Prologue is here if you would like to read the background to this trip.
Chapter 1
Thursday August 23rd
So, following the ritual of pre-holiday KFC and watching DVDs the night beforehand we all eventually got to bed and before we knew it the time was 6.30am, the kids got up before they woke up and it was time to head off to Newcastle International Airport.
Flight looked to be on time and again, pre-holiday rituals dictated full English breakfast. The time passed pretty quick and before we knew it we were off on our travels again.
The flight itself seemed to drag a bit but was generally quite uneventful, I tried to watch The Hunger Games on the plane but no matter how hard I try I just can’t get away with watching movies on a plane. We landed at Sanford around 2.45pm local time which I much prefer over MCO as it’s such as small and less busy airport…
We hit immigration which is normally a part I hate – I always feel so guilty for some reason and the staff always seem to take their jobs soooooooo seriously. However, on this occasion we actually got a pretty cool fella – he joked at our inability to complete our immigration form and threatened to keep Jack (my youngest) for the duration and make him clean toilets for a fortnight just for looking cheeky. I didn't quite know whether to joke along with him or just let him have him bit fun. I then imagined me stepping 'over the mark' and being face down on the floor with my hands behind my back in an instant so just let him have his moment.
We grabbed our bags and headed for the Alamo Office. Whilst sorting the paperwork out I was passing the time of day with the clerk and asked about the weather. She suggested we made the most of the weekend as the hurricane was due to hit in two days’ time!!! My heart sank….
Anyways, we picked up our Jeep Grand Cherokee – which I was suitably impressed with – without any issues and headed off toward our villa. Following one of those ‘I should have gone with my gut instincts over road signs moments’ and therefore a ‘slight detour we hit the I4 and headed toward the 192, onto the US27 and arrived at our villa in Glenbrook around 4.30pm
Did the usual villa exploration routine of running round checking every room out (come on, I know you’ve all done it before?!) and we all agreed that it was very impressive. We then headed off to Walmart at Cagan Crossing to stock up on provisions. Got back to the villa, made a quick snack, chilled out for a couple of hours and that was about as long as we could last before our eyelids were coming down like roller shutters…
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