arieljasmine
<font color=magenta>Who says these things pass you
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2004
- Messages
- 6,098
Thursday 18 February 2010 - Day One
Preface
This is the most difficult trip report I've ever wanted to write. This was Eric's first official trip to Florida, though in actual fact he went just after
his first birthday last year. As some of you will know, my dad was taken ill whilst we were away and subsequently died. We got back just in time. For a
while I wasn't sure I could contemplate going back, but I didn't want Eric to grow up without this magical place in his life. So having decided that, we
decided that the sooner we went back the better as it was only going to get harder. It was a difficult trip in many ways with a lot of difficult memories,
but seeing the joy on Eric's face made me know that we had made the right decision.
So, I let Andy do all the organising for this trip, I didn't feel like being involved at all. He booked our usual Virgin flights, plus 13 nights at the
Sheraton Vistana and (so I thought) 2 nights at All Star Music. He also booked a car but we decided not to plan or book anything else. We had planned so much for the last trip that we obviously didn't do so we just wanted to go with the flow. By a twist of fate, our friend Kari from Detroit ended up having some spare vacation days and came down to meet up with us for a few days which also helped to make the trip very different to the last one.
We nearly didn't get there at all as Eric had an ear infection that lasted four weeks and through four doses of antibiotics and he was only cleared to fly a
few days before we were due to go.
Anyway, I think that's enough to be going on with so I will get on with it now.
We had decided to drive to the airport the morning of the flight instead of the night before, again to try to do things differently. So we were up at 5.30 am and Eric woke up shortly after us at 5.50 am. We all forced down some breakfast, got dressed and left the house only 10 minutes behind schedule at 6.40 am. Andy drove us and a packed car to the airport and we arrived about 8 am.
When we went to check in we were told that the luggage allowance had gone down and that therefore one of our cases was overweight. We had just assumed it to be the same as always and said so and the lady was kind enough to waive the fee. When she gave us our boarding passes, however, our seats weren't together because of the way Andy had booked the seats through a combination of air miles and money, and I had a small meltdown at that point. The mistake was easily rectified and we were given the bulkhead seats together (as is usual if possible if you are travelling with a child under 2 who doesn't have their own seat) but I was crying so much at this point because I was already not sure if I could get on the plane that the thought we might not be together had tipped me over the edge. This made the lady checking us in question whether I was fit to fly so Andy explained the situation to her, though I have to say that I then thought they weren't going to let me on the plane which made me panic even more. Not a good start.
We had to go change Eric next as his clothes were wet - this was a trend set to continue throughout the holiday as he suddenly chose this two weeks to decide he was ready for potty training! So we did that, went through security and then the same thing happened again! We had no other spare clothes for him so I asked someone if I could buy some anywhere, which I could not (gap in the market, maybe?) so Andy went off to dry his previous clothes under the hand dryer in the toilets. Then changed Eric again. At least it kept my mind occupied before take off. Andy went to WHSmith and bought fruit shoots for Eric, a paper for himself and a magazine for me.
We boarded the plane and lo and behold Eric was playing with a bottle of water and tipped half of it over himself and me! Was a very soggy flight. Eric went to sleep during take off, he had been getting very grumpy whilst we were sitting waiting. I had a coke and Andy had a Heineken and lunch arrived very shortly afterwards. This was ideal for me as I got to eat whilst Eric was asleep. Andy had fried chicken and I had tortellini pasta with cheese and tomato sauce and courgettes. It came with a strangely scented salad which Andy managed to eat but I did not, bread roll, cheese and crackers and a Gu chocolate and raspberry pudding. Andy had a glass of white wine, I had orange juice and we both had a cup of tea. We saved some bread, crackers, cheese and one of the puddings for Eric when we woke up but he only ate the bread and crackers with some Organix crisps that we brought with us, and then some chocolate buttons later on.
The flight progressed with lots of cups of orange and water and vanilla Haagan-Dazs ice cream in the afternoon. Eric spent a lot of time playing with the TVs, looking at his Thomas the Tank and Postman Pat comics and playing with the accompanying stickers and reading his Postman Pat book. He also made friends with a little girl of 3 who was sitting near us and kept going up and down to see what she was doing and showing her his comics and teddy bear, very cute. Her mum told me that they visit Florida frequently but only go to the Magic Kingdom as there is nothing for her at any of the other parks! I would like to meet her again and tell her how different our experience was!
For tea we had a cheese and pickle sandwich, an oaty cookie (grrr, need chocolate at this time of day!) and a cup of tea. Eric helped with the sandwiches. We landed 8 hours and 40 minutes after we had set off (our longest flight ever to Florida). I was a bit concerned that we might be questioned at Passport Control as it wasn't long since our last trip but instead we had a really nice guy who said "You guys come here all the time"!
We went and picked out our car, a PT Cruiser, maybe not totally big enough but I love them. Got a car seat fitted eventually (they gave us the wrong size to begin with) and drove to the Sheraton Vistana whilst Eric had another well needed sleep. Andy checked us in and then we checked out the villa which Eric loved because there were three TVs! He got to grips with the remotes whist we got changed.
We went over to the food court for tea as we had already scouted that it had a KFC so I knew there was a mash bowl in there with my name on it. I got that and Andy got an A&W bacon double cheeseburger. Eric had a tiny bit of each but wasn't really interested in eating. Andy went off to Walmart after tea and me and Eric went back to the villa and I got him into his pyjamas. We snuggled up watching the Disney Channel in bed until Andy came back and then Eric ate a few raisins and some cereal (froot loops with marshmallows, yum!). Andy put him to bed whilst I sat on the sofa and tried to play Tetris on my DS but fell asleep! When I woke up Andy had made me a cup of tea so I had that and then a bath. Andy had a bath too and then we sat at the breakfast bar with a cherry coke for me and a Bud Lite for Andy and pretended like it was a real bar! It wasn't long before we headed to bed after a long and strange day.
Laur's xx
Preface
This is the most difficult trip report I've ever wanted to write. This was Eric's first official trip to Florida, though in actual fact he went just after
his first birthday last year. As some of you will know, my dad was taken ill whilst we were away and subsequently died. We got back just in time. For a
while I wasn't sure I could contemplate going back, but I didn't want Eric to grow up without this magical place in his life. So having decided that, we
decided that the sooner we went back the better as it was only going to get harder. It was a difficult trip in many ways with a lot of difficult memories,
but seeing the joy on Eric's face made me know that we had made the right decision.
So, I let Andy do all the organising for this trip, I didn't feel like being involved at all. He booked our usual Virgin flights, plus 13 nights at the
Sheraton Vistana and (so I thought) 2 nights at All Star Music. He also booked a car but we decided not to plan or book anything else. We had planned so much for the last trip that we obviously didn't do so we just wanted to go with the flow. By a twist of fate, our friend Kari from Detroit ended up having some spare vacation days and came down to meet up with us for a few days which also helped to make the trip very different to the last one.
We nearly didn't get there at all as Eric had an ear infection that lasted four weeks and through four doses of antibiotics and he was only cleared to fly a
few days before we were due to go.
Anyway, I think that's enough to be going on with so I will get on with it now.
We had decided to drive to the airport the morning of the flight instead of the night before, again to try to do things differently. So we were up at 5.30 am and Eric woke up shortly after us at 5.50 am. We all forced down some breakfast, got dressed and left the house only 10 minutes behind schedule at 6.40 am. Andy drove us and a packed car to the airport and we arrived about 8 am.
When we went to check in we were told that the luggage allowance had gone down and that therefore one of our cases was overweight. We had just assumed it to be the same as always and said so and the lady was kind enough to waive the fee. When she gave us our boarding passes, however, our seats weren't together because of the way Andy had booked the seats through a combination of air miles and money, and I had a small meltdown at that point. The mistake was easily rectified and we were given the bulkhead seats together (as is usual if possible if you are travelling with a child under 2 who doesn't have their own seat) but I was crying so much at this point because I was already not sure if I could get on the plane that the thought we might not be together had tipped me over the edge. This made the lady checking us in question whether I was fit to fly so Andy explained the situation to her, though I have to say that I then thought they weren't going to let me on the plane which made me panic even more. Not a good start.
We had to go change Eric next as his clothes were wet - this was a trend set to continue throughout the holiday as he suddenly chose this two weeks to decide he was ready for potty training! So we did that, went through security and then the same thing happened again! We had no other spare clothes for him so I asked someone if I could buy some anywhere, which I could not (gap in the market, maybe?) so Andy went off to dry his previous clothes under the hand dryer in the toilets. Then changed Eric again. At least it kept my mind occupied before take off. Andy went to WHSmith and bought fruit shoots for Eric, a paper for himself and a magazine for me.
We boarded the plane and lo and behold Eric was playing with a bottle of water and tipped half of it over himself and me! Was a very soggy flight. Eric went to sleep during take off, he had been getting very grumpy whilst we were sitting waiting. I had a coke and Andy had a Heineken and lunch arrived very shortly afterwards. This was ideal for me as I got to eat whilst Eric was asleep. Andy had fried chicken and I had tortellini pasta with cheese and tomato sauce and courgettes. It came with a strangely scented salad which Andy managed to eat but I did not, bread roll, cheese and crackers and a Gu chocolate and raspberry pudding. Andy had a glass of white wine, I had orange juice and we both had a cup of tea. We saved some bread, crackers, cheese and one of the puddings for Eric when we woke up but he only ate the bread and crackers with some Organix crisps that we brought with us, and then some chocolate buttons later on.
The flight progressed with lots of cups of orange and water and vanilla Haagan-Dazs ice cream in the afternoon. Eric spent a lot of time playing with the TVs, looking at his Thomas the Tank and Postman Pat comics and playing with the accompanying stickers and reading his Postman Pat book. He also made friends with a little girl of 3 who was sitting near us and kept going up and down to see what she was doing and showing her his comics and teddy bear, very cute. Her mum told me that they visit Florida frequently but only go to the Magic Kingdom as there is nothing for her at any of the other parks! I would like to meet her again and tell her how different our experience was!
For tea we had a cheese and pickle sandwich, an oaty cookie (grrr, need chocolate at this time of day!) and a cup of tea. Eric helped with the sandwiches. We landed 8 hours and 40 minutes after we had set off (our longest flight ever to Florida). I was a bit concerned that we might be questioned at Passport Control as it wasn't long since our last trip but instead we had a really nice guy who said "You guys come here all the time"!
We went and picked out our car, a PT Cruiser, maybe not totally big enough but I love them. Got a car seat fitted eventually (they gave us the wrong size to begin with) and drove to the Sheraton Vistana whilst Eric had another well needed sleep. Andy checked us in and then we checked out the villa which Eric loved because there were three TVs! He got to grips with the remotes whist we got changed.
We went over to the food court for tea as we had already scouted that it had a KFC so I knew there was a mash bowl in there with my name on it. I got that and Andy got an A&W bacon double cheeseburger. Eric had a tiny bit of each but wasn't really interested in eating. Andy went off to Walmart after tea and me and Eric went back to the villa and I got him into his pyjamas. We snuggled up watching the Disney Channel in bed until Andy came back and then Eric ate a few raisins and some cereal (froot loops with marshmallows, yum!). Andy put him to bed whilst I sat on the sofa and tried to play Tetris on my DS but fell asleep! When I woke up Andy had made me a cup of tea so I had that and then a bath. Andy had a bath too and then we sat at the breakfast bar with a cherry coke for me and a Bud Lite for Andy and pretended like it was a real bar! It wasn't long before we headed to bed after a long and strange day.
Laur's xx
to 
very proud of you for writing these words.
Think you made the right choice to go, although it must have been hard for you.
