Hilary
There's always something new to learn!
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2000
- Messages
- 6,483
There goes Florida, part 2 - and theyre off!
Cast
Me Hilary, 48. Beginning to suffer from planning overload, but looking forward to seeing some new-to-us parts of Florida.
DH Jeremy, 49. Looking forward to fishing opportunities in the Keys and on the coast, but could do without quite as long in Orlando.
DD1 Rhian , 19. Looking forward to forgetting university studies for two weeks anything else will be a bonus.
DD2 Amy, 15. Looking forward to first trip to IOA , Mission Space and the Hard Rock Hotel, but not looking forward to the prospect of being ill on the flights again.
We left the Comfort Inn, managing to avoid our usual circular tour of the outskirts of Heathrow this time, and congratulated ourselves on finding the long stay car park without too many detours. The courtesy coach to the terminal buildings made up for it, however, and we were treated to a full viewing of all the car parks, hangars and terminal buildings before being dropped at the check-in area for Virgin flights.
My next challenge, as before every Virgin flight, was to remain smiling whilst trying to extract from the Virgin desk a valid reason for never giving us the seats weve pre-requested. I managed to remain polite and courteous, but failed miserably to get an explanation. Hey ho. We had requested two rows of two at the rear, but (as always) had been given a centre row of four. I explain this. The seating plan is checked - there are no rows of two left. Amy mutters to me that shes always sick in the middle, but okay by the window. I relay this information to the check-in girl, much to Amys embarrassment.
Could we have three by the window and one across the aisle instead, then? I ask.
Sorry, no you cant. At the end of this thoroughly civilised conversation, I wonder how the check-in girl has managed to turn around my minor complaint at not getting the seats Id been told were pre-allocated to us, into undying gratitude that we have been graciously allowed to have four seats together, thus enabling me to tend to my daughter who will be vomiting for Britain because she cant sit by the window. Maybe theres something in these Customer Care courses, after all. I have a hunch maybe Im just too gullible.
Maybe smiling is the wrong approach.
In fact, rattling with a combination of travel pills, earplugs and wrist bands, Amy wasnt sick after all, but I came down with a migraine and felt awful for most of the flight. Fortunately, I felt better almost as soon as we landed in Miami, so I wont make too much of a fuss and beg for sympathy at this stage (Im sure Ill be able to work it in later somewhere). The plane was one of those with the new Virgin entertainment system, and we all thought this was really good, but its spoilt us now for the older system (you just cant please some people, can you?).
And so to the delights of Miami International Airport. This was fine until we discovered a distinct lack of Virgin reps or Dollar car rental information. In the end we found a throng of dishevelled would-be Dollar renters waiting outside for the courtesy bus to the Dollar Depot. We tried to join the queue. But there was no queue, just a large huddle of bodies and luggage struggling to stay within the confines of the designated area of raised sidewalk outside the terminal.
Eventually a Dollar bus arrived on the horizon, but sailed straight past because it was already full. Actually, it didnt so much sail as splutter, belching fumes as it went, but that didnt sound as fancy. Three more full buses later and the crowd were getting restless (and the huddle was growing). The next bus appeared and wasnt full; the crowd began to gather its luggage. The bus stopped, the crowd surged towards the opening doors. The crowd stalled at the three high and narrow steps inside the bus doors - up which all the luggage had to be dragged. Who came up with this system? Even British Rail wouldnt have tried making things this difficult for passengers. Not surprisingly, tempers were a little ragged round the edges by the time the bus was full of jet-lagged tourists and their bags, and the ones left standing on the sidewalk were even less happy.
So, off to the Dollar depot we went, and eventually had our Dodge Intrepid, washed and polished and waiting for us to take the helm. We set off for the Wyndham hotel with some trepidation, as the Dollar depot was in an area I wouldnt like to be in if I ran out of gas on a dark night! I tried to keep the We Are Tourist And We Dont Know Where Were Going maps out of sight as I navigated us out of the depot, and Jeremy got back into the swing of US driving just fine.
We valet parked at the Wyndham (a new experience for us, and we're still not sure if we got it right), checked-in (number 2 of the trip), and found our room on the fourth floor, overlooking a river and a golf course. Very nice, thank you.
We were all shattered, and Jeremy and the girls were starving (I was still feeling too groggy after the flight to want anything much), so we went down for a meal in the hotel restaurant. Then it was back to the room where we crashed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow at about 7pm!
Tomorrow, well be on our way to the Keys.
Cast
Me Hilary, 48. Beginning to suffer from planning overload, but looking forward to seeing some new-to-us parts of Florida.
DH Jeremy, 49. Looking forward to fishing opportunities in the Keys and on the coast, but could do without quite as long in Orlando.
DD1 Rhian , 19. Looking forward to forgetting university studies for two weeks anything else will be a bonus.
DD2 Amy, 15. Looking forward to first trip to IOA , Mission Space and the Hard Rock Hotel, but not looking forward to the prospect of being ill on the flights again.
We left the Comfort Inn, managing to avoid our usual circular tour of the outskirts of Heathrow this time, and congratulated ourselves on finding the long stay car park without too many detours. The courtesy coach to the terminal buildings made up for it, however, and we were treated to a full viewing of all the car parks, hangars and terminal buildings before being dropped at the check-in area for Virgin flights.
My next challenge, as before every Virgin flight, was to remain smiling whilst trying to extract from the Virgin desk a valid reason for never giving us the seats weve pre-requested. I managed to remain polite and courteous, but failed miserably to get an explanation. Hey ho. We had requested two rows of two at the rear, but (as always) had been given a centre row of four. I explain this. The seating plan is checked - there are no rows of two left. Amy mutters to me that shes always sick in the middle, but okay by the window. I relay this information to the check-in girl, much to Amys embarrassment.
Could we have three by the window and one across the aisle instead, then? I ask.
Sorry, no you cant. At the end of this thoroughly civilised conversation, I wonder how the check-in girl has managed to turn around my minor complaint at not getting the seats Id been told were pre-allocated to us, into undying gratitude that we have been graciously allowed to have four seats together, thus enabling me to tend to my daughter who will be vomiting for Britain because she cant sit by the window. Maybe theres something in these Customer Care courses, after all. I have a hunch maybe Im just too gullible.
Maybe smiling is the wrong approach.In fact, rattling with a combination of travel pills, earplugs and wrist bands, Amy wasnt sick after all, but I came down with a migraine and felt awful for most of the flight. Fortunately, I felt better almost as soon as we landed in Miami, so I wont make too much of a fuss and beg for sympathy at this stage (Im sure Ill be able to work it in later somewhere). The plane was one of those with the new Virgin entertainment system, and we all thought this was really good, but its spoilt us now for the older system (you just cant please some people, can you?).
And so to the delights of Miami International Airport. This was fine until we discovered a distinct lack of Virgin reps or Dollar car rental information. In the end we found a throng of dishevelled would-be Dollar renters waiting outside for the courtesy bus to the Dollar Depot. We tried to join the queue. But there was no queue, just a large huddle of bodies and luggage struggling to stay within the confines of the designated area of raised sidewalk outside the terminal.
Eventually a Dollar bus arrived on the horizon, but sailed straight past because it was already full. Actually, it didnt so much sail as splutter, belching fumes as it went, but that didnt sound as fancy. Three more full buses later and the crowd were getting restless (and the huddle was growing). The next bus appeared and wasnt full; the crowd began to gather its luggage. The bus stopped, the crowd surged towards the opening doors. The crowd stalled at the three high and narrow steps inside the bus doors - up which all the luggage had to be dragged. Who came up with this system? Even British Rail wouldnt have tried making things this difficult for passengers. Not surprisingly, tempers were a little ragged round the edges by the time the bus was full of jet-lagged tourists and their bags, and the ones left standing on the sidewalk were even less happy.
So, off to the Dollar depot we went, and eventually had our Dodge Intrepid, washed and polished and waiting for us to take the helm. We set off for the Wyndham hotel with some trepidation, as the Dollar depot was in an area I wouldnt like to be in if I ran out of gas on a dark night! I tried to keep the We Are Tourist And We Dont Know Where Were Going maps out of sight as I navigated us out of the depot, and Jeremy got back into the swing of US driving just fine.
We valet parked at the Wyndham (a new experience for us, and we're still not sure if we got it right), checked-in (number 2 of the trip), and found our room on the fourth floor, overlooking a river and a golf course. Very nice, thank you.
We were all shattered, and Jeremy and the girls were starving (I was still feeling too groggy after the flight to want anything much), so we went down for a meal in the hotel restaurant. Then it was back to the room where we crashed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow at about 7pm!
Tomorrow, well be on our way to the Keys.
Jeremy, Rhian and Amy
We too had the (dubious) pleasure of flying back from Miami airport two years ago, Hilary. Not an experience I would wish to repeat in a hurry. It was SO very different from Orlando, from the amenities of the airport to the lack of courtesy by the majority of the staff.
