themepark
Wanted: Your trip reports!<br><font color=00cc22>I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 1,469
Cast of Characters:
Me...36 yr old mother of two
DD...10 yr old knower of everything
DS... 7 yr old who thinks he is too old to hold his mother's hand
Sunday, March 21
This was the first trip of this kind I have ever taken without DH. I have traveled with the kids to visit friends or relatives before, but never have we driven this far without DH just for vacation. Poor guy was stuck at home working. This was a spur of the moment trip at his suggestion. Maybe that was his spring break having us out of town. Haha!
We packed up the minivan and headed south at around 10:30am. We had to stop roughly 1367 times on our journey. Ok, that might be an exaggeration. Actually the trip was quite uneventful and a pleasant drive until we reached Valdosta, GA and my daughter starting complaining about feeling sick. We pulled over many times and she really thought she was going to hurl, but she never did. I finally let her sit up front and that seemed to help. Knowing that we would be arriving late, I had booked our first night at a Fairfield Inn using Priceline. I always do this and have had great success in Orlando. I have used Priceline to book 2 star - 4 star hotels in other cities as well. Priceline is great for saving money! Well, this time was a little different. I bid out of the Universal area, which I had never done before. Why I chose this particular time when I was traveling alone was one of those not so brilliant moves. I added the Florida Mall area to my bid since I knew it was fairly close to Universal. Sounded good. As I said, I like getting the discounts with Priceline and have always gotten a good room for a good value. This time I got what I paid for.
When we arrived at the Fairfield Inn Orlando South/Florida Mall at 9:00pm, it all looked ok upon check-in. We received a room on the 3rd floor which could only be accessed from an elevator in the lobby. DD was still feeling sick so we headed straight for bed and some TV time. The room was clean and the beds were comfy, but the AC unit was so loud we couldn't hear each other talk. But it did work. The TV reception was terrible. Here's the not so great part...evidently the road this hotel was on was some kind of truck access lane to the Florida Turnpike or the Bee Line Exprswy because trucks travelled down the road all night long. Now this wasn't the normal interstate noise you might hear, these were tractor trailers either coming to a stop for a traffic light or just starting up after having been stopped at the light. LOUD. Not even the incredibly loud AC unit could drown out the noise. Somehow the kids fell asleep, but I lay awake for hours. Then I hear all these voices outside so I look out the window and there are 5 police cars in the parking lot with one car pulled over and the officers were all talking to one man (at least I could only see one man). Oh....and there was a dark motel across the noisy road which I thought was an old abandoned boarded up motel but the next day I realized it was new and just had not opened yet. There was traffic in the dark motel lot all night though. Drug deals? I don't know. Most of the police cars finally left but one did stay out there for a long time afterwards. I could hear the police radio for several hours (that is only when there wasn't a truck driving by).
I did finally go to sleep around 3:00am. DS woke up around 6:00 ready to go. I agreed with him. I let DD sleep a little while though since she had been feeling bad. More trucks drove by and she still didn't wake up until 7:00 when the alarm clock went off. I didn't set the thing so I guess a previous guest had. At least it wasn't set for 4:00am. DD still felt bad but we packed up and headed downstairs for breakfast. We have stayed at other Fairfield Inns and the continental breakfast offerings have been quite plentiful. This time they were very skimpy. We got what we wanted though so I didn't have a complaint there. It was funny though...I heard the lady working the breakfast area complaining to the front desk about the hotel guests eating too much. The front desk told her to cut back on what she was putting out on the buffet. Good grief, there was only bread for toasting, some cereal (no milk), waffle batter, and a few muffins out there. What was she going to cut back on?
Ok enough about that. I was glad to drive away from there at 8:30am and head to RPR. During the daylight, the area looked much nicer and it was about a mile from the Florida Mall.
I have made this post too long so I will start another one and get to the REAL and GOOD part of the trip! It can only get better from here right?
Me...36 yr old mother of two
DD...10 yr old knower of everything
DS... 7 yr old who thinks he is too old to hold his mother's hand
Sunday, March 21
This was the first trip of this kind I have ever taken without DH. I have traveled with the kids to visit friends or relatives before, but never have we driven this far without DH just for vacation. Poor guy was stuck at home working. This was a spur of the moment trip at his suggestion. Maybe that was his spring break having us out of town. Haha!
We packed up the minivan and headed south at around 10:30am. We had to stop roughly 1367 times on our journey. Ok, that might be an exaggeration.
Actually the trip was quite uneventful and a pleasant drive until we reached Valdosta, GA and my daughter starting complaining about feeling sick. We pulled over many times and she really thought she was going to hurl, but she never did. I finally let her sit up front and that seemed to help. Knowing that we would be arriving late, I had booked our first night at a Fairfield Inn using Priceline. I always do this and have had great success in Orlando. I have used Priceline to book 2 star - 4 star hotels in other cities as well. Priceline is great for saving money! Well, this time was a little different. I bid out of the Universal area, which I had never done before. Why I chose this particular time when I was traveling alone was one of those not so brilliant moves. I added the Florida Mall area to my bid since I knew it was fairly close to Universal. Sounded good. As I said, I like getting the discounts with Priceline and have always gotten a good room for a good value. This time I got what I paid for. When we arrived at the Fairfield Inn Orlando South/Florida Mall at 9:00pm, it all looked ok upon check-in. We received a room on the 3rd floor which could only be accessed from an elevator in the lobby. DD was still feeling sick so we headed straight for bed and some TV time. The room was clean and the beds were comfy, but the AC unit was so loud we couldn't hear each other talk. But it did work. The TV reception was terrible. Here's the not so great part...evidently the road this hotel was on was some kind of truck access lane to the Florida Turnpike or the Bee Line Exprswy because trucks travelled down the road all night long. Now this wasn't the normal interstate noise you might hear, these were tractor trailers either coming to a stop for a traffic light or just starting up after having been stopped at the light. LOUD. Not even the incredibly loud AC unit could drown out the noise. Somehow the kids fell asleep, but I lay awake for hours. Then I hear all these voices outside so I look out the window and there are 5 police cars in the parking lot with one car pulled over and the officers were all talking to one man (at least I could only see one man). Oh....and there was a dark motel across the noisy road which I thought was an old abandoned boarded up motel but the next day I realized it was new and just had not opened yet. There was traffic in the dark motel lot all night though. Drug deals? I don't know. Most of the police cars finally left but one did stay out there for a long time afterwards. I could hear the police radio for several hours (that is only when there wasn't a truck driving by).
I did finally go to sleep around 3:00am. DS woke up around 6:00 ready to go. I agreed with him. I let DD sleep a little while though since she had been feeling bad. More trucks drove by and she still didn't wake up until 7:00 when the alarm clock went off. I didn't set the thing so I guess a previous guest had. At least it wasn't set for 4:00am. DD still felt bad but we packed up and headed downstairs for breakfast. We have stayed at other Fairfield Inns and the continental breakfast offerings have been quite plentiful. This time they were very skimpy. We got what we wanted though so I didn't have a complaint there. It was funny though...I heard the lady working the breakfast area complaining to the front desk about the hotel guests eating too much. The front desk told her to cut back on what she was putting out on the buffet. Good grief, there was only bread for toasting, some cereal (no milk), waffle batter, and a few muffins out there. What was she going to cut back on?
Ok enough about that. I was glad to drive away from there at 8:30am and head to RPR. During the daylight, the area looked much nicer and it was about a mile from the Florida Mall.
I have made this post too long so I will start another one and get to the REAL and GOOD part of the trip! It can only get better from here right?
It's so worth it isn't it?
