Part 3: Day 0: Travelling
Buzzzz, Bring Bring, Beeeeep. Thats the sound of several alarm clocks going off at the same time, a necessity after just 2.5 hours sleep!
You have all been following me for a couple of days now so I am delighted we are finally on our way
Up at 04.00 and ready to leave by 04.20. I decided to give Gavins M&D a ring to let them know we were up and on our way. Not one of my better ideas, they still had 10mins of kip left and when the phone rang there was major panic that somebody had fallen ill or lost a passport!
Drove both cars to Christine & Malcoms for safe keeping while we are away. As we have only lived here a few days we didnt think it would be best to make it obvious we were on holiday by leaving them parked outside for two weeks.
Left for Manchester Airport at 05.20 and made it in good time despite horrendous rain and lots of traffic. Dropped car off at long stay parking and hopped on the courtesy bus to the train station where TDC check in is located. Second panic attack of the day for the grown ups as Stephen, Jane & kids were nowhere to be seen. They had stayed at the Marriott the evening before but should have been dropped of at 07.00 and it was now 07.20. Gave them a call on the old nokia and discovered they were waiting for us in T1. Told them to get their butts over to us asap as there was hardly any queue for check in and we wanted to join it!
I was a tad concerned when I learnt we were checking in at the station, I had all sorts of visions about a dingy queuing area and lots of passengers jostling to be first. A scene of general chaos had formed in my head. I was very pleasantly surprised though. There was one big queuing line (why dont more airlines do this, far more fair doing it on a first come first served basis than passengers trying to guess which of the many queues may go down quickest and picking the wrong one).
Checking in went very smoothly and we managed to get all 9 of us in a row in a 2-4-3 formation (Row 39).
By now it was fast approaching 08.30 and we were all starving so off to Garfunkles for breakfast, we all sat separately (The staff looked far too harassed to risk asking for a table to seat 11) my notes are telling me to refer to receipt but I cant find it! I am very confident Gavin & I both had the biggest English breakfast on offer with tea and toast but I am unsure how much it came to. It was very nice though.
After breakfast at around 09.15 we made our way through to the departure lounge, this took a long time as our queue only had 1 scanning machine but the other queue had 5! Not very well organised.
In addition to picking the wrong queue Gavin had his hand luggage very thoroughly searched. Not really surprising at the time as it was a rucksack with 4 books in making it very heavy.
After this we went to find somewhere to sit, a few of us wondered around the shops but only purchases were sweets and drinks.
We should have been boarding at 10.15 for an 11.15 flight but the gate wasnt announced until 10.20 and after making our way to gate 31 we still didnt even begin boarding until 11.00 and when the plane was full we waited until 13.20 to take off! Flight delay was due to the bridge been stuck to the plane and a problem loading luggage. Delay wasnt bad really, Staff brought us water and sweets a couple of times and we always knew what the problem was.
The take off was the worst I have ever experienced. I really did think we were going to run out of runway and when we finally did lift off there was such a thud it sounded like the tail end had smashed into the tarmac! Having said that the flight was very smooth and uneventful. Lunch was served around 15.00 we were offered chicken or beef but Gavin ended up with Vegetable curry, there was no way he would have eaten it so me been a nice girl we swapped.
The films Hitch, Robots and the Pacifier were played with a few episodes of the Simpsons, Two & A Half Men and Friends.
The plane was Air Atlanta. It was clean but looked a bit tired. Nothing could be faulted though. The staff were very friendly and always smiling.
Despite the two hour delay we landed only an hour or so late. Immigration was done & dusted in 15mins but almost an hour was spent waiting for bags, no matter I can amuse myself any time and place by queuing for the ladies loo!
Delay with the flight and waiting for bags was no problem for the nine of us, as we needed to wait for the other two anyway. We got confirmation of Lindsey & Shanes flight arrival then me & Malcom went to collect our cars.
Gavin and I set off a few moments later to the villa. An hour or so later with no wrong turnings we were there. Unfortunately we couldnt do anything but watch TV until everyone else had arrived as rooms were still to be allocated but at least the A/C was on.
They all arrived at 21.45 and the rooms were quickly sorted so the fellas & me nipped down the US27 to Publix for some nibbles and beer.
Me and Gavin didnt stay in that evening though. We had our dinner at Dennys, chicken strips and fries for me and a BBQ beef burger and fries for him.
We were going to have a drive and get our bearings but it was getting late and we hadnt unpacked so back to Hampton Lakes around 23.30. Unpacking sorted and into bed at 01.00.
Those of you paying attention will have realised we have now been up for 25hours! (Give or take the odd nap on the plane).
Alarm set for 07.00 but would we be awake at 04.00 with jet lag or would the 2.5 hours sleep then a 25 hour day force us to turn it off and roll back to sleep?
Jodie
NB: Explained my photo problem to Gavin and been the fab fella he is he is going to make me my own web site! So watch this space.
Buzzzz, Bring Bring, Beeeeep. Thats the sound of several alarm clocks going off at the same time, a necessity after just 2.5 hours sleep!
You have all been following me for a couple of days now so I am delighted we are finally on our way
Up at 04.00 and ready to leave by 04.20. I decided to give Gavins M&D a ring to let them know we were up and on our way. Not one of my better ideas, they still had 10mins of kip left and when the phone rang there was major panic that somebody had fallen ill or lost a passport!
Drove both cars to Christine & Malcoms for safe keeping while we are away. As we have only lived here a few days we didnt think it would be best to make it obvious we were on holiday by leaving them parked outside for two weeks.
Left for Manchester Airport at 05.20 and made it in good time despite horrendous rain and lots of traffic. Dropped car off at long stay parking and hopped on the courtesy bus to the train station where TDC check in is located. Second panic attack of the day for the grown ups as Stephen, Jane & kids were nowhere to be seen. They had stayed at the Marriott the evening before but should have been dropped of at 07.00 and it was now 07.20. Gave them a call on the old nokia and discovered they were waiting for us in T1. Told them to get their butts over to us asap as there was hardly any queue for check in and we wanted to join it!
I was a tad concerned when I learnt we were checking in at the station, I had all sorts of visions about a dingy queuing area and lots of passengers jostling to be first. A scene of general chaos had formed in my head. I was very pleasantly surprised though. There was one big queuing line (why dont more airlines do this, far more fair doing it on a first come first served basis than passengers trying to guess which of the many queues may go down quickest and picking the wrong one).
Checking in went very smoothly and we managed to get all 9 of us in a row in a 2-4-3 formation (Row 39).
By now it was fast approaching 08.30 and we were all starving so off to Garfunkles for breakfast, we all sat separately (The staff looked far too harassed to risk asking for a table to seat 11) my notes are telling me to refer to receipt but I cant find it! I am very confident Gavin & I both had the biggest English breakfast on offer with tea and toast but I am unsure how much it came to. It was very nice though.
After breakfast at around 09.15 we made our way through to the departure lounge, this took a long time as our queue only had 1 scanning machine but the other queue had 5! Not very well organised.
In addition to picking the wrong queue Gavin had his hand luggage very thoroughly searched. Not really surprising at the time as it was a rucksack with 4 books in making it very heavy.
After this we went to find somewhere to sit, a few of us wondered around the shops but only purchases were sweets and drinks.
We should have been boarding at 10.15 for an 11.15 flight but the gate wasnt announced until 10.20 and after making our way to gate 31 we still didnt even begin boarding until 11.00 and when the plane was full we waited until 13.20 to take off! Flight delay was due to the bridge been stuck to the plane and a problem loading luggage. Delay wasnt bad really, Staff brought us water and sweets a couple of times and we always knew what the problem was.
The take off was the worst I have ever experienced. I really did think we were going to run out of runway and when we finally did lift off there was such a thud it sounded like the tail end had smashed into the tarmac! Having said that the flight was very smooth and uneventful. Lunch was served around 15.00 we were offered chicken or beef but Gavin ended up with Vegetable curry, there was no way he would have eaten it so me been a nice girl we swapped.
The films Hitch, Robots and the Pacifier were played with a few episodes of the Simpsons, Two & A Half Men and Friends.
The plane was Air Atlanta. It was clean but looked a bit tired. Nothing could be faulted though. The staff were very friendly and always smiling.
Despite the two hour delay we landed only an hour or so late. Immigration was done & dusted in 15mins but almost an hour was spent waiting for bags, no matter I can amuse myself any time and place by queuing for the ladies loo!
Delay with the flight and waiting for bags was no problem for the nine of us, as we needed to wait for the other two anyway. We got confirmation of Lindsey & Shanes flight arrival then me & Malcom went to collect our cars.
Gavin and I set off a few moments later to the villa. An hour or so later with no wrong turnings we were there. Unfortunately we couldnt do anything but watch TV until everyone else had arrived as rooms were still to be allocated but at least the A/C was on.
They all arrived at 21.45 and the rooms were quickly sorted so the fellas & me nipped down the US27 to Publix for some nibbles and beer.
Me and Gavin didnt stay in that evening though. We had our dinner at Dennys, chicken strips and fries for me and a BBQ beef burger and fries for him.
We were going to have a drive and get our bearings but it was getting late and we hadnt unpacked so back to Hampton Lakes around 23.30. Unpacking sorted and into bed at 01.00.
Those of you paying attention will have realised we have now been up for 25hours! (Give or take the odd nap on the plane).
Alarm set for 07.00 but would we be awake at 04.00 with jet lag or would the 2.5 hours sleep then a 25 hour day force us to turn it off and roll back to sleep?
Jodie
NB: Explained my photo problem to Gavin and been the fab fella he is he is going to make me my own web site! So watch this space.
...great report
