Once again we have achieved the minor miracle which is moving ourselves a fifth of the way round the globe without mishap or disaster. We made very connection with the minimum of hassle. I am constantly amazed that the four big engines on the 747 can work constantly for 9 hours without a single falter (they can’t misfire).
For those who are sad enough to like the details of journeys and for our own records the following is a description of our journey. For those not so afflicted they may pass on to the lower part of the page.
You can skip from here……………….
A rare experience for us is to travel through Middlesbrough by taxi. Fortunately we gave ourselves half an hour to travel the mile and a half to the station, since the driver told us a) that the would take the quick route through the town, using the bus lanes and then 10 minutes and three quarters of a mile later, that b) he normally worked in Thornaby. Our journey of no more that 7 minutes took him nearly 20!!!! However we arrived on the platform as the train pulled in. The train journey went very smoothly, the only hiccup being that because of signal failure the train terminated at Manchester Piccadilly. However we only had to get off the train and move to the other side of the platform to catch a connecting train to the airport. A quick call summoned the Hilton’s shuttle bus, which transported us the estimated 100m (as the crow flies) to the hotel and we were safely installed in an upgraded ‘deluxe room’ (no provision for disabled access room, even though it was on the booking form). Because they never have anywhere comfortable to lounge I like a couple of extra pillows and because Sally doesn’t like to feel left out she has a couple as well, so I returned to the front desk to ask for four extra pillows, “That would be fine Sir” the lady said with a refined, but definitely Latvian accent. About an hour later a knock at the door and a slightly confused housekeeper brought two more pillows. She gave them to us and made a move for the bed and started to pickup our pillows, saying something in a definitely unrefined Polish accent “ Ghare R you pheorm pelos”. At this point confusion reigned as I was not about to give up my pillows because this lady could not count. Clarity arrived through repetition as she eventually made clear these were foam pillows. She thought we wanted hypoallergenic foam pillows, so was replacing our pillows with foam pillows. To be replaced by eye popping expressions of disbelief that we would want four pillows each! Fortunately Sally said that she would be happy without any extra and every thing was sorted (except of course Sally stole one of my pillows, not that I would complain about that).
That evening we splashed out on the three course set menu in the Hilton’s restaurant and justified it as being Sally’s Birthday Meal! It was very nice, Sally had a char grilled chicken salad followed by Salmon with new potatoes and green beans and finished with fresh fruit salad. I had mussels in lemongrass and chilli cream sauce, followed by rump of lamb pan fried with chips and a jus, with green beans. I finished off with a lemon tart and cream. Overall it was a very enjoyable, well presented and tasty meal, leaving us feeling pleasantly full.
We woke early and unfortunately could not do justice to the breakfast buffet, though we did our best. The shuttle delivered us to the Terminal, there was no line for the bag drop – straight through, the aircraft boarded early, there were plenty of spare seats on the plane (unusual) and a favourable route delivered us to Orlando airport 30 minutes early. A slight hesitation on our smooth passage was the immigration officer! She had been annoyed by another employee who had ushered us to her desk before and American Resident (two different lines)! So she relieved her annoyance be giving us the third degree on why we wanted to be here, why I had a visa but Sally didn’t, why I had a visa, full stop, how much cash we had, etc. very petty, but after reading all the small print on our passports very closely, she allowed us to enter the nation proud of it’s freedom. A rapid transit through the airport followed by a short taxi dirve (which didn’t stop it costing $45) to the premises of Cruise America. A quick walk around our RV, which is adequate, though basic and looks t be about 5 years old and held together with duck tape, and we were underway. One minor slip of direction (going the wrong way on the Expressway) meant half an hour extra on our journey time and we arrived at Connie and Jim’ just in time to get parked up in our usual spot before it got dark.
…………..To Here
As we drove up Connie and Jim’s drive we could see that about a dozen RV’s were already here and when we pulled up at the Pole Barn we got a very warm reception from everyone and within seconds felt we had never been away.
Kathy and Jim have been wonderful and loaned us a whole heap of stuff like cutlery, bedding and Jim has even loaned me a coffee maker. I left Sally to unpack the cases into the cupboards and drawers on the RV, while I went and had a short jam session in the Pole Barn.
As we crawl into our bed in our little RV we give thanks once again that we have arrived safely on the start of our next adventure.
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