There goes Florida, part 8 - Fishing, shopping and some jazz

[Hilary]

There goes Florida, part 8 – Fishing, shopping and some jazz

Cast
Me – Hilary, 48. Beginning to suffer from trip-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.

Thursday, 8th April
Jeremy was off early for his full day fishing trip , armed with sunscreen, jumpers (catering for all eventualities), insect repellent and lots to eat and drink. Not burdened with the onerous task of catching fish, the rest of us had a bit of a lie-in and I asked front desk to arrange for a taxi to take us to the Coastland shopping mall in Naples.

The taxi had been booked for 11 a.m. so, when it hadn’t arrived by quarter past, I asked the front desk if they could find out where it had got to. There appeared to have been a communication breakdown, but I was assured it would soon be with us. The receptionist took the opportunity to check that our booking for a taxi back to the hotel in the afternoon had not also been the subject of a communication breakdown – it had been. She corrected it, they apologised, job done. As we weren’t tied to a strict timetable this was a minor annoyance, but didn’t really matter. However, I thought it would be prudent to ask our driver (when he eventually arrived and we were on our way) to check the return trip was ‘in the system’. It wasn’t, he corrected it, they apologised, job done.

We spent a leisurely day in the mall, had lunch in the food court and took ourselves plus purchases to the meeting place for the return taxi. Can you guess what’s coming next – or, rather, not coming next? That’s right – the taxi. When it hadn’t shown up after twenty minutes past the arranged time, I phoned the hotel, as I didn’t know the name of the company with whom they’d made the booking. They were very helpful, made a few calls, and eventually I was told the taxi would be with us very soon. Is this sounding familiar?

Soon enough a taxi appeared on the horizon, but stopped before it reached us. Two women got in; the taxi drove off. Another taxi appeared and screeched to a halt as I threw myself in front of it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I spent the whole journey back to the hotel explaining myself to the driver, who was blaming me for the first taxi picking up the two women passengers instead of us. Exactly how this was my fault, I never really understood, but our driver was not happy that he had been diverted to rescue us when I had failed to evict the two women from the other taxi which had actually been sent for us.

So, to recap - the original taxi had failed to turn up to take us to the mall, then the taxi had failed to arrive to take us back to the hotel. The next taxi had been hijacked from under my nose, and the third taxi had a disgruntled driver who was taking us back out of the goodness of his own heart. Clearly this was All My Fault. I tried to calculate how much tip would I have to give for causing so much trouble to everyone.

When we arrived back at the hotel, and the driver had stopped giving me the third degree about how I’d managed to cause his taxi firm to grind to a halt due to my unreasonable demands that a car I had pre-booked (three times) should actually arrive to collect us, he waived the fare, saying the hotel would foot the bill! I wasn’t going to argue, but I was fully expecting the fare to be added to our room bill later (it never was).

We’d booked a meal at the hotel restaurant this evening as it was their Live Jazz Night. Well, when in Rome … The front desk had advised that booking was pretty much essential as these evenings were popular, so I felt pleased with myself for remembering to do this before Jeremy returned from the mammoth fishing trip.

I shall gloss over the mammoth fishing trip, but suffice to say I’m glad we weren’t relying on the catch for supper. Perhaps I should just buy him some golf clubs.

So we reported to the restaurant and they managed to squeeze us in – along with at least two other couples in the whole dining room . I can only assume the “we advise you to book” comment is a ruse to make sure anyone turns up at all. Oh, there were also a couple of ducks wandering in and out of the open doors, but I don’t think they were paying customers.

I think all the other residents who weren’t in the restaurant had probably been to a previous Jazz Evening and knew better than to repeat the experience. I wouldn’t say it was completely awful, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you like to be serenaded very loudly whilst fending off the occasional duck pecking at your feet. To be fair to the artistes, they were perfectly adept at what they did, but there was an awful lot of atmosphere lacking, somehow. The server looked visibly shocked when we asked if there were any vegetarian dishes on the menu, but she recovered sufficiently to find us a decent salad from somewhere.

Not a great finish to our time in Naples, but it was certainly memorable!

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[KayleeUK]

Sounds like a lovely day I am glad the taxi driver didn't charge you after all that hassle.

 

[highlander447]

U gotta love taxi drivers or not as the case may be

 

[WDWfan uk]

Hmmm..... still no big catches for Jeremy.

The taxi fiasco sounds like experiences I've had locally
I get the feeling that Naples is not for you Hilary?

 

[Hilary]

I get the feeling that Naples is not for you Hilary?

LOL!

Well, we had an enjoyable few days there, and certainly don't regret giving it a try, but there are other places we prefer (as well as a lot of places we have yet to try ). Horses for course, I guess.