family: Me- aged 33
Stephen (dh) - aged 37
Billy (ds) - aged 9 going on 90
Jack (ds) - aged 22 months
Saturday 12th October
Well the day has finally arrived, Jack slept till 8 o'clock so that meant everyone slept to 8 o'clock - see if he's up everyone has to be up
but this morning we don't care - we're going on holiday 
Got the bus transfer at 9am even though our flight isn't till 1.20pm we wanted to get checked in and give ourselves plenty of time to look around in the shops - well me and paula did anyway
, got checked through for 10am and went for some breakfast - got a bit nervous and had a few tears, this happens everytime I fly but at least it only lasts 5 minutes I was soon recovered when it was time to go into the duty free shop, treated myself to a couple bottles of perfume Beautiful and Tommy Girl - just in case you were wondering, and some fags for Steve doesn't sound alot does it but it came to over a £100, tried to tire Jack out but to no avail so he was still awake when we boarded the plane at 12.50pm - I was so relieved that the take off didn't effect jacks ears or scare him in anyway - he was fine, in fact when we took off down the runway (very fast) he thought it was funny and was laughing - strange child !!! Billy had his earplanes in as he has suffered before with popping of the ears, Jack went to sleep eating his wotsits at 2.15pm - now I can start to relax - well try anyway well he slept for just over 2 hours which was good, apart from he missed his dinner, not much to miss though
landed at Atlanta at 10pm our time (5pm USA) cleared immigration and customs - security is really hot here but it puts your mind at rest so no moaning on that front - collected cases and took them from one side of the airport to the other and got rid of them again - this part I didn't understand, surely it would have been alot easier for the airport to transfer everyones baggage from one plane to the other ???
Found a smoking area and had a quick ***, must get into the habit of saying cigeratte out here, I've had a few strange glances already, boarded the plane and took off at approx 7.05pm - looked round to see that both boys was fast asleep, flew straight through a storm, bit bumpy so seatbelts stayed on throughout - the lightening was unbelievable, it never ceases to amaze me the lightening Florida has - do the americans do everything bigger or what ?? landed safely at 8.40pm and both boys were still asleep.
Billy wasn't too impressed about getting woken up, especially when he had to still carry his backpack
Went through to collect cases - couldn't believe you had to pay $2 for the trolley though what a rip off . I started to panic silently at this stage as 3 of my cases had come through pretty much straight away but the last one seemed to take forever - I thought here goes, I bet its still in Atlanta, well after about 15 long minutes it finally came through - phew !!!!
Went to queue for our hire car at the Dallas desk - took a look at everyones faces, boredom had set in even before the holiday really starts. Well after a long 50 minutes we finally get our cars - Phils is a nice silver sporty looking thing and ours is a very smart green 7 seater - sorry to be so vague with the descriptions but I'm not a car person as you can probably tell
both families are impressed - had to laugh at Phil though seeing as its his first time in the US he gets his keys already for the off and what does he do ? gets in the wrong side !!! (WHERES THE STEERING WHEEL) steve leads the way with the instructions we were given but somehow gets lost (well it has been a long day) but luckily for all of us it only took us out of our way about 15/20 minutes and somehow managed to miss out all the toll roads - he says it was on purpose but we all know the truth, finally got to the management company to collect the keys at Westridge which is on 27 (just off 192 west) at approx 10pm - set off with further instructions to get to our final destination Southern Dunes - pulled up outside the villa at 10.30pm WOW its huge and looks lovely - first impressions are everything to a woman !! well we all get out - Jacks still asleep in my arms - I give him to steve and put the key in the door, try to turn the key but NOTHING happens
, phil has go, paula has a go and steve finally has a go, by this time Im not feeling good, put the kids back into the car and Phil and Paula drive to a phone box to see if they can get some explanation from the management company- answerphone - not good - decide between us that me and paula would go into wallmart and get some shopping while steve and Phil drive back to westridge themselves to try and sort things out - me Paula and Jack (still fast asleep) wander around shaking our heads and trying to work out what we can do to forget whats just happened. As we are leaving we see Steve - good timing and guess what THEY GAVE US THE WRONG KEYS not a good start but at least its sorted, we drive round again to the villa, still looks good - phil and paula are already there, the alarm goes off all the lights are off, phil runs through trying to turn some sort of light and knocks the lightswitch by accident - thank god so now they can enter the pin code - the alarm silences and we sigh with relief - empty the cars and look at the clock 1am (6am our time sunday morning) finally put the kids to bed and then I collapse on the bed also - its been a long long day, and I'm glad its finally over
Stephen (dh) - aged 37
Billy (ds) - aged 9 going on 90
Jack (ds) - aged 22 months
Saturday 12th October
Well the day has finally arrived, Jack slept till 8 o'clock so that meant everyone slept to 8 o'clock - see if he's up everyone has to be up
but this morning we don't care - we're going on holiday Got the bus transfer at 9am even though our flight isn't till 1.20pm we wanted to get checked in and give ourselves plenty of time to look around in the shops - well me and paula did anyway
, got checked through for 10am and went for some breakfast - got a bit nervous and had a few tears, this happens everytime I fly but at least it only lasts 5 minutes I was soon recovered when it was time to go into the duty free shop, treated myself to a couple bottles of perfume Beautiful and Tommy Girl - just in case you were wondering, and some fags for Steve doesn't sound alot does it but it came to over a £100, tried to tire Jack out but to no avail so he was still awake when we boarded the plane at 12.50pm - I was so relieved that the take off didn't effect jacks ears or scare him in anyway - he was fine, in fact when we took off down the runway (very fast) he thought it was funny and was laughing - strange child !!! Billy had his earplanes in as he has suffered before with popping of the ears, Jack went to sleep eating his wotsits at 2.15pm - now I can start to relax - well try anyway well he slept for just over 2 hours which was good, apart from he missed his dinner, not much to miss though landed at Atlanta at 10pm our time (5pm USA) cleared immigration and customs - security is really hot here but it puts your mind at rest so no moaning on that front - collected cases and took them from one side of the airport to the other and got rid of them again - this part I didn't understand, surely it would have been alot easier for the airport to transfer everyones baggage from one plane to the other ??? Found a smoking area and had a quick ***, must get into the habit of saying cigeratte out here, I've had a few strange glances already, boarded the plane and took off at approx 7.05pm - looked round to see that both boys was fast asleep, flew straight through a storm, bit bumpy so seatbelts stayed on throughout - the lightening was unbelievable, it never ceases to amaze me the lightening Florida has - do the americans do everything bigger or what ?? landed safely at 8.40pm and both boys were still asleep.
Billy wasn't too impressed about getting woken up, especially when he had to still carry his backpack
Went through to collect cases - couldn't believe you had to pay $2 for the trolley though what a rip off . I started to panic silently at this stage as 3 of my cases had come through pretty much straight away but the last one seemed to take forever - I thought here goes, I bet its still in Atlanta, well after about 15 long minutes it finally came through - phew !!!!Went to queue for our hire car at the Dallas desk - took a look at everyones faces, boredom had set in even before the holiday really starts. Well after a long 50 minutes we finally get our cars - Phils is a nice silver sporty looking thing and ours is a very smart green 7 seater - sorry to be so vague with the descriptions but I'm not a car person as you can probably tell
both families are impressed - had to laugh at Phil though seeing as its his first time in the US he gets his keys already for the off and what does he do ? gets in the wrong side !!! (WHERES THE STEERING WHEEL) steve leads the way with the instructions we were given but somehow gets lost (well it has been a long day) but luckily for all of us it only took us out of our way about 15/20 minutes and somehow managed to miss out all the toll roads - he says it was on purpose but we all know the truth, finally got to the management company to collect the keys at Westridge which is on 27 (just off 192 west) at approx 10pm - set off with further instructions to get to our final destination Southern Dunes - pulled up outside the villa at 10.30pm WOW its huge and looks lovely - first impressions are everything to a woman !! well we all get out - Jacks still asleep in my arms - I give him to steve and put the key in the door, try to turn the key but NOTHING happens , phil has go, paula has a go and steve finally has a go, by this time Im not feeling good, put the kids back into the car and Phil and Paula drive to a phone box to see if they can get some explanation from the management company- answerphone - not good - decide between us that me and paula would go into wallmart and get some shopping while steve and Phil drive back to westridge themselves to try and sort things out - me Paula and Jack (still fast asleep) wander around shaking our heads and trying to work out what we can do to forget whats just happened. As we are leaving we see Steve - good timing and guess what THEY GAVE US THE WRONG KEYS not a good start but at least its sorted, we drive round again to the villa, still looks good - phil and paula are already there, the alarm goes off all the lights are off, phil runs through trying to turn some sort of light and knocks the lightswitch by accident - thank god so now they can enter the pin code - the alarm silences and we sigh with relief - empty the cars and look at the clock 1am (6am our time sunday morning) finally put the kids to bed and then I collapse on the bed also - its been a long long day, and I'm glad its finally over
