Day 23
All over sudden, our last day had crept up on us. We got up around 9:00, started packing. Graham went to do the laundry so that we could take clean stuff back home. I figured that he would come back so once I was done packing. I had the last bottle of orange cream soda and read for a bit. When it got close to 11:00 and there was no sign of Graham, I checked that we packed everything, grabbed my stuff and headed over to the pool area. The last of the drying had just finished. I packed my clean laundry and then we went to load the car. We left Saratoga Springs for the last time this trip. I was never really sure about this resort, but I did enjoy staying there. Graham commented that he prefers Old Key West and that the corridors look like something that you would find on a council house estate. He did like the room though.
Our next stop was Walgreens near Pointe Orlando. I wanted to get some more EOS lip balms for me and my colleague Helen who was looking after my team. I also wanted to get some Q-tips. Graham stayed in the car while I did the shopping. I got a selection of lip balms, but unfortunately they did not have the ones I really wanted. I had found out during the trip that they now do tinted lip balms, too. When I got back, we drove up towards Sand Lake Road and followed this to our next destination.
We were off to the Florida Mall. In the past, we had always enjoyed this and usually ended up with a fair bit of shopping. This time it was a wash out. I cannot really put my finger on it. I don’t know if it was because the whole Florida Mall is essentially a building site at the moment or that some of the quirkier shops have gone, but this was a huge disappointment and we both came away feeling that this place essentially needs a bulldozer. I did have a look at a few shops, but nothing really caught my fancy.
By that time, we really needed to eat something. We headed over to the food court. This had changed location since we were last there. It is now a much more inviting and brighter space. We got a few free samples. Graham did not fancy anything there. I could have sworn that there were proper restaurants in the Florida Mall in the past, but they all seem to be gone. There were a couple in the food court area, but they were essentially just fast food, too.
So we gave up and headed to the car. As we were driving towards the exit, we finally found a restaurant, which only had access from the outside of the Florida Mall. We decided to stop and check it out. The restaurant is called Buca di Beppo and to say that it is quirky would be the understatement of the year. When we went into the restaurant, we were asked if we had been before. When we told them that this was our first time, we were then given a tour of the kitchen before being escorted to our table. On our way there, we passed the chefs' table that allows groups of people to eat in the kitchen and interact with the chefs. They also pointed out the pope table to us. This is a huge round table with a statue of the pope in the middle.
Once we were seated, our server came with some bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and explained the menu to us. Everything is served family style and there was a huge menu of meat, fish and pasta dishes. We ordered some ice tea for Graham and some Coke for me and then I perused the menu. We decided on Penne al Forno, which consisted of sautéed spicy Italian sausage, prosciutto and pepperoni tossed with ricotta and our homemade marinara sauce, topped with provolone, mozzarella and Parmesan and was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately the portion was huge and the food was very filling so we did not manage to finish this.
I still had not given up on the tinted EOS lip balms. When we headed back to the car, I checked for stockists online. To my delight, I saw that Target is one of them. I had seen Target across the road when we were driving to the restaurant. We took another lap around the Florida Mall and found this soon enough. As we drove there, we saw a ton of restaurants. Still, we were very happy with our choice. When we got to Target, Graham found a parking spot. He stayed in the car while I went inside. I was in luck there. I bought the last three of the tinted lip balms. They had two in one colour and one in another.
Then it was time to head for the airport. We filled up the car and then headed back to the airport. We had not hired a car from Orlando International since our honeymoon in 1998 and at that time the car rental depots were all off airport, which was a bit of a pain. This present set up is a lot better. All major rental car companies are in a big parking structure right at the airport. We just followed the signs for Alamo and dropping off the car took a matter of seconds. Then we headed for the lift, which led us to an underpass to the airport. This really could not have been any easier.
Soon afterwards, we hit a little road bump. We were flying back standby.
Virgin Atlantic had recently overhauled their staff ticketing system, which meant that I was not able to purchase our tickets back until a few days before we were due to fly home. Previously you were not only able to check in online, but they actively encouraged you to do so. With the revamp, this was no longer an option. Unfortunately they seemed to have trouble checking us in at the airport, too. Actually, I don’t think it was the actual check in that was the problem, but for some reason they could not print the boarding passes. It took multiple members of staff and a supervisor to fix this, but eventually they had our suitcases and we had our boarding passes. We were told our seats would be assigned at the gate.
I had a quick look around the two Disney shops and the Seaward shop while Graham looked after the hand luggage. Then we headed through security. This was actually not too bad. We got on the train and headed to the gate. We found some quiet seats near some sockets and settled down. At one stage I headed to Starbucks to get some coffee. Graham had an Americano and I had my last Chestnut Praline Latte of the trip. I checked in online. Normally the Wi-Fi at Orlando airport is pretty good, but for some reason it was quite patchy that day. I still had the option of mobile data on the iPhone, but that was hit and miss as well. Still, most of the time I had a signal on at least one of them. At some stage I downloaded the Virgin Atlantic app so that I could check easily if we had seats assigned.
When I booked the tickets, the forecast for this flight was excellent. I was no longer quite so sure about this when I saw how busy the gate area was. At some stage I checked on when the decision would be made on whether or not we would get on and I was just told they would call us when we had seats assigned. When they started the pre-boarding calls, we moved closer. They had actually already started to board people when I noticed on the app that we had been assigned seats. Unfortunately they were not together, but we were behind each other. I waited to be called and nothing happened. I decided to go up to the gate to check what was going on only to be told that we had not been assigned seats yet. I told the gate agent that we had been assigned seats 20 minutes previously. It took another phone call and another intervention of the supervisor before we had our new boarding passes. By then, they were making the final boarding call. I was not bothered, but just happy that we had made it. The plane was absolutely packed. Little did I know at this stage that my days of flying standby would be numbered and that in a matter of weeks, my life would completely change.
I ended up sitting next to a very nice couple and had an aisle seat. Graham sat with another couple and ended up in the middle seat. They had obviously hoped that by reserving the aisle and window seats, they would get the three seats to themselves. In the end they swapped so that Graham had the window seat. It was a very pleasant flight. Pretty much as soon as we were at cruising altitude, dinner was served. Graham had garden salad, a bread roll, Thai red chicken curry with rice and oriental vegetables. I had pepper beef in a balsamic sauce, green beans and red bliss mashed potato. We both had vanilla cheesecake for dessert.
After dinner, I settled down and watched Me Before You. I absolutely loved that film. This is the closest I come to a regret about this trip. They were showing this film in the theatre on our cruise and I now wish that I had gone to watch it. Still, even on the small film, it was worth watching. After the film was finished, I went to sleep and I slept most of the flight home. When breakfast was served, I played a game for a while until the entertainment was switched off.
Passport control was pretty quick and we did not have to wait long for our luggage. Then we headed to the train station. The stars definitely aligned for us that day. We did not have to wait long for a train either. We were home relatively quickly and after putting our luggage in the living room, we went to bed to get some more sleep. Another wonderful trip had come to an end.
