We want some luxury and relaxation...so Florida and a cruise :) Day 1

We had a long ‘pre-travel’ period for this trip!

We finished work on Friday, Rob had been away for most of the week at an event in London so we both had loads to do before we finished. Finally, at about 7pm we were done, so we had dinner and then it was time for bed!

Saturday

We got up and went for our normal weekend breakfast before heading to town for toiletries etc!

We both did our gym classes and obviously did some washing and other prep. One of our friends had some car drama so we went over to offer some assistance which worked out well in the end.

We decided to have Dominos for dinner – sorry no photos!

Sunday

I had set an alarm for 7am so that I could do a 60 min peloton ride, Rob started doing the ironing while I was out there.

We did the last of our main washing and then we packed our bags! Our friends were very concerned that we left it so late.

We made bagels for brunch and then packed away our garden furniture and mowed the lawn.

We managed to clean the house for the burglars before we printed out our cruise paperwork.

We did the last of the washing (just the gym clothes) and put the dishwasher on.

After all of this we finally left home at about 1530, there was lots of rain and the usual A303 traffic. We stopped at Fleet (is it a holiday if you don’t?) and hoped to add a little bit of charge to the car but it was packed and there were no chargers available.

We kept going after a short rest and arrived at our hotel (the Thistle T5) at about 1800, of course we got wet unloading the car, as we hadn’t brought coats with us.

We decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant - we both had burgers and millionaire brownies, the cost inc service charge was £53 which wasn’t bad.

Monday

Our alarm went off at 0545 and we got ready and walked to the pods, luckily it wasn’t raining, we had to wait a minute for the pod to “charge” and then we were on our way.

There was a short queue at check in but we were through security and onto the lounge at the B gates by 0715.

We saw Jeremy Clarkson and his partner Lisa on our way up the escalator - you might see the back of them in my video.

We got breakfast in the lounge - we had sausage bagels and I had a couple of pastries. I also had a couple of coffees.

We then walked to the C gates, which was apparently a 10 min walk but it was more like 5.

There was a very small seating area at the gate and a long wait to board. Apparently, we needed a clean plane and had to wait - we had assumed that was normal but apparently not.

On board we were offered drinks before departure and asked for a drink order for after we take off.

We had the usual safety video and we are taxiing at 1015, first drink and little snack (oddly nuts) by 1100.

Lunch started at 1140 and took about an hour - we skipped starters but had bread and salad. I then had pasta, Rob had chicken then I had cheese and he had panacotta.

We had some light turbulence which was scary with the drinks (in case they spilled) but otherwise the flight was really smooth.

I then watched Guardians of the Galaxy until I fell asleep for a little while. Then when we woke up we got drinks and a snack, before I watched 3 episodes of Andor.

I then started watching an episode of Mandalorian but then they brought afternoon tea. I skipped the sandwiches and had the scone and little desserts.

I just managed to finish that episode before we landed (even though I’ve seen it before.)

We were on the ground about on time 1445 I think at the stand.

Passports were quick although I had to get a new photo and fingerprints and Rob had to get a photo too, our bags were off almost immediately (thanks club priority tags).

We sorted out our roaming (we use Lebara and it’s £10 for 2 weeks (6gb) and then ordered an uber.

Took about 5 mins to arrive and we were in our way, the traffic was quite heavy (Monday rush hour) and a 22 mile journey took 50 mins.

The uber cost including a tip was £56.59 which considering parking at the hotel would have been $50 per night was a bargain.

We arrived at the Diplomat and checked in we headed down to get some food.

We had a pepperoni pizza and some cake for dessert 

Then we took a quick look at the pool, beach and gym so we knew where everything was, sadly the building work on the pool area was more extensive than the website suggested.

Although the pool is technically ‘usable’ the noise from the work was so loud that we could hear it from our room on the 32nd floor.

We pushed through for as long as we could and ended up going to bed around 8pm.

The fairly regular trip to Delaware, with a side of New York City! Trip Home

Saturday 22nd March

Our alarm went off at 0445, we had a very generic email from BA which said your flight might be delayed. So, we thought we’d better get ready and head to the airport.

We got our taxi at about 0530 after checking out of the hotel, it turns out taxi rides are faster at that time of the day but no less exciting!

We arrived at JFK at just after 0600 and walked to BA check in. We waited 20 mins to be checked in as there was no one on the WTP desk and the agents constantly called people from the WT line.

We were checked in quickly when we got to the front of our slow-moving line.

We headed to the TSA pre check line which was busy but we didn’t have to remove shoes etc so that was worth a slight wait.

We then looked for somewhere to eat breakfast, there was a lot of work ongoing in the terminal and there were limited options but we managed to secure some omelettes 

Afterward we waited at the gate until boarding started, the flight was showing as on time and we indeed started boarding as normal. They did announce that the flight was very full and asked for volunteers to check in hand luggage.

We boarded and secured our bags, we were sadly in the middle of 4 seats so no aisle access 

We waited while the rest of the flight boarded and it was indeed FULL. We were offered drinks but declined.

We took off pretty much on time and were anticipating an on-time arrival.

Breakfast was served when we got on our way, I had French toast and Rob ended up with the economy full English which was a mistake. It was very poor.

They had given out all of the WTP Full English options. Rob should have asked for the frittata (which is essentially an omelette) but didn’t think through what he was doing. The French toast was not bad as a 2nd breakfast.

I napped for a little while and then I am sure I watched a movie but I forgot to note what it was! I know it wasn’t Barbie though, maybe The Greatest Showman?

I did watch some episodes of Young Sheldon though.

Rob got us some biscuits and dairy milk bars when he went to the toilet. I escaped my seat whenever one of our aisle seat people moved because I am always paranoid about needing to use the toilet. 

About 1 hour before we were due to land they announced we’d be taken to a remote stand and bussed to the terminal. The good news was that we were expected to land early…!

We were on the ground at about 1940 (due at 2000) and boarded our buses and we arrived at the main terminal to a short line for passport control.

We were through the e-gates quite quickly and as we went down the escalator to baggage claim we could see our bags!

This literally never happens and last time we were at Heathrow it took us about an hour! We picked up our bags and headed out.

We boarded our pod to the car park at the Thistle and were on our way at about 2030.

We stopped at Fleet to get dinner (Burger King) and arrived home just before 2300, for regular readers there were no charging dramas!

The fairly regular trip to Delaware, with a side of New York City! Day 3 - NYC

Friday 21st March

Today the alarm went off at 0440 as we had to get ready and head to Peloton Studios for our 30 min trance ride at 0630.

We got ready and got a cab from outside (to avoid the 30 min walk). It cost us about $21 inc tip and we arrived at the studio at just after 0530.

You have to check in at least 30 mins before class or they give your spot away (as seen yesterday when Rob got into his strength class).

We got ready (I had worn most of my gear but had to change into my shorts) and waited for the line to form.

We got bikes at the front which meant we were likely visible for parts of the ride.

It was essentially a 30 min climb which was challenging at such an early time of the day. I got a shout out for my 1650th ride and there was another person in the class from Dorset which was amazing!

The class was good fun and we queued up for our photo after….mine is shocking!

We got showered and changed and headed back to the hotel for breakfast.

We both had muffins and a hot drink, we were back in our room by 0830 and had a little rest after the early start!

As the sun had come back out we headed to Central Park again and had lunch at the Cafe at the Boathouse. Slightly annoying but we didn’t realise that we could have eaten in the main restaurant 

It was much cooler today and quite windy so we had hats and scarves etc on but we still got a few nice photos.

We needed another rest after lunch (that early start was hard on us!) and then later we headed down 5th Avenue to Times Square where we did a bit of window shopping. We definitely don’t find Times Square as much fun as we used to our our first few trips.

We decided to have dinner at Chick fil a, we weren’t feeling like we wanted a big meal and this was just what we fancied.

We sorted out our luggage (we are loving packing cubes) and got everything ready ahead of our planned flight in the morning.

This was the day of the power failure at Heathrow and when we went to bed on Friday night we weren’t at all sure what would actually happen in the morning.