For the last few weeks, I have been on countdown, and every inch of spare time has been devoted to research, booking tickets, transportation, insurance, dining reservations, downloading apps, and packing suitcases.
For our Virgin flight to Florida, we are taking a National Express coach to Heathrow airport rather than do battle with the M25 ourselves. All other previous journeys to any airport except the two nearest EMA and BHX have us frazzled. By the time we arrive at the airport and have dropped the car off in the middle of nowhere to take a shuttle bus ride into the terminals, our stress levels are usually quite high and one or even all of us has slipped into a bad mood. Not this time, though. We are trying it a different way, with a view to relieving some of the pre-holiday tension. However, it’s the post-holiday tension that threatens to derail our travels forever. This starts the second we find the car and escalates through the duration of the journey as a tired driver usually misses turnings, and sits in unnecessary traffic jams, and that’s just getting out of the airport. Once on the road and heading away from London it’s not unusual to take the Southwest turning towards Bristol rather than following the road north towards the East Midlands. I would like to say it’s all part of the fun and I will miss it this journey, but the truth is I won’t miss it at all, and neither will the designated driver. We will happily sit in comfort plugged into our phones for 3 hours whilst the coach driver negotiates the roundabouts and the junctions, and if we feel inclined, we can all drift off to sleep on the journey back to Nottingham.
As the planner and organiser of every holiday we have taken as a family in the last 20 years, my stress levels don’t dip until I have cleared airport security both in and out of the country. As soon as we have landed at the destination and been met by ongoing transport, and finally once we have reached the hotel and we have been checked in efficiently. Then, and only then can I breathe a sigh of relief and sleep before I wake up the next day in an anxious state about reservations, planned transportation and entrance tickets for tours, etc.
To be honest I don’t know why I ever fret over this stuff after all I have booked, paid, and planned it all and if there are going to be any errors all of them will be out of my control. Over the 20 years, everything has always run smoothly, we have never had any issues and the one time I could not attend a pre-arranged trip due to food poisoning in Sri Lanka in 2007 our money was returned to us, so we did not lose out financially.
Holidays are supposed to be relaxing times, though I am more of an explorer than a person who still stays in one place. Every vacation we take, we plan excursions, and our trip this year to Florida is no exception. Frustratingly though I have had to endure even more advance planning on this trip though due to the system for booking Walt Disney World theme park tickets at present requires dates and parks to be booked in advance, for capacity levels. Therefore, there is no waking up and deciding which park to visit on the day like previously on 7-day Disney ticket passes. I just hope the days I have pencilled in water parks for are on the sunny days not the cloudy ones, but with the temperatures in middle to late 20’s that still warm enough for us water loving Brits.
It’s been 12 years since we last went to Disney, and it will actually be my daughters first trip to Walt Disney World. I am pretty sure a lot has changed in the Kissimmee region and around the parks, though I am assured plenty of old favourites are still there. I’m sure the last time we went, our flights and accommodation were less than half the price we paid for this trip, and food and drink was always reasonably priced. Our food and drink tastes have changed as we have matured, and we don’t really enjoy fast food anymore, therefore I am looking at my budget and calculating we have about $200 a day we can spend on food, drink, and travel. I have a feeling some days that we may find ourselves tipping over that budget for the 3 of us, but let’s hope not. If it means a few less margaritas, then so be it. (nope, I ‘d rather miss a meal and walk everywhere)
I have two choices, now I realise this, I can either rise to the challenge and budget accordingly to make sure we stay below the $200 budget each day or say what the hell we will eat and drink and travel as we choose and count the cost at the end. I am sure there will be days when we will do a little bit of both. I will let you know how it works out.
One of the main reasons we love to travel to the USA is for tasty food and drink. On my very first visit to the Orlando area 28 years ago, I remember all you could eat buffet breakfasts costing $3.99 each if you had discount coupons, and you always had discount coupons, as the hotels were full of them for certain restaurants. All you can eat Dinner and Lunch were also no more than $15 per person, and that included steaks. Hopefully, some of those same restaurant chains still exist across the 192 highway, and if so, our cash will stretch a little further. If we are resigned to eating in the Disney Parks, though, maybe not so. Saying that, though historically we never have chosen to eat in the parks we always have a hearty breakfast and leave the theme parks once we are hungry to seek a variety of food choices elsewhere.
Epcot has its food and wine festival on at the moment, so that is where we are likely to make an exception and also at Animal Kingdom too, I have spotted some really interesting food across their menus that I would like to try, and my daughter has her eye on the waffle bowls at Hollywood Studios.
I’m just counting down the hours now until we are on our way to eat around Disney, I mean to enjoy relaxation time!
Thanks for reading.
Caz
Hope, Spirit and Freedom 