tony64
05-25-2008, 11:56 AM
Saturday 3rd May 2008
The Crew
Tony Driver and general gofer
Theresa Scrapbook shopper extraordinaire
Peggy (my mum) I’ll go on anything as long as it’s not upside down.
Zena (my aunt) Ditto
We were awake at 5a.m. Really couldn’t sleep and genuinely too excited. So I had a shower and checked the travel report on AA road watch:surfweb: . Good job I did as there was an accident reported on the M3 between Juncs. 3 & 2. This wasn’t too much of a problem as we could go up the A3 which was only about 5 minutes difference.
Theresa got up at 6.00 and we said goodbye to Callum and went to pick my mum and Zena up at 6.45.
I wore an old goofy hat that Callum had brought back from a school trip to Disneyland Paris a few years ago and Theresa had a set of Minnie ears that Carol Foy had given to her at our meet in Cornwall last year.
When the ladies saw us they burst out laughing and it set the mood for the rest of the holiday.:goodvibes
We arrived at Gatwick at 8.00 and left the car with Maple Manor.
On check in we were guaranteed seating together and had been allocated G & H in rows 7 & 8 which was nice to have a window and an aisle seat . The stop to re-fuel had been changed from Gander to Halifax and they had picked up a 2 hour delay.
We had a mooch around the shops and then went for breakfast at Frankie and Benny’s, everybody else had the traditional but I couldn’t resist the Big American; I just had to have my first pancakes of the holiday.
We boarded at 2.00 and the good news was the luggage was light enough for us to be able to fly direct to Sanford, no stop off at Halifax.
The food was the usual airline rubbish and the films were a bit of a waste of time as the people in front of us kept standing up to stretch their legs, blocking the view and the sound quality just about matched the food.
I must admit I couldn’t blame the people standing up as the seats were the most cramped we have ever had on a long haul flight. The person in front of me lifted up their middle armrest and nearly took my knee cap off!:scared1:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/tony1964/floridamay2008a009.jpg
We arrived in Sanford at 6.15p.m. and being near the front of the plane we were able to get off and through immigration pretty quickly. We picked up the luggage , whizzed through Customs and collected our car, a Dodge Caravan 7 seater, and we were on our way by 7.00pm. We arrived at the Sheriton Vistana Resort at 8.00 and checked in to the Courts section, unit 28. They hadn’t been able to put us in Fountains as requested but at least they had put us in the one unit for the 2 weeks and we wouldn’t have to pack all our stuff up and move to a different unit after the first week.:cloud9:
The unit was nice, but not as nice as our Fountains unit.
It still had the WOW factor for Mum and Zena which was one of the main things Theresa and I wanted for them this trip.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/tony1964/floridamay2008a036.jpg
We dropped our stuff in our bedrooms and after a quick look around the condo we went to IHOP for tea. All very nice and a good way to introduce the first timers to American sized portions.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/tony1964/floridamay2008a040.jpg
That's Auntie Zena on your left and my mum on the right.
After tea it was a quick trip to Wal-Mart for a few toiletries and some breakfast supplies followed by bed at 11.30.
The Crew
Tony Driver and general gofer
Theresa Scrapbook shopper extraordinaire
Peggy (my mum) I’ll go on anything as long as it’s not upside down.
Zena (my aunt) Ditto
We were awake at 5a.m. Really couldn’t sleep and genuinely too excited. So I had a shower and checked the travel report on AA road watch:surfweb: . Good job I did as there was an accident reported on the M3 between Juncs. 3 & 2. This wasn’t too much of a problem as we could go up the A3 which was only about 5 minutes difference.
Theresa got up at 6.00 and we said goodbye to Callum and went to pick my mum and Zena up at 6.45.
I wore an old goofy hat that Callum had brought back from a school trip to Disneyland Paris a few years ago and Theresa had a set of Minnie ears that Carol Foy had given to her at our meet in Cornwall last year.
When the ladies saw us they burst out laughing and it set the mood for the rest of the holiday.:goodvibes
We arrived at Gatwick at 8.00 and left the car with Maple Manor.
On check in we were guaranteed seating together and had been allocated G & H in rows 7 & 8 which was nice to have a window and an aisle seat . The stop to re-fuel had been changed from Gander to Halifax and they had picked up a 2 hour delay.
We had a mooch around the shops and then went for breakfast at Frankie and Benny’s, everybody else had the traditional but I couldn’t resist the Big American; I just had to have my first pancakes of the holiday.
We boarded at 2.00 and the good news was the luggage was light enough for us to be able to fly direct to Sanford, no stop off at Halifax.
The food was the usual airline rubbish and the films were a bit of a waste of time as the people in front of us kept standing up to stretch their legs, blocking the view and the sound quality just about matched the food.
I must admit I couldn’t blame the people standing up as the seats were the most cramped we have ever had on a long haul flight. The person in front of me lifted up their middle armrest and nearly took my knee cap off!:scared1:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/tony1964/floridamay2008a009.jpg
We arrived in Sanford at 6.15p.m. and being near the front of the plane we were able to get off and through immigration pretty quickly. We picked up the luggage , whizzed through Customs and collected our car, a Dodge Caravan 7 seater, and we were on our way by 7.00pm. We arrived at the Sheriton Vistana Resort at 8.00 and checked in to the Courts section, unit 28. They hadn’t been able to put us in Fountains as requested but at least they had put us in the one unit for the 2 weeks and we wouldn’t have to pack all our stuff up and move to a different unit after the first week.:cloud9:
The unit was nice, but not as nice as our Fountains unit.
It still had the WOW factor for Mum and Zena which was one of the main things Theresa and I wanted for them this trip.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/tony1964/floridamay2008a036.jpg
We dropped our stuff in our bedrooms and after a quick look around the condo we went to IHOP for tea. All very nice and a good way to introduce the first timers to American sized portions.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/tony1964/floridamay2008a040.jpg
That's Auntie Zena on your left and my mum on the right.
After tea it was a quick trip to Wal-Mart for a few toiletries and some breakfast supplies followed by bed at 11.30.