think I was 3 under level 5s when we shook hands at the 14th green winning 5&4 matchplay against my brother-in-law. Unfortunately, I totally switched off and my driving and putting went all to pot even though my dodgy back held up really well.
According to the scorecard I actually parred the 15th and only bogeyed the 16th but four putted the <100yd par 3 17th (from the fringe) - in the trees on the outside of the dogleg off the tee at the 18th and could only chip out sideways - good layup then overshot the green big-time with a PW and only just caught the scrub before the road then it was downhill from there to a lucky 8! []

Enjoyed the challenge of the scrub land as it was something I had never played out of before but because it was such a young course and didn't have the water to protect it I thought it was a bit too forgiving but I'm sure it will mature up to a decent challenge in 10yrs or so.

You were right about the T-Shirts - great quality and good prices
Cheers
Les

[jpj]

Brilliant report. Thanks for all the info.

I work for a major high street bank, so I am aware of the great amount of card fraud. Unfortunately the US fraudsters are very clever. They clone your card & use it quickly knowing you are English, & won't be back in the UK for a while. You won't usually know any fraud has taken place until your bill arrives. Always wise to watch the shopworkers very closely when handing over your card. Never let them take the card out of your sight. The cloning machines are very small & the shopworker can swipe your card through it if you are not watching them carefully. Your card details are then copied into their gadget & put onto blank cards. I know it sounds unlikely, but it happens.

Fraudsters know not to go absolutely mad with your card details, because you will be using it on holiday, & they don't want you to have declined transactions.

So if your bank stops your card, its better that way, than having to deal with Police, Fraud units etc. Always carry more than one card.





Be careful if someone asks you questions in shops for the purpose of marketing. They may ask you what country you are from

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

The other good advice is to check your credit card statement online whilst you are in the villa so you will spot any dodgy transactions as they happen!

[K4LGB]

I fully agree with John/Sarah - I primarily use my Barclaycard as I have online access to the account and monitor it daily.
As a footnote, my fiance uses my old mobile number and we came back to a message form the Barclaycard Fraud Department so if I had updated them with my new Tri-Band mobile number then it would probably have been less of an issue as we had this phone with us in Florida!
When I spoke to Barclaycard they also admitted that it is best to contact them to make notes on your accounts about dates you expect to be in other countries during normal customer services hours (8AM-8PM) as the reps in the call centres outwith these hours are less than reliable (the Barclaycard Fraud Departments words NOT mine).

I am just putting it down to a learning experience and at least there are no rogue payments on my account - even though I spent about £3k![:0]

Cheers
Les