floridahippy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
WOODFIELDS FLORIDA FORAY - Pre trip report
Cast Members
Me - Fi (aged 46) Chief Organiser, retired taxi driver (now DD19 has passed her driving test!), worrier extradonier!!!
DH - Pete (aged 51) Are you sure we can afford this
DD#1 Lisa 24 Works in Lanzarote first holiday with the family for 8 years!!
DD#2 Vicky 19 like her mum lives and dreams Florida!!
MIL Joan (over 80) allowed to come with us for entertainment purposes!!
This trip was scheduled loosely for September 2006 but I kept looking at DH with puppy dog eyes and dropping extremely large hints about how I was missing Florida that somehow (it still remains a mystery as to how suddenly it became booked!!!) the date was brought forward to January 2005. This all suddenly happened in late October and so it was a mad dash to get flights booked, tickets purchased, coach travel sorted, overnight stop over at Gatwick booked not to mention to try and organise things for DD#1 to come from Lanzarote and for us all to be able to book leave from work. As DD#2 works in a hotel and always finds it a struggle to get permission to get holiday I rang and said it was to be a surprise family holiday and could she please have it off and could they keep it a secret which they did. DH and I had to jump through hoops to get our leave but eventually all leave was granted!
This was our first time that we have organised everything ourselves as before we have always used package holidays. I found it less stressful than I thought I would in some ways but in others I have been tearing my hair out!!
First off I checked on dates verses cheapest flights - that done I then had to find out if I could get the timeshare exchange units at the resort I wanted in the time frame. Lesson one learnt I should have listened to DH and let Guest Relations at our home resort organise the exchange but no I decided I didnt need to bother them and so I lost out big time!! I booked two weeks in one unit. That evening we were in deep discussion about how we would organise sleeping arrangements and realised very quickly that this was NOT going to work!!! I then decided to be sensible and at last follow DHs advice and ring our home resort they managed to book another unit for the two weeks (in all this used four weeks which I later found out if I had done it ALL through our home resort I would have only needed to use two weeks!)
So now we have two units for the two weeks and everyone is happy (at this point in time but this will probably change when all parties involved find out how we have organised it!!)
Flight booking well second lesson learnt things change drastically within days (if not hours). First choice had already changed. First travel agent nearly gave me heart failure when she mentioned the price for upgrading to Premier gold and she seemed very bored and gave me that look as if she would like me to disappear so I did and walked up the street to the next travel agent where I was greeted with much more enthusiasm. She checked same flight and came back with COMPLETELY different prices (so much so I kept asking if she was SURE she had got it right!!) Bless her (she was only a trainee hence my questioning but it probably made her even more nervous!)
Travel Insurance was a huge headache due to the age of my MIL and the fact that she had breast cancer last year. DD#1 also has a health problem!! We eventually got insurance with Interval International which works out a lot cheaper and as well as being fine with the health problems we are covered with the timeshare aspect too which is great.
Coach travel to get down to the airport was done on line and sorted within minutes and the tickets arrived two days later (why cant everything be that simple?!)
Overnight stay at a hotel near Gatwick that too was easy peasy on the web or so I thought!! I am such a worrier that I go over everything again and again driving everybody nuts including myself! This was why I double checked the hotel by ringing them direct about the shuttle only to find out that they were now going to charge us (maybe I should have just ignored it and waited until we got there but at least maybe I will have calmed down by the time we go,). I had spoken to the help line on the web when I booked and they assured me that they were free transfers and so that was why we booked that hotel so I rang the help line again and was assured that if I am charged then they will reimburse on our return fingers crossed!!
Next blip was the news that our flight company may be going bankrupt blind panic for the next few weeks which carried on until we left the UK!!!
Next blip phone call from Lanzarote to say flights have gone up in price and DD#1 unsure if she can get a return flight (she is also anxious about missing the connection if we are delayed) Her idea is get a one way ticket and then do stand by coming back this sends me into a panic as I now view this is as DD#1 has not got enough money and we will have to fund her flight back to Lanzarote!!
Next blip was pet care!! An S.O.S. was put out and a friend of MIL offered (for a price) to have our very mad black Labrador to stay. DD#2 didnt want her baby put in kennels, as she is a dog who loves her cuddles!!! She spends every evening curled up on the settee as close to us both as she can get (she is even known to try and sit on your lap which was fine when she was a little pup not so good at 18 months heavy weight!!) The three cats will be fed, watered, let in, let-out by our neighbour
Well Christmas is fast approaching and all I can do now is hope that the time will go fast (DH says I shouldnt wish my life away but I am only wishing this bit to go fast, while we are in Florida then it can go slow but it doesnt work like that does it?)
The next blip to appear on the horizon was a text from DD#1 from Lanzarote Please ring urgently. Rang her to find that four days before she had to have emergency major surgery and so bless her she sent me into a blind panic I wanted to go out to her but she stopped me in my tracks and said that I mustnt go due to costs etc and that she was fine and friends knew how to contact me again. Breathe easy again for all of five minutes then realise that travel insurers need to be notified to see if she will still be covered!! Anxious two day wait as they were closed (of course!!) after another two days and various phone calls later I was assured that all would be covered.
Everything calms down, no more blips and the packing is completed.
Cast Members
Me - Fi (aged 46) Chief Organiser, retired taxi driver (now DD19 has passed her driving test!), worrier extradonier!!!
DH - Pete (aged 51) Are you sure we can afford this
DD#1 Lisa 24 Works in Lanzarote first holiday with the family for 8 years!!
DD#2 Vicky 19 like her mum lives and dreams Florida!!
MIL Joan (over 80) allowed to come with us for entertainment purposes!!
This trip was scheduled loosely for September 2006 but I kept looking at DH with puppy dog eyes and dropping extremely large hints about how I was missing Florida that somehow (it still remains a mystery as to how suddenly it became booked!!!) the date was brought forward to January 2005. This all suddenly happened in late October and so it was a mad dash to get flights booked, tickets purchased, coach travel sorted, overnight stop over at Gatwick booked not to mention to try and organise things for DD#1 to come from Lanzarote and for us all to be able to book leave from work. As DD#2 works in a hotel and always finds it a struggle to get permission to get holiday I rang and said it was to be a surprise family holiday and could she please have it off and could they keep it a secret which they did. DH and I had to jump through hoops to get our leave but eventually all leave was granted!
This was our first time that we have organised everything ourselves as before we have always used package holidays. I found it less stressful than I thought I would in some ways but in others I have been tearing my hair out!!
First off I checked on dates verses cheapest flights - that done I then had to find out if I could get the timeshare exchange units at the resort I wanted in the time frame. Lesson one learnt I should have listened to DH and let Guest Relations at our home resort organise the exchange but no I decided I didnt need to bother them and so I lost out big time!! I booked two weeks in one unit. That evening we were in deep discussion about how we would organise sleeping arrangements and realised very quickly that this was NOT going to work!!! I then decided to be sensible and at last follow DHs advice and ring our home resort they managed to book another unit for the two weeks (in all this used four weeks which I later found out if I had done it ALL through our home resort I would have only needed to use two weeks!)
So now we have two units for the two weeks and everyone is happy (at this point in time but this will probably change when all parties involved find out how we have organised it!!)
Flight booking well second lesson learnt things change drastically within days (if not hours). First choice had already changed. First travel agent nearly gave me heart failure when she mentioned the price for upgrading to Premier gold and she seemed very bored and gave me that look as if she would like me to disappear so I did and walked up the street to the next travel agent where I was greeted with much more enthusiasm. She checked same flight and came back with COMPLETELY different prices (so much so I kept asking if she was SURE she had got it right!!) Bless her (she was only a trainee hence my questioning but it probably made her even more nervous!)
Travel Insurance was a huge headache due to the age of my MIL and the fact that she had breast cancer last year. DD#1 also has a health problem!! We eventually got insurance with Interval International which works out a lot cheaper and as well as being fine with the health problems we are covered with the timeshare aspect too which is great.
Coach travel to get down to the airport was done on line and sorted within minutes and the tickets arrived two days later (why cant everything be that simple?!)
Overnight stay at a hotel near Gatwick that too was easy peasy on the web or so I thought!! I am such a worrier that I go over everything again and again driving everybody nuts including myself! This was why I double checked the hotel by ringing them direct about the shuttle only to find out that they were now going to charge us (maybe I should have just ignored it and waited until we got there but at least maybe I will have calmed down by the time we go,). I had spoken to the help line on the web when I booked and they assured me that they were free transfers and so that was why we booked that hotel so I rang the help line again and was assured that if I am charged then they will reimburse on our return fingers crossed!!
Next blip was the news that our flight company may be going bankrupt blind panic for the next few weeks which carried on until we left the UK!!!
Next blip phone call from Lanzarote to say flights have gone up in price and DD#1 unsure if she can get a return flight (she is also anxious about missing the connection if we are delayed) Her idea is get a one way ticket and then do stand by coming back this sends me into a panic as I now view this is as DD#1 has not got enough money and we will have to fund her flight back to Lanzarote!!
Next blip was pet care!! An S.O.S. was put out and a friend of MIL offered (for a price) to have our very mad black Labrador to stay. DD#2 didnt want her baby put in kennels, as she is a dog who loves her cuddles!!! She spends every evening curled up on the settee as close to us both as she can get (she is even known to try and sit on your lap which was fine when she was a little pup not so good at 18 months heavy weight!!) The three cats will be fed, watered, let in, let-out by our neighbour
Well Christmas is fast approaching and all I can do now is hope that the time will go fast (DH says I shouldnt wish my life away but I am only wishing this bit to go fast, while we are in Florida then it can go slow but it doesnt work like that does it?)
The next blip to appear on the horizon was a text from DD#1 from Lanzarote Please ring urgently. Rang her to find that four days before she had to have emergency major surgery and so bless her she sent me into a blind panic I wanted to go out to her but she stopped me in my tracks and said that I mustnt go due to costs etc and that she was fine and friends knew how to contact me again. Breathe easy again for all of five minutes then realise that travel insurers need to be notified to see if she will still be covered!! Anxious two day wait as they were closed (of course!!) after another two days and various phone calls later I was assured that all would be covered.
Everything calms down, no more blips and the packing is completed.
, then I read about the difficulties before hand. Think you should have put a warning there 
