Living in North West London, Heathrow is an easy airport to
get to but of course all Orlando flights leave from Gatwick. So it was an early
start 5am when the alarms go off and after the normal morning routine and some
last minute packing. We were on the road at 7am and heading for the M25 car
park. As this was the end of the half term week, traffic was not too bad and
around 8:30 we were parking up at the North Terminal Gatwick. Check-In had been
done the day before at work, so it was quickly to the bag drop, and off to
Costa for a goodbye drink.
This was to be a solo trip so after the drink, my wife and I
said our goodbyes and I wandered back through the security, with still 2 hours
till take off. I was directed towards the smaller right hand side security
check which was nice and empty and I always have a plan, so all metal had
already been moved to the rucksack or jacket pockets, and wearing slip on shoes
I was quickly through into the new departure lounge. A quick trip to boots to
get some water for the flight (I dehydrate badly so always try to fly with at
least 1.5 litres in bottles without having to keep dealing with the flight
crew. I found a seat near a departure board, and as this was the last Weekend
of Star Wars Weekends, I had been trying to re-watch all the Movies in release
order, the original trilogy had been done before the jubilee, but I was still
only 2/3 of the way through Episode 1, but this pause gave me time to finish
this. At that time the flight was shown as boarding so headed down (literally
as it was down the circular ramp) to the gate.
At the gate it was the classic check everyone in and then
places them in a holding pen, before boarding the plane. Waiting here the
phones were turned off and I got chatting to a nice couple who were off for a 3
week trip but whose daughter was on a Virgin flight and they were slightly
anxious to meet up with her once we landed at MCO. Boarding went OK, I was the
first to my aisle seat, so allowed a single female into the window seat and
waited to see if the middle seat was going to be filled. After a short wait the
doors were shut so it looked like we would have a spare seat between the two
strangers, which does give solo travellers some nice extra space. During the
flight I found out that my seat partner for the flight was a South African
beauty therapist who was off to work on a Carnival ship for 9 months and before
getting on the Orlando flight had arrived that morning from Cape Town, which is
way too much time in a plane for me.
The flight landed just behind the Virgin 747 but we did get
a nearer gate to the immigration hall so as we disembarqued the passengers from
the Virgin flight were streaming past and we all merged in to the flow. This
mass of passengers overwhelmed the immigration officals and the queues were
longer that I can ever remember at MCO, it took about 45mins or walking up and
down the queue route before getting to the official. But once there it was the
quick right hand, right thumb, left hand, left thumb, photo routine and I was
through to baggage reclaim. Bag had
already arrived and was rotating around. And I was through to the Monorail,
when I could finally try to get my phone to work and a quick call home to say I
had arrived safely.
The main terminal building seemed incredibly hot, but was
probably me just adjusting to the heat over in Florida in June. I headed down
to the Avis desk to pick up the hire car, and after the usual big push to get
me to buy more insurance (this time I was certain I was insured enough so
managed to get them to let me take the car without any more money needing to be
paid). Off to the parking garage to find my chariot for the week, and after
some confusion as Budget and Avis share aisles but not signage. I found the red
Kia and wondered why the desk clerk thought I might need a larger car as even
though I had booked the smallest class of car, this was a 4 door saloon, with a
large boot that could take 3 large suitcases, more than enough for me and 1
suitcase.
GPS on my phone was setup and the mount stuck to the
windscreen and I was off to I-Drive and the Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando, my
base for the next week. The drive was uneventful, but as I had headed left in
the terminal to the car hire I did have to do most of a loop of the Airport
before I could leave by the north exit (a very minor first, as we have always
headed south before). The only confusion was the GPS seemed to only show exits
at the last minute.
The Rosen Inn is a great little hotel in a classic motel
style external hallways, but the room was spacious and clean and that all I
really wanted, check in was simple and I was given a yellow tag to hang on the
car rearview mirror to indicate I was a guest and could get into the parking
areas. My room was found at the south most end of the hotel in the block I had
requested via email a few days before, Block F room 3412.
After a dump of bags and a text home Dinner became the main
objective. I also had to try and pick up some vitamins for a friend who used to
live in Florida, so decided to try the Super Target up by Millennia as I would
then pop to the cheesecake factory for the first meal. Super Target was a waste
as it did not have what I needed (DHEA) and the Cheesecake Factory was a 1 hour
wait for a table (for 1) and the bar area was slammed, but it was 7:30 on a
Friday night by this point, so 2 cheesecakes were purchases to go, as I did
have a nice empty fridge in the room. A Hershey’s Chocolate cheesecake and a
Reese’s peanut butter cup swirl. So I got back in the car and headed to the
hotel, dropped of the cheesecakes and walked over the road to Pointe Orlando (having
grabbed an umbrella as the evening rain had arrived.
I finally worked out why the GPS had been so strange as it
was in 2D mode rather than 3D but trying to switch Co-Pilot wanted a paid
upgrade so this had to wait till I got back to the hotel, but for £10 extra (so
I had spent £13 in total) it still seems like great value.
I have never been to Hooters and decided that that would be
a good bet for a quick dinner and a beer, and I was right. I had a nice table
with a view of the TV showing USA v Anguilla football match, my server was Ivonne
and was the bright and bubbly person I was expecting to work at Hooters. Dinner
was 2 large Stella’s some boneless chicken wings and Tater Tots. A distinct
lack of vegetables or greenery but I thought I could survive 1 meal of this sort.
After eating the lateness of my body clock started to tug at
me, so walked back to the hotel in the much heavier rain and after a quick
unpack, teeth brushed, and alarm set I fell asleep.
