Laurafoster
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2005
- Messages
- 4,911
Well ive been back over a week and the post holiday blues have already appeared so I though id better get started on my trip report!!
As I write this im trying to persuade DH that we want .no thats not the right word ok need to book another trip ASAP!!
Cast of Characters
Me Laura, 22
DH Gary, 21
My Mum Alison, 44 (To turn 45 with the mouse)
My Dad Ian, 43
My Nan Joan, 67
My Grandpa Alec, 73
Day 0! Heading to the airport!
As we were flying on a Monday this year we both had all day Sunday in order to finish off any last minute packing, make sure the house was all in order etc so I thought we would have a nice chilled out day and perhaps go for a nice pub lunch before we get the taxi to Gatwick.
6am Buzzzzzzz
the alarm goes off and gary gets up. Sleepily I looked at the clock and asked why he was getting up so early, momentarily thinking perhaps he was getting up so early so he could go shopping and make me breakfast in bed. Im going to golf he replied! WHAT!!!
Back to reality, what do you mean youre going to golf, we have things to do I said! To which he replied yes but last year you complained that all I did was sit and watch TV and that I messed up the suitcase so this year I thought I would get out of your hair like you told me to do last year. 
I really didnt have an answer to this because I knew he was right and I knew full well I would get things done 10 times quicker without him saying, have you packed my contact lenses or have you packed my hair gel.
Honestly the men in my family are all the same wont pack themselves but will give me grief if I possibly forget something that they wanted taking!
With Gary gone out of the way and me now being wide awake I decided to get up. I had a nice lazy morning watching some TV with my toast and a cup of tea before deciding I really should start getting things sorted. So I put some nice Disney music on and danced around the house to Hawaiian roller coaster ride whilst doing the hovering, polishing last bits of ironing etc. I finished packing all the cases with the last minute bits and bobs, and put those downstairs by the door. I then headed upstairs to have a shower and get changed.
So by 11am im all finished and sat back downstairs waiting for DH to return from Golf. He got home around 12, thankfully he had showered and changed at the Golf Club so he didnt mess up the bathroom or anything. We were meeting my parents and grandparents at the local pub for a pre holiday lunch so we jumped in the car and headed over to my parents suitcases in tow. We dropped the cases off in the Porch and headed off to the pub.
It was a nice day so we all enjoyed our lunch sat out in the garden. After lunch we all headed back to our own houses to do any last minute bits make sure all doors and windows are locked etc. The taxi was picking us up from my parents house at 4pm so we drove over at about 3:30. Taxi turned up about 10 minutes early which was good as by this point I was getting pretty impatient! Loaded the cases and we were on our way!!
Journey to Gatwick was as always slow and full of traffic jams on the M25! But we made it there by 5:45 so we headed straight over to the twilight check in.
This is where we had the first lowlight of the holiday! My Nan has a problem with her hip which means she cant bend and manoeuvre as well as she could so we had requested either the bulk head seats or one of the twos at the back as she would then have a little more room and wouldnt have to keep getting up. We had sent a medical note to Virgin who said yes this was no problem. I had even phoned them 2 days before to check they had this and this would be ok, I was assured it was fine. Anyway back to check in, and not only had they not given her one of the seats as requested they had given her an aisle seat on a row of 3 with someone else sat by the window so she would have to keep moving out of the way for them if they wanted to get out. Not a good start. I know there not guaranteed but it was far from ideal.
Anyway negative news out of the way we headed over to the Hilton to check in, as we are gold VIPs we were upgraded to a deluxe room with access to the lounge which has free drinks and free continential breakfast! Woo Hoo!! The room was lovely and we could see all the planes coming in from the window which was nice! We went over to the Weatherspoons pub for dinner and I had a lovely steak with some salad! After dinner we popped over the the new Marks and Spencers simply food and purchased a bottle of red wine for about £6 we learnt our lesson last time that the Hilton charge about £7 per glass of wine
so we got a bottle between 3 of us for less than the cost of 1 glass! 
We said goodnight and arranged to meet in the lobby of the Hilton at 8am ready to go have breakfast at Weatherspoons. Although we had a free complimentary breakfast this was only continental and we all fancied a proper cooked breakfast instead! We went back to the room and watched a bit of telly before going to bed quite around 11pm.
As I write this im trying to persuade DH that we want .no thats not the right word ok need to book another trip ASAP!!
Cast of Characters
Me Laura, 22
DH Gary, 21
My Mum Alison, 44 (To turn 45 with the mouse)
My Dad Ian, 43
My Nan Joan, 67
My Grandpa Alec, 73
Day 0! Heading to the airport!
As we were flying on a Monday this year we both had all day Sunday in order to finish off any last minute packing, make sure the house was all in order etc so I thought we would have a nice chilled out day and perhaps go for a nice pub lunch before we get the taxi to Gatwick.
6am Buzzzzzzz
the alarm goes off and gary gets up. Sleepily I looked at the clock and asked why he was getting up so early, momentarily thinking perhaps he was getting up so early so he could go shopping and make me breakfast in bed. Im going to golf he replied! WHAT!!! Back to reality, what do you mean youre going to golf, we have things to do I said! To which he replied yes but last year you complained that all I did was sit and watch TV and that I messed up the suitcase so this year I thought I would get out of your hair like you told me to do last year. I really didnt have an answer to this because I knew he was right and I knew full well I would get things done 10 times quicker without him saying, have you packed my contact lenses or have you packed my hair gel.
Honestly the men in my family are all the same wont pack themselves but will give me grief if I possibly forget something that they wanted taking!
With Gary gone out of the way and me now being wide awake I decided to get up. I had a nice lazy morning watching some TV with my toast and a cup of tea before deciding I really should start getting things sorted. So I put some nice Disney music on and danced around the house to Hawaiian roller coaster ride whilst doing the hovering, polishing last bits of ironing etc. I finished packing all the cases with the last minute bits and bobs, and put those downstairs by the door. I then headed upstairs to have a shower and get changed.
So by 11am im all finished and sat back downstairs waiting for DH to return from Golf. He got home around 12, thankfully he had showered and changed at the Golf Club so he didnt mess up the bathroom or anything. We were meeting my parents and grandparents at the local pub for a pre holiday lunch so we jumped in the car and headed over to my parents suitcases in tow. We dropped the cases off in the Porch and headed off to the pub.
It was a nice day so we all enjoyed our lunch sat out in the garden. After lunch we all headed back to our own houses to do any last minute bits make sure all doors and windows are locked etc. The taxi was picking us up from my parents house at 4pm so we drove over at about 3:30. Taxi turned up about 10 minutes early which was good as by this point I was getting pretty impatient! Loaded the cases and we were on our way!!
Journey to Gatwick was as always slow and full of traffic jams on the M25! But we made it there by 5:45 so we headed straight over to the twilight check in.
This is where we had the first lowlight of the holiday! My Nan has a problem with her hip which means she cant bend and manoeuvre as well as she could so we had requested either the bulk head seats or one of the twos at the back as she would then have a little more room and wouldnt have to keep getting up. We had sent a medical note to Virgin who said yes this was no problem. I had even phoned them 2 days before to check they had this and this would be ok, I was assured it was fine. Anyway back to check in, and not only had they not given her one of the seats as requested they had given her an aisle seat on a row of 3 with someone else sat by the window so she would have to keep moving out of the way for them if they wanted to get out. Not a good start. I know there not guaranteed but it was far from ideal.
Anyway negative news out of the way we headed over to the Hilton to check in, as we are gold VIPs we were upgraded to a deluxe room with access to the lounge which has free drinks and free continential breakfast! Woo Hoo!! The room was lovely and we could see all the planes coming in from the window which was nice! We went over to the Weatherspoons pub for dinner and I had a lovely steak with some salad! After dinner we popped over the the new Marks and Spencers simply food and purchased a bottle of red wine for about £6 we learnt our lesson last time that the Hilton charge about £7 per glass of wine
so we got a bottle between 3 of us for less than the cost of 1 glass! We said goodnight and arranged to meet in the lobby of the Hilton at 8am ready to go have breakfast at Weatherspoons. Although we had a free complimentary breakfast this was only continental and we all fancied a proper cooked breakfast instead! We went back to the room and watched a bit of telly before going to bed quite around 11pm.
Great start 
