PTR/TR: Can't wait to get to Diagon Alley! March 2015

Loving your pre trip report and glad I stumbled upon the US section of the DisBoards since I'm still new here! Can't wait to keep reading!

Welcome RunnerMommyof4!

Not much progress being made here, though we need to "get serious" now! Most of our free time has been spent SHOVELING SNOW. The good news is, by the time we leave, we will be so desperate for better weather that Fl will seem even better!

Dd had her birthday this week, she's officially a 12 year old now. As one of her presents I booked her a mani-pedi to go with the pedicure gift cert dh gave me for Christmas, in two weeks--which is just a few days before we leave. I will have pretty feet! And it's her first time for a spa treatment, so it will be a fun mother-daughter thing. And seeing as she's a tween now (roll eyes and flip hair over shoulder...) I gave her cash for her bday as well--she only spent about $40 and is saving the rest for Fl.

Now that the bday is over, we can start preparing for the trip, maybe get some packing done, get the dog groomed, that kind of thing. We are listening to the Harry Potter books as audiobooks; we borrowed them from the public library and in a way it's even better than reading, because we are sharing the story in all its detail, as we listen together. Jim Dale does the reading, and he's fabulous. We managed to get through Philosopher's Stone pretty quickly, then started Goblet of Fire (because that was the next one we got from the library--out of order, but we already know how it comes out!). Last weekend we all sat in the livingroom for 2 or 3 hours just listening together. We will still be listening in a couple of weeks, and the plan is to listen while we drive to NH.

Sadly, car rentals still haven't come down much. I can see that they are dropping, but sloooooowly.

But we'll get there! I even have a discreet sticky note up at my desk with the countdown.

Have you ever tried carrentalmomma? We seriously get the best rates and we are a business orientated family that travels tons!

I have, runnermommy, but maybe I'm not doing it right! I'm still not finding anything under about $450 for 10 days. I do have a booking for $350 that I am holding on to, but I'd like to see something better...

So, this is weeks later than I planned, but dd and I finally worked on our shirts today. I was planning on doing something like this...http://indulgy.com/post/xsbEHZ8Y51/ravenclaw-from-the-sorting-hats-song but I couldn't figure out how to get an iron on print to work on dark tshirts. Anyway, the freezer paper stencils are looking good...


That's four Ravenclaw eagles and a Gryffindor lion. We'll peel the freezer paper after the paint dries.

Spent a chunk of today breaking up ice in the driveway and front walk...two inches thick. Seriously. The only way we made any progress was with an ice tool that looks like a flat hoe--just a strong blade on the end of a stick. I am SO ready for Florida.

I have been keeping an eye on car rental rates too and I am not seeing any cheaper rates. I am fortunate to have booked a standard for around 200 per week back in Dec otherwise we'd be paying 350 or more. I thought it was SOP for rates to drop about 3 weeks out, but apparently demand is high due to Spring Break.

Just spent 30 mins checking cars again. It's only 9 days out and they are still awful. I have checked daily and nothing has come close to my $350/10 days rate I got months ago.

On the other hand...looks like we get to start the

Single Digit Dance


As long as I can manage NOT to break my ankle on the ice that's still everywhere!

Congrats on the single digits...I'll join you for my 1 week dance

Be careful on the ice...my daughter sprained her ankle the night before our last trip and it's no fun pushing a wheelchair thru the parks although it gave us somewhere to put our stuff during the rides, I do not recommend it.

LOL, Vicki, no, not worth it to have a "chariot". An empty umbrella stroller would be preferable.

And aren't we lucky girls?

You must be sooo excited to be getting out the mess and cold known as "this year's winter in the Maritimes". I feel your pain! My mother-in-law flew from Sydney here to Regina on Feb 10, and she was lucky enough to escape between storms. We had just as much snow here a couple of years ago, so I know what you are going through!

If you have time before you travel, post pictures of how your iron-ons worked on the T-shirts. I am sure they turned out fantastic.

I envy you going now. I wish I were heading south (actually anywhere other than here right now) instead of having to wait until the end of August. We are looking forward to hearing all about your adventures, and how it works out with your niece.

Happy travels!

coastgirl said:

Just spent 30 mins checking cars again. It's only 9 days out and they are still awful. I have checked daily and nothing has come close to my $350/10 days rate I got months ago.

On the other hand...looks like we get to start the

Single Digit Dance


As long as I can manage NOT to break my ankle on the ice that's still everywhere!

Click to expand...

Single digits!!!! Woot, woot!

Your neighbours to the west are SUPER jealous .

So seeing as you asked Livingthedream let me post a couple of pics.

Dd is so crafty. Here are a couple of the things she made this weekend--a snitch and the house score thingies. Ravenclaw of course. They both look good on a necklace but they also will work on the lanyards. (Ds and dh both wanted the house score token, so they'll put them on their lanyards.)

And a sample of the shirts--really fuzzy photo, get that out of my system now! Ravenclaw eagle stenciled on the front (looks a little too much like the American Eagle logo in retrospect, but oh well) and on the back the Ravenclaw description from the Sorting Hat's song.



I'm working on dh's Gryffindor shirt now, and a couple more things in mind. Yes, I should be packing. This is more fun. Play now panic later.

BTW, Molly Weasley is my hero. I'll post another pic later, but I got my hair done yesterday and went Weasley red.

Looks like we'll be there at the same time. We check in on Sunday. Hoping the weather reports aren't right. We want sunshine.

Love your philosophy - play now, panic later! Love it!!! Have fun playing with your imagination!

And your T-shirts are fantastic! I'm not as craftsy as I would like to be, but I really admire the effort others put into these things. I think iron-ons for a T-shirt in the warmer weather is just right - not running around in heavy robes and scarfs and such! We wear those types of things regularly all through winter here in the Great White North! We don't want to be wearing them on holiday in Florida!

I hope you have an absolutely fabulous time with your family, including your "distant" niece, and we look forward to hearing all about your adventures when you return!

And Molly is indeed my hero....she stands up for her brood!! Are your red locks going to be your new avatar??

HM said:

Looks like we'll be there at the same time. We check in on Sunday. Hoping the weather reports aren't right. We want sunshine.

Click to expand...

Ooo, cool. Where are you staying? For how long?

livingthedream said:

Love your philosophy - play now, panic later! Love it!!! Have fun playing with your imagination!

And your T-shirts are fantastic! I'm not as craftsy as I would like to be, but I really admire the effort others put into these things. I think iron-ons for a T-shirt in the warmer weather is just right - not running around in heavy robes and scarfs and such! We wear those types of things regularly all through winter here in the Great White North! We don't want to be wearing them on holiday in Florida!

I hope you have an absolutely fabulous time with your family, including your "distant" niece, and we look forward to hearing all about your adventures when you return!

And Molly is indeed my hero....she stands up for her brood!! Are your red locks going to be your new avatar??

Click to expand...

Livingthedream, your avatar is one of my favourite Molly pictures. I have drafted a "my fav Molly quotes" shirt with that image, but haven't actually made it. I would love one to do one that had "It's the same every year, packed with muggles" on the back and "Not my daughter, you ---!" on the front. (With Molly's lovely face and back of head, correspondingly.) "Yes, dear, it's on the cat" another one of my favs.

We are staying at RPR from 8th-12th.
We stayed at HRH in December. We had such a good time, after looking at other options for spring break, we chose to go back.

So a quick update. ALL the tshirts for this trip are done now. Not including the ones I want to make but have to say "enough" to. Will post pics of dh's Gryffindor shirts and the second set of Ravenclaw ones when I get a moment.

• I wrote up the pet sitter info last night for the Orlando pet sitter. We will drop our furbaby off after we get into Orlando around mid day on Monday. We'll pick her up on Friday when we leave the Universal hotel and move to our rented house. Also checked in with our local pigsitter--she's easy, as she has watched our guinea pigs often, and is a vet tech at our clinic.
• Checked the hotel ressies and booked the roll away for our one big night at RPR.
• Checked in with the house people, paid the extra deposit to bring the dog.
  
• We have purchased everything we need I think too--sealed bags of admissable dog food and dog treats, sunscreen, snacks for the drive, cheap ponchos for rainy days.
• Tonight dd and I go to the spa for pretty fingers and toes.
• After the spa party, I get to lose my zen by dragging a reluctant 14yo to the barber.
• Trying to get things off my plate at work, but that's a losing battle. The good news is, now that I work for a big ol' capitalist firm, I actually got a BONUS that will, coincidentally, be paid out the day we return. First time in my life I've gotten a bonus--have spent most of my career in the public sector, so the tap on the shoulder from my boss this week was a huge surprise.
• Sorting out kid stuff...we still have 6 hrs of rehearsal before we leave on Sunday morning, and a battle to fight with the witchy musical director of the kids' play. (I am the "technical director", which means randomly pushing buttons and hoping for the best--but our musical director is the biggest Diva in the auditorium, actors notwithstanding.)
• Purchased some summer clothes including a backload of shorts for ds, who insists on growing.

I still have to FIND the rest of our summer stuff, especially the shoes/sandals and light jackets. Got to get the house in order, clean out the fridge, change the beds, laundry, etc. Print all the arrangements. Then, you know, PACK. (And I was up til after midnight last night making tshirts. Priorities!!

But oh, there was more snow this morning. And the only way I can STAND it is thinking "this time next week I'll be in shorts. This time next week I'll be in Diagon Alley. This time next week I'll be in the lazy river."

Congrats on the recognition at work!

I am sitting here on the DISboards on my lunch hour dreaming that I can be in a warmer place.

You sound panicky and excited all at the same time! Go with EXCITED! I can't wait to have that same feeling! Enjoy!

You are so close coastgirl!!!
Your ticker says one day left to go. So if you are anything like our family you are running around tying up loose ends that can only be tied up on the last day before a trip. Enjoy the sunshine and have a wonderful time. We are coming up right behind you!

Was quickly surfing the boards as a quick break before making supper, and pigletto's post reminded me that you are GOING TO ORLANDO tomorrow!

Have a fantastic trip, and we want to hear all about it when you get back!

We are here! 8 days in, 3 days left. We are taking it easy at the house today before returning dn to the airport, and just turned on "The Half-Blood Prince to while away the afteroon. I'll start with my notes on the first leg. I won't be able to post pics until I get home, as I didn't bring the micro sim card converter and I've been using my phone.

Monday March 9

So far a smooth trip.

Of course up late with prep Saturday, so working on about 5 hrs sleep Sunday morning. The time change has been confusing as I haven't sorted out which device is showing Atlantic standard at me, Atlantic daylight time (which equals EST!) or Eastern daylight time.

I tried an experiment to see if SWA Early Bird check in gave us an advantage over online check in at the 24hour mark. I paid for EBCI Saturday evening for me and ds, and left dh and dd for 24hr. Sun am right at the mark dd and dh got B5 and B6....and ds and I got B3 and B4! So... Not worth it.

So, boarding passes printed, we are at our local Tim Horton's by 8:25. (AST I think! I didn't reset the car's clock, so I think most of the day we operated on AST...which equals EDT!) With coffee and bagels for all, we hit the highway.

Beautiful clear bright winter morning, no traffic. Playing the last of Chamber of Secrets audio book, then into Prisoner of Azkaban. The sante fe is not nearly as spacious as our old Odyssey, and we have over-packed as usual, but fortunately dh is perfectly fine navigating without a rear window!

Not quite enough sleep but lots of snacks and diversions. Google maps says 10.5 hrs. Gas stops/ pee breaks, lunch at DQ somewhere in New Brunswick. (DQ because of our vacation rule: ice cream every day.

We make the border at about 2:30 by the car's clock. Sunday afternoon and the border was...empty. Like, we were the ONLY car in sight. Which means no wait but also border guards with time on their hands.

Well, we had THE nicest border guard ever. Seriously. Pleasant, polite, asked us the basic questions but none of the complex ones (like, what's in your dog food and where is it made...we worked hard to obey the rules as we understood them but something about crossing an international boundary has a way of making you nervous.

The drive continued pleasantly, with only a few short flurries, clear roads and little traffic. We seemed to be making good time and the kids were actually getting along in the backseat. (I have photo evidence.) I dared to say out loud "we might even get to the hotel early".

That's pretty much when time started to drag, toll booths started to pop up every five dollars... I mean five minutes! And then the grumpies started, and it got dark for the part where we actually needed to be able to read the signs and navigate, and we were no longer early.

Oh well. The first 9 hours went swimmingly, but the next 3 were awful. Tense, growly, whiny. Dd was in tears by the time we got into the hotel room, and swearing it wasn't worth it. Dh was talking about a staycation next year and the dog refused to potty for hours. Ds and I were trying to keep our heads down and wait it out!

We got to the hotel just before 8:30--so 12 hrs pretty much on the nose. Desk clerk p'ed me off (though it wouldn't have taken much) by putting us in the first room off the lobby between two exterior doors, the elevator and the entrance to the pool!

We sent dh off to find food, and settled in. The hotel was generally fine, though the desk clerk also told us on the way home we probably would be arriving too late to get the shuttle and would have to get a cab. So, one of my jobs is to figure out where we're staying on the way home.

Some decent local pizza for supper, a walk around the outside of the hotel for pup, and off to bed. Late again, considering the painfully eary rise for us to be at the airport for 6.