On Friday morning I was again up at five, wrote the blog post I posted that morning and planned a relaxed start to the day as we didn't need to check-out until Midday.
Breakfast
We showered (me) and bathed (Drew) and prepared for today's journey. We went down to breakfast a little later than usual at 9.00am. It was much busier at 9 than it has been at 8.30 on the last few days. As it is Friday I have a day of abstinence so it was Cheese Omelette and a selction of cheeses (Provolone, American and Swiss) for me, plus orange juice and coffee.
Drew did have meat, and the meat for today is Maple Sausage, Drew was perplexed by the name <<Co-pilot's note: It was more a sense of bewilderment than perplexity.>> and even more perplexed when he tasted it. He wondered why anyone anyone would put Maple Sauce into Sausage Meat before making a sausage – he will never understand it. <<Co-pilot's note: Along with Cold Brew!!>>
After breakfast we went back upstairs and packed and prepared for the journey.
It was a lovely sunny day in Miami.Travelling to the Airport
We went down to check out at 11am and at 11.15 were in the car ready to head to Orlando.
The route was like this:
The drive out of Miami was relatively easy, with only four turns before we reached the I95 and then travelled for 8 miles until we met the FL826 - The Ronald Reagan Turnpike - and travelled for 211 miles.
The route was like this:
The drive out of Miami was relatively easy, with only four turns before we reached the I95 and then travelled for 8 miles until we met the FL826 - The Ronald Reagan Turnpike - and travelled for 211 miles.
At 1:40 we arrived at the Fort Drum Service Plaza and stopped for a loo visit and a coffee. We left Fort Drum at 2.20pm and completed the journey to the Hertz Orlando Airport drop-off at 3.31pm.
Orlando Airport
We got the stuff out of the car and got the lift to the check-in area of the Airport. We checked in at 3.40pm, there was no one in the queue ahead of us for Premium Economy and, like at Gatwick, there was a ‘fast-lane’ for security for Premium Economy customers (called TSA pre-checked). This meant that we didn’t need to take off our shoes or belts or take out PCs etc out of our bags. This made life so, so much easier.
We were quickly through the check, though Drew set the bleeper off again and needed to walk through the more complex imaging system, for them to find nothing. We got the shuttle out from the main airport to the international gates and arrived in the lounge, called The Club at MCO by 4.15pm.
The club is very well laid out with work, food, relaxing and bar areas. It also has very smart toilets and shower rooms, though we didn’t use the latter.
As it is Friday I had a salad and some crisps for my snack and some pretzels later. I also had a few diet cokes and coffees while checking emails, Facebook and typing up my notes from today. The Flight
Premium Economy and Upper Class are able to board ahead of other passengers, so we were on board at 6.50pm and offered drinks, we both had Orange Juice.
The flight left the gate at 7.50pm (12.50am UK time) and was in the air ten minutes later. The cabin we were in was in the bump at the top of a Boeing 747. This area is right behind the flight deck.
Dinner was served at 2.10am. It now being Saturday I was happy to be eating meat. I opted for the Beef Stew which was a lovely stew with a balsamic and pepper sauce served with baby carrots, green beans and mashed potatoes. Drew opted for a Chicken Curry with ratatouille and mashed potato, the curry was very taste with lovely chunks of chicken, the ratatouille was also chunky with veg. The one surprise was that the current was served with mashed potato not rice - which seemed odd to Drew. We also had a starter of a fresh salad which was crisp and tasty. There was a dessert of Custard Tart with dried raspberries, Drew had my dessert while I had his cheese (American) and saltine crackers. (NB - There are no photos of the Airline food as the cameras and phones are in our hand-luggage which has been stowed in the wardrobe of the airplane, we could have requested them back, but we were to busy eating!!)
Four hours later and we were being served breakfast. This was a plate of fresh fruit strawberries, melon, water melon and blueberries with a yogurt and granola, with coffee served in a proper mug.
The plane landed at London Gatwick at 8.50am, a little earlier than the published time, and got to the gate at 9.00am. With the use of the ePassport system, rather than queues to wait for a person, we were through passport checks by 9.10am We then had to pick up our bags. Again Premium Economy and Upper Class get a designated bag collection point and our bags came out first. We got the bags by 9.20am and got the Shuttle to the South Terminal and to the Train Station by 9.35am. We caught the 10.03am train to Reading and the 12.12 train from Reading to Cardiff Central.
We arrived at Cardiff Central at 1.45pm. With Drew managing two suitcases we decided to get a Taxi home and arrived here at 2.15pm. Time to plant the case, chat to our neighbour, Pat, and end to Sainsburys to shop.
Almost Farewell
There will be one more blog post to summarise the holiday, but in the meantime many thanks to all those who have been following the blog for the last three weeks.
<<Co-pilot's note: He has also informed me that he will be finishing the Newfoundland holiday blog (from 2011) some time this year. Like you said in 2013.>>
<<Co-pilot's note: He has also informed me that he will be finishing the Newfoundland holiday blog (from 2011) some time this year. Like you said in 2013.>>
In response I can say the paperwork for that final post is sitting in the same drawer as the 'Miami and the Keys' book!!!
a highly entertaining and informative blog as ever, look forward to following your travels again in the future, hope the USA can sort itself out in the mean time.
ReplyDeleteA difficult time for the USA, but the ordinary people are still as friendly and pleasant as ever. I'm sure that natural optimism will prevail, at least I hope so.
DeleteAnother interesting and informative 3 weeks. I enjoyed the pictures and the text and will have to find another gripping narrative to follow. POTUS is good value. Thanks for sharing your travels and for spending such a disproportionate amount of your holiday time on the sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Robin,
DeleteIt has been a pleasure, and your journeying with us is always part of the fun.
I did notice the blogging time more this year, largely because we didn't have as many driving days as usual. On our normal holiday I can draft the text on an ipad while Drew is taking his turn on driving, but we only had four of those types of driving days this year - whereas they are normally the majority. Still the 5am to 7am period between me getting up and Drew doing the same is always good for blogging. And it is worth it.
I found that you get loaded same time as premium economy when you are with kids ;-) On Singapore Airlines they give you an actual glass tumbler and metal cutlery for your meals. No one was interested in my boots and told me to put away the tablet as that was not of importance either. I found the airline food on my flights were very tasty with the exception of the 2x3 block of tofu and as a special meal i.e. Vegetarian I get my meals pronto same time as the kids do. I don't choose tea or coffee on the plane as I find them bitter. I down apple or orange juice that are freely available all the time and water from the dispenser.
ReplyDeleteI have as ever enjoyed your blogs I really must make more of an effort to do similar with my nz visits. I always do a photo book and that takes up a lot of time as I take multiple shots and can never decide which to use. Although his time I was image taking device poor with two breakages. Thank you again both and Captain Jack (from TopBear).
Thanks Linda, yes people with children sometimes get boarded early. But Virgin do Premium Economy first, then people with children in Economy. I've not flown Singapore, must look into it. Having glasses and china cups and real plates and knives and folks does make the experience much nicer. I did notice the vegetarians did get fed first, but I was willing to wait. With only 24 people in the cabin and two stewards we didn't have to wait long.
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