TraceyL
Always planning........
- Joined
- Nov 7, 1999
- Messages
- 1,866
Sun 19th -late
We stopped enroute for dinner and for some reason decided to cut across country via Lake Wales instead of going all the way up the turnpike to Orlando. We found The Palms at Lake Davenport with little problem, about a mile south of the intersection of the 192 & SR27. It must have been between 9:30 & 10pm when we finally arrived at offices of Florida Palms Vacation Homes to pick up our directions & keys or so we thought !
.Lucky break number 2 was me spotting a mistake on Expedia, a 4 bed Villa on special offer pay for 1 night get 6 nights free instead of vice versa. Expedia honoured the booking so it only cost £174 for 2 weeks
.
The address we had been given was a house, deserted and in darkness. The lockbox we had been given the number for didnt exist and the telephone number we had on the booking confirmation was discontinued. We drove round the estate looking for something that looked like a management office, walked round the villa several times and checked any thing that looked like a lockbox. We gave up at almost 11pm and decided wed find a hotel and try the pone books or ringing Expedia in the morning. Wed been up for almost 24 hours, the girls were knackered and I was almost in tears. A woman pulled up and asked us if we were OK. So we explained why we were acting suspiciously, confirmed with her that we were in the right place and asked if shes heard of Florida Palms (she hadnt). She then proceeded to offer us her villa in the next road for the night so we didnt have to find a hotel she was returning there to check it over after guests leaving that morning. We took a little persuading but she insisted that she could return to her condo and we could stay for free!! She hoped that somebody would do the same for her if she was ever in a similar situation. Unbelievable generosity from a complete stranger.
We followed her to the next loop in the development to an amazing 2 storey, 5 bedroom, themed Villa. Lorre showed us around, said we were more than welcome to use the pool as the pool heating had been on for the previous guests, apologised for leaving some of her belongings behind and left. All the girls wanted to do was go in the pool at that time of night - so we all decided to take a dip. The villa was fantastic ideally set up for two families. Videos in every room, toys for the kids, dressing up clothes, games etc.
The view of the living area
.
Lorre's Villa
We unpacked some essentials and I scoured every piece of info Id printed off the net about Florida Palms, I tried every phone number from Lorre's phone and one of the 9-5 numbers I found turned out to be the out-of-hours emergency number in Resort Quest! They informed me that Florida Palms had moved 6 months ago to Mango Key on Lindfields. They were quite surprised that I didnt want to pack up again, go and fetch the keys and find the villa there and then at midnight! I told them wed be around in the morning and that I was not impressed to say the least.
I went to sleep in my Out of Africa master suite with its ensuite thats bigger than my bedroom at home hoping that tomorrow would be a better day
There it Is - Day 2
We stopped enroute for dinner and for some reason decided to cut across country via Lake Wales instead of going all the way up the turnpike to Orlando. We found The Palms at Lake Davenport with little problem, about a mile south of the intersection of the 192 & SR27. It must have been between 9:30 & 10pm when we finally arrived at offices of Florida Palms Vacation Homes to pick up our directions & keys or so we thought !
.Lucky break number 2 was me spotting a mistake on Expedia, a 4 bed Villa on special offer pay for 1 night get 6 nights free instead of vice versa. Expedia honoured the booking so it only cost £174 for 2 weeks
.The address we had been given was a house, deserted and in darkness. The lockbox we had been given the number for didnt exist and the telephone number we had on the booking confirmation was discontinued. We drove round the estate looking for something that looked like a management office, walked round the villa several times and checked any thing that looked like a lockbox. We gave up at almost 11pm and decided wed find a hotel and try the pone books or ringing Expedia in the morning. Wed been up for almost 24 hours, the girls were knackered and I was almost in tears. A woman pulled up and asked us if we were OK. So we explained why we were acting suspiciously, confirmed with her that we were in the right place and asked if shes heard of Florida Palms (she hadnt). She then proceeded to offer us her villa in the next road for the night so we didnt have to find a hotel she was returning there to check it over after guests leaving that morning. We took a little persuading but she insisted that she could return to her condo and we could stay for free!! She hoped that somebody would do the same for her if she was ever in a similar situation. Unbelievable generosity from a complete stranger.
We followed her to the next loop in the development to an amazing 2 storey, 5 bedroom, themed Villa. Lorre showed us around, said we were more than welcome to use the pool as the pool heating had been on for the previous guests, apologised for leaving some of her belongings behind and left. All the girls wanted to do was go in the pool at that time of night - so we all decided to take a dip. The villa was fantastic ideally set up for two families. Videos in every room, toys for the kids, dressing up clothes, games etc.
The view of the living area
.
Lorre's Villa
We unpacked some essentials and I scoured every piece of info Id printed off the net about Florida Palms, I tried every phone number from Lorre's phone and one of the 9-5 numbers I found turned out to be the out-of-hours emergency number in Resort Quest! They informed me that Florida Palms had moved 6 months ago to Mango Key on Lindfields. They were quite surprised that I didnt want to pack up again, go and fetch the keys and find the villa there and then at midnight! I told them wed be around in the morning and that I was not impressed to say the least.
I went to sleep in my Out of Africa master suite with its ensuite thats bigger than my bedroom at home hoping that tomorrow would be a better day
There it Is - Day 2
