schumigirl
It's a bit of a roodie doodie word for lady parts
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
I say hopefully as, although we seem to be over the worst of the pandemic here, no one can really guarantee anything with travel anymore. But, after almost 2 years I`m more than ready to get back into a routine. It`s hard to imagine it was 2 years ago right now we were beginning to realise that our May 2020 Trip might not happen. The rest of course is history and the world seemed to go to hell in a handcart.......yes, it was a long 2 years and we were completely over the moon to be able to get back this past November/December for what was a very much awaited for trip.
But, now we are looking forward to May 2022, and our first trip of the year.
So, here we go again.........and I do hope you enjoy this one too
For anyone who don`t already know us and there will be many I`m sure.......we are Carole 'n' Tom......a joined at the hip couple who just love travelling to Orlando for our vacations. Our first trip there was in 2007 and we were instantly hooked on everything Orlando from the parks to the heat and sunshine.
One from 2007.....and it really does seem a lifetime ago now looking back.
A one and done trip it was never going to be and we haven`t missed a year since and managed several trips a year in the last 5 years since Tom took early retirement. So, we really do have a love for Florida and everything it has to offer.........
In case you don`t know us, this is us in November last year, we didn`t get too many pictures of just the two of us, but we did like this one taken in the Club Lounge at RP.
We have one son, Kyle who is quite honestly the best son anyone could hope for. And he loves the fact we still spend all our time together and our vacations are such a joy......we are so incredibly proud of him and relish the times he will possibly join us in the future. One of our couple friends are in Orlando right now with their adult son who decided to go back with his parents for one more trip before he gets married and they are having the best time together. I think he is enjoying being spoiled before grandkids come along for his parents. But, Kyle has his own situation now and his own vacations which is lovely.
And yes, he is still the biggest fan of chocolate cake.........
To get back to this trip, we knew when we wanted to travel roughly, we love travelling in May, and finally rebooked these flights last June, when the May 2022 flights were released. These were again flights that had been deferred from the year before due to them being cancelled due to no travel being allowed. Virgin made it very easy for us to do this online as they had issued what was really a credit note for the previous flights and all we had to do was add the difference in the new flights and of course we knew they were never going to be cheaper!! But, it is what is it and we just smiled and paid up, and actually it could have been worse.
We also had the offer of taking a full refund from all the cancelled flights, but we opted to keep the money with VA and hoped they wouldn`t go bankrupt, we didn`t really think they would to be honest, but many did and of course you do what suits your own circumstance best.
We do love flying Virgin, while we do have other options, they are our preference as we like to fly from Manchester instead of Heathrow and they do fly direct which is absolutely our preference.......I know some folks don`t mind 2 and 3 hour layovers, sometimes longer in places like JFK or Philadelphia, but for us the almost 10 hour flight is quite long enough thank you and won`t consider flying indirect.
The flight is just a means to an end of course, but we have never had a bad flight with them and for us it is part of the vacation.....well, 10 hours is a long time to be stuck in one place. Although the flight passes not too bad usually by the time we are fed a few times, watch a couple of movies and apparently now I seem to sleep for about 3 hours of the flight!!! And I miss the wonderful turbulence experienced by all accounts. Tom is always amazed I can sleep through all of it, but I seem to manage.
We do where we can, book Premium seats if they`re available and we do like certain seats, which aren`t always available, but as long as they`re Premium generally we`re good with that. They are much more spacious than regular seats and in November we were surprised just how comfy they were.....for plane seats anyway.
At the moment we have booked the front row of Premium coming out and the last row coming home which is our preference as you have no one behind you, so you can fully recline without disturbing anyone else. There is still room to recline, but most don`t fully recline on others, of course some do and it`s just your luck who you get in front of you.
We fly out on May 2nd this year and as of today it is exactly 9 weeks .........is it too early to start a Pre-Trip Report.........it may very well be, but after missing the last 2 years I am so excited to be planning our trips again and some of the ladies on here know we are just bursting to get back again.......
I have the time to do it and as we aren`t having the nicest weather in the UK right now, I`m not doing much else, so I can vent some of the excitement in this pre trip as all of you understand that excitement for a trip, especially after the last few years of many of us not being able to travel at all.
As of today, the only testing we need to do is the day before we fly out.....yes, that will be incredibly nerve wracking leaving it so late. Last trip we had to test within 3 days of flying out and that was bad enough, it felt very last minute if we tested positive. But a day ahead seems almost barbaric!! I think this time as it`s the day before we`ll just do the tests at the airport that are supervised and results immediately. It was quite stressful when our computer camera wouldn`t work for a time for the supervised tests last year, so this might just be easier. Although it would suck if we were positive and had to come home from the airport same day........lol........
We are both double vaccinated and boosted, so we`ve done all we can do to be honest. Who knows what the testing requirement will be by then for entering the USA.
9 weeks is a long time in many ways, but we all know how time passes so quickly so I can yammer on about plans for our trip in that time.
There`ll be the usual habits like park times, eating out around Orlando, day trips to places like New Smyrna Beach, maybe Dunedin, certainly St Augustine which is one of our most favourite places, Mount Dora and hopefully a couple of new additions for our travels. We have an ever growing list of places we`d like to visit, but just never get around to it, we always say we`ll fit it in another time.......
But, for now....it`s a start to our Trip Report for our May visit to Orlando for 23 nights at the beautiful Sapphire Falls again.
Hope to see some familiar faces and new ones too for the ramble ahead....it`s always a pleasure to read your comments along the way.........
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along again mac......always a pleasure to see you post and I`m always glad to know you enjoy them.......yes, this May trip has been long awaited for.....2 years is a long time for sure!!
