RobynPrincess
Looking around
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2010
- Messages
- 1,285
The Trip On a Budget (ish) Day 1
We got up about 6am, I would say what time we woke up but I don't think I slept for more than 2 hours during the night I was so excited! Got dressed and ready to go, kissed and cuddled my cat before we left, we stayed at my parents house the night before so we could get my baby settled in at home
cried all the way to the airport cause I was worried about leaving her! LOL
Got the the airport and said a tearful goodbye to my parents, and then headed inside to meet Simon's parents. I had checked us all in the night before online so all we had to do was drop our bags and head to the gate
We headed through quite quickly but I was taken for extra screening :confused2 they wanted to scan the handles on my handbag. I was fine though
just Anne and I went into the Jo Malone shop and were offered a hand massage each. Anne wanted to buy some perfume in there anyway so she got that and then it was time to head to the gate. We boarded the plane and sat down, we had 1 window seat beside us – I like the aisle seat as I have to get up a lot. The lady who sat next to Sy was from Clearwater, she was very talkative! She even invited us to stay at her house when we go to Clearwater lol. She couldn’t sit still though as she had a bad back so she kept getting up and down, in fact the only time I managed to get to sleep she wanted to get up so woke me up which was a bit of a pain but it wasn’t the end of the world, we just made a mental note not to get edge seats on the way home.
I was excited when we arrived at Tampa as I’d read about the small airport and how quickly we could get through passport control, how wrong was I??!! We weren’t at the back of the queue and still it took an hour and a half to get through! I was looking at our cases sitting on the floor for anyone to take and I was getting really stressed out in case someone took them or something happened to them. We did eventually get through okay and pick up our bags.
Sy with all the bags at Tampa
We headed over to pick up the car, I was in a bit of a panic as I realized on the plane that I hadn’t printed out the car hire voucher, but luckily they could find our details on the system. The men on the desk did try to fast talk us into buying extra insurance, he tried speaking really quickly saying something along the lines of ‘you’re having the insurance with us’ and nodding, I asked him to repeat himself slowly 3 times and explain, turns out he was trying to get us to say yes to buying more insurance, just a word of warning to others! This was with Budget. We got our car – a Red Rio, it was basic to say the least, no central locking, had to lean over to unlock all the doors, and wind down windows, it did have air-con though which was the main thing!
It took us about an hour to get to the condo, we did have to stop outside a McDonalds to get the number of the lock to get the key out! Oops! We did eventually get there though We were very pleasantly surprised, we got a cheap last minute deal so we didn’t have the highest of hopes (well I didn’t!) but it was lovely.
Here are the pictures…
Nice eh?
We then unpacked, showered and headed out for dinner and to Publix. We bought the essentials from Publix and decided to go to Applebee’s for dinner, as we’d had good meals there last year. Unfortunately we didn’t have a great meal, my food was so greasy I couldn’t eat it, the chicken was overcooked and like rubber, Anne’s food was really greasy and she couldn’t eat it. They took our meals off the check without asking, it was the manager who came over to clear our plates and he asked how it was and why we hadn’t eaten. Our server wasn’t good either, we had to keep asking for our drinks etc, not what we’re used to in Florida that’s for sure. We were tired though so we paid (with 18% tip) and left.
We fell straight into bed when we got home, feeling very, very tired!
As this trip we are on a budget, I wanted to try and let others know our spending so it might help them in the future when planning trips.
Today we spent $108 in Publix but this was split between 2 families and included 2 cases of Bud So we spent $54. In Applebee’s we spent $30 each couple.
Total spend $84
Tomorrow, Seaworld!
We got up about 6am, I would say what time we woke up but I don't think I slept for more than 2 hours during the night I was so excited! Got dressed and ready to go, kissed and cuddled my cat before we left, we stayed at my parents house the night before so we could get my baby settled in at home
cried all the way to the airport cause I was worried about leaving her! LOLGot the the airport and said a tearful goodbye to my parents, and then headed inside to meet Simon's parents. I had checked us all in the night before online so all we had to do was drop our bags and head to the gate
We headed through quite quickly but I was taken for extra screening :confused2 they wanted to scan the handles on my handbag. I was fine though
just Anne and I went into the Jo Malone shop and were offered a hand massage each. Anne wanted to buy some perfume in there anyway so she got that and then it was time to head to the gate. We boarded the plane and sat down, we had 1 window seat beside us – I like the aisle seat as I have to get up a lot. The lady who sat next to Sy was from Clearwater, she was very talkative! She even invited us to stay at her house when we go to Clearwater lol. She couldn’t sit still though as she had a bad back so she kept getting up and down, in fact the only time I managed to get to sleep she wanted to get up so woke me up which was a bit of a pain but it wasn’t the end of the world, we just made a mental note not to get edge seats on the way home.I was excited when we arrived at Tampa as I’d read about the small airport and how quickly we could get through passport control, how wrong was I??!! We weren’t at the back of the queue and still it took an hour and a half to get through! I was looking at our cases sitting on the floor for anyone to take and I was getting really stressed out in case someone took them or something happened to them. We did eventually get through okay and pick up our bags.
Sy with all the bags at Tampa
We headed over to pick up the car, I was in a bit of a panic as I realized on the plane that I hadn’t printed out the car hire voucher, but luckily they could find our details on the system. The men on the desk did try to fast talk us into buying extra insurance, he tried speaking really quickly saying something along the lines of ‘you’re having the insurance with us’ and nodding, I asked him to repeat himself slowly 3 times and explain, turns out he was trying to get us to say yes to buying more insurance, just a word of warning to others! This was with Budget. We got our car – a Red Rio, it was basic to say the least, no central locking, had to lean over to unlock all the doors, and wind down windows, it did have air-con though which was the main thing!
It took us about an hour to get to the condo, we did have to stop outside a McDonalds to get the number of the lock to get the key out! Oops! We did eventually get there though
We were very pleasantly surprised, we got a cheap last minute deal so we didn’t have the highest of hopes (well I didn’t!) but it was lovely.Here are the pictures…
Nice eh?
We then unpacked, showered and headed out for dinner and to Publix. We bought the essentials from Publix and decided to go to Applebee’s for dinner, as we’d had good meals there last year. Unfortunately we didn’t have a great meal, my food was so greasy I couldn’t eat it, the chicken was overcooked and like rubber, Anne’s food was really greasy and she couldn’t eat it. They took our meals off the check without asking, it was the manager who came over to clear our plates and he asked how it was and why we hadn’t eaten. Our server wasn’t good either, we had to keep asking for our drinks etc, not what we’re used to in Florida that’s for sure. We were tired though so we paid (with 18% tip) and left.
We fell straight into bed when we got home, feeling very, very tired!
As this trip we are on a budget, I wanted to try and let others know our spending so it might help them in the future when planning trips.
Today we spent $108 in Publix but this was split between 2 families and included 2 cases of Bud
So we spent $54. In Applebee’s we spent $30 each couple.Total spend $84
Tomorrow, Seaworld!
We are going to be on a very tight budget in August so I will be paying close attention to your trippie! 
Great start to you TR, am looking forward to reading the rest.
