Friday morning arrives and I am wide awake at 3.30am. A friend has landed in Sarasota, so we viber each other to keep company.
Once we were all up and dressed it was strip the beds, put the towels washing on as requested in the folder. We did a tidy up as best we could and then loaded up the car, did the last run round and headed out to a breakfast in IHOP. It was quite sad saying goodbye to the villa as it's been such a wonderful place to stay.
Before we left I did check that the Glasgow flight had left on time and it had. The Manchester flight was running about 7 hours late. But because there were no delays we said we'd head to the airport once we'd had breakfast.
We arrived at IHOP on the 192. What a busy place it is later in the morning from when we were there at silly O'clock. We will still seated right away. I chose to have have the pancake combo. It was pancakes with bacon and hash browns as I don't like eggs. Was a bit gutted to not be able to have wholewheat, so I had banana buttermilk pancakes this time. I loved the hashbrown as the potato was just perfect. I felt comfmortably full. Mr G chose the pancake combo but with the red velvet. They were very yummy as he kindly allowed me a taste. Would definitely try them again. The Boy chose to have 5 mini ones with bacon too. Lil Miss chose to have the chocolate chip stack but got rather full after just a few. We finished pretty quickly and as we left there was a queue out the door with people waiting to get in.
We popped next door to the gift shop for a nose and to kill some time. Lil Miss needed the loo again, so Mr G took her in while I bought some last minute gifts. We then decided it would be a good idea to maybe head up the I4 to the airport. It was the first time I'd done such a drive in Florida, but it was easy and we were parking in the Budget spaces by 11.15am. We headed over to the terminal building to a delayed flight.
I felt Thomas Cook let themselves down. I could hear this voice yelling that we should take any medication and stuff for an overnight stay out of our main bags and put them in our hand luggage. There was someone going through the queue with letters. The manchester flight was delayed until 10pm. No one came near us as the person going through the queue moved to the back and started speaking to the people entering the queue. We heard from someone else that the Glasgow flight had a 5 hour delay. When we reached the front for check in, I asked the staff for the letter and he was astounded we hadn't been given anything. He did check us in and confirmed our seat numbers were the same that we had booked. He then put all our baggage through. We'd paid for 25kilos and didn't need it. Our heaviest bag was 17kgs. The check in guy then disappeared and came back with some pieces of paper. He explained we would be getting refreshment vouchers for $12 each to use in the departure lounge. We headed through to security.
Now it's already been a bad start to the airport experience and it was about to get worse. Mr G and Lil Miss went through the scanner fine. Mr G usually beeps and despite wearing the same clothes as travelling out in, he didn't. I then went throught and the security man said "You're fine... Oh no you are a random!" and he starts shouting "random, random!" I'm panicking about The Boy as he's not gone through the scanner yet. The guy motions him throught and he catches up with Mr G and Lil Miss. Meanwhile I have to show my palms and be swabbed. Was trying to see what was going on at the machine but another guy was getting everyone mixed up and causing no end of confusion. I spy one of those machines you get on Uk Border Force and programmes like that and the wee card has been popped in the machine and it's beeped and turned red. My knees are shaking as the one who is getting everyone confused is demanding I stand in a certain place. But the guy who was swabbing me says "She's alright, the one in the wheelchair is the positive test!" I breathe a sigh of relief and then get my shoes back and somehow have hurt one of my fingers which has turned purple and is swelling!
I'm more concerned about getting out of the little security bit that we get right on the escalator. Finally we're in the departure lounge. Mr G decides to see if there is availability in the Palm Lounge. It costs $100 but includes free drinks and 4 alcoholic drinks for me and Mr G. We were also able to use the vouchers in here. The only problem is the major lack of choice. I'm not a fan of chicken tenders or toasties as the bread is always white. I didn't fancy any of the meals really. But we got toasties for lunch. We decided to pool $24 for one meal and pay in cash and do the same later on for dinner. The good thing about the palm lounge is the free computers with internet access to keep an eye on the arrivals and departures and to contact family members back home. There was a cinema with various recent films on. A sports area with the TV. A games room with PS2's. A mini kiddie area with the disney channel. There was also a quiet area but it was very busy lol.
Finally our flight had a flight time of 10.45pm. The manchester flight was not so lucky. When we left they had been issued with further vouchers and a flight time of 1am.
Finally 10pm came and boarding started. The cabin crew were very friendly and did their best despite the delay and most of the passengers being shattered. Our meals weren't as good as on the way out. There was a choice of roast chicken which was very bland or beef which dh said the peppercorns burnt your mouth off. The vegetarian dish seemed to get moved around the dish and not eaten. I managed to get a bit of sleep. About 9.30am we received breakfast which was a blueberry muffin. It wasn't very appetising. Could have done with a bowl of cereal.
Finally we landed with no issues at 11.10am. Just a mere 6 hours and 20 minutes late. Immigration was very quick even although we'd nipped into the loo. Baggage felt like it took forever but we must have been quite quick. We were in the car with Mr G's dad by 11.50am.
The good thing about coming home was we were able to unpack and put all the clothes right away in the drawers as we'd washed it all in the villa. I then jumped in the shower before we visited some friends. After a good old chippy for tea, I was in bed before 7pm. Unfortunately I only slept until Midnight. Mr G slept for 13 hours and the children were both 15 hours when we woke them up.
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