South Carolina 2011 - Part 2 and then home :(

4^th October

Today we decided to head to Savannah to see the sights. I had heard good things on the internet about Savannah and it was only about 1 hour from Hilton Head.

We decided not to leave too early as we didn’t want to hit any traffic. I had devised a cunning plan of stopping at a visitor centre to work out how to find somewhere to park! So off we went, I had put the visitor centre address in the sat nav for ease. Well, it turns out I picked a visitor centre inside Savannah airport!

It actually wasn’t that bad – we parked, got directions and then got back on the road….we were in and out so quickly that the car parking at the airport was free!

So, side adventure over, we carried on to Savannah. Finding the car park was actually quite straightforward with our directions and once we had parked we went for a walk around.

I had my Savannah visitor book with me and we searched out a couple of museums to see if they were worth visiting. Unfortunately we found a couple and they seemed quite expensive (to us) so we gave them a miss! We did a bit more wandering and Rob took some photos and then we walked down towards the waterfront.

By the way – special note for Jennifer – the sidewalks in Savannah are extremely bumpy and not at all level – we took a photo especially for you!

Down by the water we looked for a place to have lunch. Rob is not a fan of seafood so that limited our choices a little bit. We decided to eat in this very strange little place that looked like it was about to fall down – and also seemed like it used to be outside and had been built into an inside place!

Lunch was ok, not great. Probably my least favourite meal of this part of the trip. I did have beignets for dessert though which were amazing! Made up for missing out on doughnuts the other morning!

After lunch we did some more wandering. We considered taking a boat ride but decided against it. Got a free trial of some praline in the candy store which was yummy!

Not long after this we decided we were bored with Savannah (please nobody hate me!) and so we got back in the car and went back to Hilton Head!

In fairness to Savannah I probably should have done some more research before we went. If I had found some specific attractions that we wanted to visit we probably would have had more fun. Think I have worked out that me trying to ‘wing it’ isn’t the best idea!

On the way back we stopped at Target and Staples and bought a few little bits – including a T shirt for me with Mickey and Minnie at Halloween!

Dinner tonight was takeaway pizza from Guiseppi’s which was just as good as the other night!

5^th October

We went to a local place this morning for breakfast – Stacks Pancakes. I had heard good things on the internet and so wanted to try it out. We also got a 10% discount voucher to use! I had pancakes with fresh fruit and Rob had an omelette I think. I could only eat about half of my pancakes – very disappointed about that! Didn’t beat brunch from our first morning though!

After that we had booked to go out on a boat trip – in the hope of seeing some dolphins. The boat only holds a maximum of 6 passengers so we were excited about our trip.

We got on the boat and then picked up two other people so only 4 of us plus the Captain of the boat and off we headed. We were out for about 1hr 45mins and we saw a few dolphins – on about 4 separate occasions but I only managed to get one photo!

Having said that Rob would have been happy with just the boat ride – he likes boats and if we ever win the lottery he will probably be getting one!

Back on dry land we went to the pool for the first (and only) time during our trip. Did a little bit of laying in the sun – but forgot my sun cream so got a bit red! Had a go on the water slide as well which was fun!

Did some laundry before packing up all our things for our drive back down to Orlando the next day and then went out for our last dinner in Hilton Head.

Back out towards Sea Pines to a place called One Hot Mamas, another place from the pizza company group. I had a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and Rob had chicken with macaroni and cheese and fries!

Another really good meal and again I think it was less than $30 which is such good value!

Off to bed early as we were trying to leave early again in the morning!

6^th October

We were up and out before 9 this morning and on our way back to Orlando. Journey was uneventful and we stopped to grab lunch at a service station on the way. Think it was again a McDonalds but it was quick and easy. Back on the road again quickly and we were soon in Orlando.

We were spending our last night at the Waldorf Astoria – a complimentary stay due to some issues we had last year when we were at Key West. My only complaint about this place would be that you have no option but to use the valet parking – at $20 per day. If you were staying here and driving to the parks you would be spending $34 a day just on parking!

Checked in quickly and got a room on the 10^th floor. Really nice room – and great views from up here!

Had a walk around and found a computer we could use for checking in online for our flight the next day.

Watched some tv in our room and then went to use the computer to do just that. Checked in exactly 24 hours before and got extra leg room seats!

Decided I couldn’t resist a last minute visit to Disney, as we had one day left on our tickets, so we hopped on the shuttle – which left about 10 mins later (Rob actually had to run down our corridor to return our passports to the room!) and we were on our way to Epcot!

We went in and headed onto Spaceship Earth for one last ride and then went over to see if Soarin’ had any fast passes remaining. It didn’t and there was a 60 minute wait…so we decided not to ride. We were heading into the pavilion though to check out food options and a man handed me one Soarin’ fast pass. Rob told me to ride on my own while he got a drink…..so I got one last ride on Soarin’!!!

Couldn’t find anything we wanted to eat in Sunshine Seasons so we headed over to the world showcase to see if we could find anything we wanted to eat here.

Compared to our first Epcot visit at the start of our trip it was now noticeably busier as a result of the food and wine festival, but not as bad as opening day!

We eventually ended up at the America pavilion so grabbed a bite to eat in here. It wasn’t too bad for Disney but I was too full to get the cheese plate from the aptly named ‘cheese’ booth afterwards!

Managed to get one last ride on Maelstrom although Rob refused the Mexico boat ride – poor Donald! Decided not to stick around for Illuminations as the last shuttle wasn’t until 10.05 and we didn’t really want to wait around.

Bought me a couple of extra pins – and a new bag for my pins as I was running out of space and then we hopped on the bus back to the hotel.

7^th October

Got up this morning and reluctantly packed up the remainder of our things – was slightly worried about my hand luggage weight due to the large quantity of candy that was inside!

Had the car brought around and left the hotel at about 10. Our flight was at 5pm and we didn’t want to risk getting to Miami too late. We stopped on the way at an Earl of Sandwich so got one last ‘Disney’ taste before heading home.

Arrived at the car rental centre at about 2.15 – car dropped off no problem and over to the terminal.

Got to the BA bag drop to be told that the flight was delayed by an hour! We could have stayed in bed longer or gone shopping or something!

As we were already at the airport we decided to head on through security as at least that would be out of the way.

We then had the longest wait ever on the other side. No free wifi and nothing much the other side to do, so Rob got a pizza and I had an ice cream sandwich. I then read a book (an actual whole book start to finish) which Rob watched a film on his iPhone!

We eventually boarded and after an uneventful flight, with some annoying passengers behind us, arrived back at Heathrow the next morning about 7am. Through passport control quite quickly and bags didn’t take long either.

We were back at home just before 10am and managed to get to the kennels and get the dog before the extra day charge came in!