It made sense to drive down the night before and get into holiday mode early. Our flight was 10.30am but needing to get to the airport at 7.30am meant an early start either way.
This way it was just a little more bareable.
We had a nice meal in the restaurant at the hotel and retired to bed early in anticipation of a long ass day Saturday.
A 5.45am alarm is never welcome, even when you are on route to the sunshine state it still smarts a bit so not quite with life we fulfilled the usual obligations of teeth cleaning , wash etc - you get the idea.. got dressed and left to deposit the car at the car crèche.
I love flying , I mean like LOVE IT but even I was not 100% looking forward to the 9 hours contained in a tin can.
I thought long and hard about what to wear and then defaulted to what has become my travel uniform.
Black bandeau jersey jumpsuit, chunky sandals, ever present radley cross body bag and a shirt for the inevitable airplane aircon assault.
This time I mixed it up a bit with the addition of a cool Panama hat I eye spied in Assessorize in duty free within about 15 seconds.
I know ...impressive, it's a skill.
Parking and check in was quick and smooth so shout out to the Virgin team at Manchester for a speedy service.
And now for my revelation - Fast Track security.
This was the impulse buy of all impulse buys on the interweb a few weeks ago. Usually I'm like, nah waste of time/money/both.... Oh no my friends ....genius is what this was, pure genius.
Literally no queue at all, the feeling of smugness I felt walking up that lane past the lengthy queues on the other side was immense. It wasn't even shadowed by the joy I felt upon finally getting my mitts on a Rose gold pandora bracelet and charm about an hour later. And that my birdies is saying something, because I've been dreaming about that for weeks if not months.
Anyway I digress as usual. Fast track .....sheer heaven, we walked right to the desk and being the efficient , some might say OCD person I am I was prepared. Liquids in a bag check, electricals all handy check, shoes unbuckled - well no check but in fairness I had no chance due to the complete lack of queue action. It's fair to say once you've gone fast track there is NO going back. I'm converted.
The advantage of the speedy security meant more shopping time but first liquid was required. The Mr and I went into Cafe Nero first stop and downed a latte and some water. A few beers the night before may have slightly dehydrated us both along with hotel aircon.
Usually breakfast is an airport staple but last nights dinner was sitting heavy as it was pretty late when we ate so we skipped that and went for a stroll. I.e we went on a duty free scouting mission.
As I said I've bagged myself a great new Panama hat which I love and will be a main feature of my 2 weeks in Cape Coral Florida. Pandora sort of dragged me over and sucked me in like a Vortex and the only way to buy my freedom was to leave with a new rose gold clasp bracelet and a cute double heart charm. It really was close call that I'd leave at all !
The Mr wanted a baseball cap so we went to JD next to get that sorted and as you all know no airport visit is complete without a shopping spree in WH Smiths. So 2 books , gum, M&M's and various other confectionary later (none of which half, way into the flight has been consumed ) we left there.
Boarding was fairly quick and pain free , mainly because we sat and waited for the hoards of people who seem to think waiting in line is a recreational sport to get on first.
We scored big time because although in a bank of 4 seats in the centre of the plane the other 2 seats are empty.
I have to say Virgin do look after you on board , water on entry, a drink trolley soon after take off and then lunch after a few hours. I've have a Tiger beer and red wine by 1pm .....They also, just as I'm sat typing, came round with cute little Fab ice lollys which released the inner child in both of us as you can see from the picture. At this rate I'm going to have gained half my holiday weight before I get off the plane.
So I've watched 2 films both of which made me proper LOL and cry - think that's the altitude , totally going with that excuse.
How to be single is something I've wanted to watch for a while and did not dissapoint. i'm totally convinced that Rebel Wilson and I are soul mates and need to be BFF's so Rebel ..call me bitch lets hang.
I also watched Sisters which wasn't on my film radar in any way shape or form but boy was it funny and I totally recommend it as a feel good, laugh a minute watch.
So that's it for now Birdies. I'll post midweek with a Florida update. I must dash the drinks trolley is on the way round again and I haven't had any alcohol for oh 2 hours now so.... Come on I'm on my holibobs it's compulsory.
Speak soon Birdies ...and remember, Make good choices ....buy that hat, it totally looks super cute and yes you do need that giant bag of M&M's that will double up as a sleeping bag when empty.
BB
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