Miffy2003
<font color=orange>I've got Saratoga Springs - mak
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2003
- Messages
- 12,175
Wednesday, December 8th
After over 2 years of planning, the day finally arrives. I still havent quite finished packing so after dropping the girls off to school I rush about like a whirling dervish throwing things in cases. The weather report is looking quite dodgy so rather more warm clothes are packed than for our usual August trip
I wake Jon up at 10.30 with a mug of steaming coffee and breakfast in bed. Actually, I lie; I just shouted at him through the bedroom door: Wake up, were going away today!! Cant have him getting used to the finer things in life! For those that are raising eyebrows at the callous nature of my beloved resting on his laurels until mid morning while I work hard packing, my conscience makes me point out that he was working until 4 am the previous night.
Time flies and soon its time to pick the girls up from school. Their teachers and friends wish us all a lovely holiday and Christmas. I didnt manage to spot any gritted teeth either so they did a good job
The final checking begins:
Passports? Yep
Tickets? Yep
Hotel confirmation? Yep
Maps? Yep
All other paperwork? Yep
Money? Yep
Credit cards? Yep
Booster Seat?
At which point the phone rings. It is
who is to be our chauffeur to the airport letting us know his ETA is 10 minutes behind schedule. Now he actually is not a pink wobbling Mr Man but he really is called Mr Jelly. His first name is Basil which somehow heightens the amusement we take from his name.
Anyway, Basil arrives at about 1.30pm with Julie and Derek already in tow as he picked them up first. I was surprised when Julie jumped out of the car and insisted she wanted to sit in the back with us all as generally she doesnt travel well unless riding at the front. She assured Basil that Derek was keen to sit in the front with him which again surprised me as Derek is quite hard of hearing and when a cars engine is running he cannot really hear conversation unless it is very loud.
Sidenote here before you all get the wrong idea about me and my family, please be assured we are not the type to normally make such extravagant plans to travel. However, getting 6 people from Exeter to Gatwick had proved a logistical & expensive nightmare:
Coach travel would have involved a long and convoluted journey including a change at Heathrow and an element of bad timing here could mean a delay of up to 3 hours leaving Gatwick and the same at Heathrow. Not so bad on the way out but a nightmare coming back when you are shattered and want to get home. The train was frighteningly expensive unless you prebooked travel there and back (and even then it was still pricey) and you run the risk of missing your train back or getting in too early and having to wait ages. The other alternative was to go by car now my car will only accommodate 4 people on a good day so 6 people plus seven tonnes of luggage was simply not on the cards. Julie and Derek dont drive faster than 25 mph these days in their own car and the furthest they ever go is from our house to theirs (about 7 miles; and they complain this is a long way) so the idea of them on the M25 trying to find Gatwick was Monty Pythonesque to say the least! So an MPV would have had to be hired from Exeter to Gatwick and then back again. The cost of this was also pretty high.
So
was actually a very competitive price between the six of us. There was a payoff to this however.
He was possibly the most boring man I have ever spent 3 ½ solid hours with. Not to mention pedantic. I didnt mind him telling the children to keep their feet off the seats This is a very expensive car you know children and I didnt mind him telling us how to behave in his car Dont put anything in the elastic pockets as you might break them. I didnt even mind the fact that it took him twenty minutes to pack the car to his complete satisfaction and specification. I did however mind when he told the girls Dont undo your seatbelts. It is very dangerous and had to bite my tongue to not tell him that they have travelled in a vehicle before. I also minded being told off for undoing Erins seatbelt after we had stopped as there is a special technique and only I know it.
The reason for Julie putting Derek in the front is that he didnt hear a word of Mr Jellys conversation for the entire trip (and he talked incessantly) but he fakes better than anyone Ive ever heard. Years of practice from not hearing people, I put it down to. He has got the nods, mmms, oh yes? and shakes of head off to a fine art.
We arrived at Gatwick at about 5.30pm after a short break enroute. So keen were we to see the back of Mr Jelly we even refused his offer of help in carrying the suitcases to the Virgin check in desk! Oh well, at least we could pretend to be asleep for the return journey.
Twilight Check In looked pretty quiet and there were only a few families in front of us, but the queue didnt seem to move for ages. I had my eyes peeled for Allie (Allie5) & family and thought I had spotted her check in. I said to Jon several times in a loud voice Look Jon, that might be Allie but then realised the family in question were checking into Upper Class and unless Allie had had a remarkable lottery win she had forgotten to mention to me, it was unlikely to be her. We got checked in soon enough and issued with our boarding passes; we were given our pre-assigned seats. At this point, the family then next to me really looked like Allies photos but having been daunted by my earlier near faux pas I made no loud comments to Jon. Of course, as soon as we met Allie later I realised this lady was indeed her.
We toddled off (and it is literally a toddle) to the Gatwick Hilton to check in. We had two rooms booked for 3 people but the double bed itself was large enough for 3. I needed a roadmap to find my way to the edge the next morning. The Hilton was fabulous for its location but none of the staff seemed to speak English very well. This wasn't really a problem until we realised our room had 3 different people assigned to it, but we got this resolved.
We were all peckish by now so headed off to Frankie & Bennys for tea, where Allie & I had tentatively suggested a meeting to put faces to the (many) emails. Ive had so much fun planning my trip with Allie and it was a real pleasure to finally meet Allie & her family. It is amazing how much fun you can have with someone even without meeting them! We had a couple of quick natters and Amber and Erin introduced themselves to Jessamy & Daniel (Allies children). We were looking forward to seeing them again during the course of the next few weeks for various exciting things including a Wishes Cruise and lunch at the Rose and Crown.
Tea was pleasant at Frankie & Bennys but I was a little (but only a little) disappointed that there were no cocktails on the menu. Our nearest F&B's is 70 miles away so Jon & I can never both have a cocktail and we had been looking forward to this. Never mind, there will be lots of opportunity for cocktails in the next 3 weeks or so! The girls were very disappointed that there was no toilet at F&Bs. One of their favourite parts of coming here is to go to the toilet and hear the Italian lady who lives on the ceiling talking to them. Those who have been to a F&Bs will of course know that this is an Italian language tape that is played constantly in the toilet.
Very excited now, we head back to the Hilton (less than 5 minutes walk from Gatwick Village at the airport so convenient) to try and go to sleep for the night.
After over 2 years of planning, the day finally arrives. I still havent quite finished packing so after dropping the girls off to school I rush about like a whirling dervish throwing things in cases. The weather report is looking quite dodgy so rather more warm clothes are packed than for our usual August trip
I wake Jon up at 10.30 with a mug of steaming coffee and breakfast in bed. Actually, I lie; I just shouted at him through the bedroom door: Wake up, were going away today!! Cant have him getting used to the finer things in life! For those that are raising eyebrows at the callous nature of my beloved resting on his laurels until mid morning while I work hard packing, my conscience makes me point out that he was working until 4 am the previous night.
Time flies and soon its time to pick the girls up from school. Their teachers and friends wish us all a lovely holiday and Christmas. I didnt manage to spot any gritted teeth either so they did a good job
The final checking begins:
Passports? Yep
Tickets? Yep
Hotel confirmation? Yep
Maps? Yep
All other paperwork? Yep
Money? Yep
Credit cards? Yep
Booster Seat?
At which point the phone rings. It is
Anyway, Basil arrives at about 1.30pm with Julie and Derek already in tow as he picked them up first. I was surprised when Julie jumped out of the car and insisted she wanted to sit in the back with us all as generally she doesnt travel well unless riding at the front. She assured Basil that Derek was keen to sit in the front with him which again surprised me as Derek is quite hard of hearing and when a cars engine is running he cannot really hear conversation unless it is very loud.
Sidenote here before you all get the wrong idea about me and my family, please be assured we are not the type to normally make such extravagant plans to travel. However, getting 6 people from Exeter to Gatwick had proved a logistical & expensive nightmare:
Coach travel would have involved a long and convoluted journey including a change at Heathrow and an element of bad timing here could mean a delay of up to 3 hours leaving Gatwick and the same at Heathrow. Not so bad on the way out but a nightmare coming back when you are shattered and want to get home. The train was frighteningly expensive unless you prebooked travel there and back (and even then it was still pricey) and you run the risk of missing your train back or getting in too early and having to wait ages. The other alternative was to go by car now my car will only accommodate 4 people on a good day so 6 people plus seven tonnes of luggage was simply not on the cards. Julie and Derek dont drive faster than 25 mph these days in their own car and the furthest they ever go is from our house to theirs (about 7 miles; and they complain this is a long way) so the idea of them on the M25 trying to find Gatwick was Monty Pythonesque to say the least! So an MPV would have had to be hired from Exeter to Gatwick and then back again. The cost of this was also pretty high.
So
He was possibly the most boring man I have ever spent 3 ½ solid hours with. Not to mention pedantic. I didnt mind him telling the children to keep their feet off the seats This is a very expensive car you know children and I didnt mind him telling us how to behave in his car Dont put anything in the elastic pockets as you might break them. I didnt even mind the fact that it took him twenty minutes to pack the car to his complete satisfaction and specification. I did however mind when he told the girls Dont undo your seatbelts. It is very dangerous and had to bite my tongue to not tell him that they have travelled in a vehicle before. I also minded being told off for undoing Erins seatbelt after we had stopped as there is a special technique and only I know it.
The reason for Julie putting Derek in the front is that he didnt hear a word of Mr Jellys conversation for the entire trip (and he talked incessantly) but he fakes better than anyone Ive ever heard. Years of practice from not hearing people, I put it down to. He has got the nods, mmms, oh yes? and shakes of head off to a fine art.
We arrived at Gatwick at about 5.30pm after a short break enroute. So keen were we to see the back of Mr Jelly we even refused his offer of help in carrying the suitcases to the Virgin check in desk! Oh well, at least we could pretend to be asleep for the return journey.
Twilight Check In looked pretty quiet and there were only a few families in front of us, but the queue didnt seem to move for ages. I had my eyes peeled for Allie (Allie5) & family and thought I had spotted her check in. I said to Jon several times in a loud voice Look Jon, that might be Allie but then realised the family in question were checking into Upper Class and unless Allie had had a remarkable lottery win she had forgotten to mention to me, it was unlikely to be her. We got checked in soon enough and issued with our boarding passes; we were given our pre-assigned seats. At this point, the family then next to me really looked like Allies photos but having been daunted by my earlier near faux pas I made no loud comments to Jon. Of course, as soon as we met Allie later I realised this lady was indeed her.
We toddled off (and it is literally a toddle) to the Gatwick Hilton to check in. We had two rooms booked for 3 people but the double bed itself was large enough for 3. I needed a roadmap to find my way to the edge the next morning. The Hilton was fabulous for its location but none of the staff seemed to speak English very well. This wasn't really a problem until we realised our room had 3 different people assigned to it, but we got this resolved.
We were all peckish by now so headed off to Frankie & Bennys for tea, where Allie & I had tentatively suggested a meeting to put faces to the (many) emails. Ive had so much fun planning my trip with Allie and it was a real pleasure to finally meet Allie & her family. It is amazing how much fun you can have with someone even without meeting them! We had a couple of quick natters and Amber and Erin introduced themselves to Jessamy & Daniel (Allies children). We were looking forward to seeing them again during the course of the next few weeks for various exciting things including a Wishes Cruise and lunch at the Rose and Crown.
Tea was pleasant at Frankie & Bennys but I was a little (but only a little) disappointed that there were no cocktails on the menu. Our nearest F&B's is 70 miles away so Jon & I can never both have a cocktail and we had been looking forward to this. Never mind, there will be lots of opportunity for cocktails in the next 3 weeks or so! The girls were very disappointed that there was no toilet at F&Bs. One of their favourite parts of coming here is to go to the toilet and hear the Italian lady who lives on the ceiling talking to them. Those who have been to a F&Bs will of course know that this is an Italian language tape that is played constantly in the toilet.
Very excited now, we head back to the Hilton (less than 5 minutes walk from Gatwick Village at the airport so convenient) to try and go to sleep for the night.
Basil Jelly sounds like a horrid little man.
This is where the Virgin Airways pack comes in - put the earplugs in, eye mask on and snore loudly all the way home!
