The fairly regular trip to Delaware, with a side of New York City! Day 2 Wilmington

Editorial note: Yesterday I completely forgot that after Starbucks and Crumbl we went to more shops 

We went to a few other favourites - William Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie and Eddie Bauer I think.

I know this has to be true because I got a cute tin of peppermint bark treats in William Sonoma - they were on sale from Christmas! There will be a photo but at the end 

Sunday 16th March

This morning we decided to have brunch at Kid Shelleen’s, we walked down and arrived a couple of minutes before they opened. There was already a line forming but we were seated straight away when they opened up.

They brought out some yummy pastries and then we had the following selection:

I think I had scrambled egg with bacon, Rob almost certainly had the omelette, Jennifer had the pancakes with egg and sausage and I think Tom had the French toast option (I really should have made notes of this!)

We headed back to the house where we were curious about the arrival of a Fire Truck (and firemen) in the road outside the house. We later discovered that they were checking their hoses or something.

As it was Sunday we decided to avoid the mall and headed instead to Costco where we spent quite some time trying wanting to buy stuff that we couldn’t bring home. We also tried and failed to convince Jennifer and Tom to buy a giant TV.

We then went to Home Depot and picked up a Starbucks from the nearby Target as a treat for Tom (oh and I was thirsty).

Rob got this little gadget:

We also went to Marshall’s, Joann’s (which was quite sad) and Sketchers (where Jennifer really encouraged me that I needed to buy some….but I have too many new pairs in the wardrobe).

I got a beginner crochet set in Joann’s as I have decided recently that I want to learn….I am definitely not ready to make it yet though!

We decided to pick up food from Whole Foods (rotisserie chicken and some sides) and we finally ate our crumbl cookies.

They were nice but I am not sure they were as amazing as the internet would have you believe.

We spent the evening building the Lego cat – I have to say I am not keen on their new ‘paper’ bags.

The fairly regular trip to Delaware, with a side of New York City! Day 1 Wilmington

Saturday 15th March

This morning we woke up around 0800 and we all got ready for the day ahead.

We had some had toast and coffee before we set off for an epic day of shopping (although we didn’t actually buy very much).

We headed off and started at Target (I think…I forgot to make a note of exactly where we went and in which order) and then maybe Best Buy.

But I do know that we then went to First Watch where we had brunch.

Rob had an omelette (I mean of course he did), Tom had a trifecta with a pancake (well actually he had 2 because they brought the wrong one and the server insisted they correct it) with egg and turkey sausage.

Jennifer also had a trifecta but with a waffle, and I of course had French toast but look at all that fruit….totally the healthy choice!

We popped into Staples which we all agreed wasn’t as good as last time.

We then went to Dicks, Michael’s and of course Lowe’s.

I was slightly disappointed that I couldn’t find any mega crafting bargains in Michael’s.

By this point we had been shopping for a while so we stopped and got coffee from Starbucks – although it was a very odd one as it was actually hard to find!

We also picked up some cookies from Crumbl, which may have got slightly squashed and so they don’t look quite as pretty as you might expect in the photo which was taken later in the day.

We decided on pizza for dinner (which I don’t appear to have taken a photo of) and then we concluded that we couldn’t manage to eat the cookies!

We then played some games on the switch, now Rob and I are pretty much rubbish at all of the games….even when they are explained we just don’t do well.

However, we played one this time (which was essentially a pinball machine) where in a sheer fluke of luck I managed to get a score which Tom had been trying to achieve for some time….Sorry Tom!

It was beginners luck though as I wasn’t able to replicate it (we may have had a few attempts!)

Oddly we were a bit more tired this evening so I think we all had a slightly earlier night (it was probably all of the shops!)

The fairly regular trip to Delaware, with a side of New York City! Pre-travel and Travel Day!

Pre-travel Day – Thursday 13th March

We had a slightly unusual lead up to our trip as Rob was away on a work trip until the afternoon of our pre-travel day.

We had therefore started pre-packing before the actual day which is unusual for us.

Here is the position as at Sunday evening:

On actual pre-travel day I was working from home so that I could make sure the car had enough charge.

I had to have a call at 0800 which was far too early (as I had Peloton to do before that) and then I headed down town to get my hair done.

I walked back home and was back working again at about 1130. I carried on until Rob got back at about 1500 and then we both logged off and finished the packing.

Rob did a quick workout while I finished up our preparation (a bit of cleaning for the burglars obviously) and then we packed the car and headed on our way.

We stopped at Fleet where we got KFC for dinner and added a little bit of charge to the car and then we carried on the short extra distance to the Thistle at T5.

We paid £209 for a king room and parking for our trip (which worked out as 9 nights I think).

We did end up buying a ridiculously expensive drink from the Thistle ‘shop’ which I think was £3.99 for a can of sprite! We headed to bed pretty soon after we arrived as we had an early start the next morning (which becomes a theme for the trip.)

Travel day - Friday 14th March

We had an early start at 0530, we paid our pod charge (£8) and were soon in a pod on our way to T5.

We used the club check-in (as bronze members) even though we were in WTP and we were in giraffe by 0650.

We had our breakfast, which was once again more expensive than it should be (but service was good today) and then we took the shuttle to the B gates.

We boarded about on time, we did have a long taxi though so I’d guess took off at about 10am.

We were provided a snack (pretzels) and drink quickly followed by lunch (I was worried we might get brunch).

Rob had the butter chicken and I had the pasta option. Both were quite good and much better than we have had previously in economy.

Dessert was white chocolate ‘cake’ which was again very tasty.

I then watched Barbie and fell asleep for a couple of hours which was good, I think Rob also had a short nap. We were then given some more snacks (dairy milk little bars.)

I watched some Young Sheldon episodes and then we were given the chicken pastries. These aren’t great but they are at least edible.

We arrived in NYC just after 1300 (due at 1340) but it was a long taxi, we whizzed through immigration by just after 1330 using global entry. Our bags took a little while but we were on our way just before 1400.

We took air train to the rental car place, did the ‘paperwork’ and the car was apparently not ready.

We waited the time we were told (10-15 mins) before someone told us it had been there the whole time. I appear not to have taken a photo of the car 

We got ourselves sorted and the sat nav loaded before heading out where we found there was a lot of traffic in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

It took us 3 hours to reach Wilmington but it was Friday afternoon / evening so somewhat expected.

We unpacked and exchanged various snacks, we had brought a selection of dark chocolate goodies and Jennifer had amazingly remembered to get us some girl scout cookies (which I had forgotten to request!)

We headed to Kid Shelleen’s for dinner, we did have a little wait for a table as it was quite busy but we were able to sit and catch up near the bar while we waited.

I had a chicken Caesar salad, Rob had steak and Tom had Fish and chips (I think these were not as disappointing as some he has tried.) Jennifer, I believe may also have had a salad but her meal did not get documented….

We even managed desserts! Tom had some doughnuts (coffee flavoured?) while Rob and I both had brownies….I had the half portion while Rob went all in. I believe Jennifer had some ice cream.

We walked back to the house and had achieved a fairly good time adjustment thanks to the nap on the flight.