V-Flyer

Easy trip to LGW the day before by train and staying at the LGW Hilton in an executive room including breakfast courtesy of Mr Tesco and his vouchers. Used OLCI in the lounge and printed out our BP's as we had no luggage to check in.

Flight paid for with miles and Amex upgrades so it really was a trip done 'on the cheap' this time.

We both received emails from VA the night before to let us know that the flight was delayed by 3 hours, we really weren't too concerned, we stayed at the Hilton a little later, had breakfast there and, after moving my haircut appt., had lunch in the lounge. Staff were excellent as usual.

Boarding was at the planned later time and we took off exactly to the new scheduled time of 15.45.

Sat at the back of PE upstairs (80H&K), on the last couple of trips we had no choice of meals by the time the CC got to us. A nice touch this time was that they came to us first, noted that we were Au and Ag card holders and asked us for our preference before anyone else. A nice touch, and although very much appreciated I still didn't partake of any of the offerings as they didn't appeal to me.

Flight was uneventful and was asked on departure if I enjoyed the flight and said my thank yous and noted how very quiet and peaceful it had been. It may have been down to the late departure and some passengers being over tired but it was very restful and the CC did lots of drink rounds and were visible throughout.

We were first off and first to immigration and things were going just too well [:I] I looked for the car hire voucher and realised at that point I'd forgotten my driving licence - not a big issue as my husband had his but if looks could kill I would have been dead. Straight away I knew he was considering the lack of beer he would be consuming at various points over the next week or two.

We also had some bad news the night before when I'd had a message from my Management Co. in Florida, looking after the house, that they had sent the cleaners in and cleared out the fridge etc. and the villa was ready for our arrival. They were expressly told not to do this as family, who had only left our villa a couple of days previously, had stocked the cupboards with everything imagineable for us. This turned out to be worth a great deal of money and apart from the inconvenience of arriving to no food or drink, it was totally out of order. Said MC is no longer employed, enough said.

A couple of days in, the next disaster was a call from VA Amex to say someone had been spending on our Virgin Amex card in Chicago, MBNA were very quickly onto it and they had only spent $50. We did have plenty of cash and other cards but as it had only been used once in Walmart and once in Publix I would hope that it would warrant an investigation, especially as exactly the same thing happened in February whilst in Orlando.

All disasters out of the way, we headed to Fort Myers (last minute decision)and booked a beachfront room and decided to just chill for 4 days - it was well worth it and although the hotel didn't have any restaurants or bars on site, it was only $100 per night, had free WiFi, a full kitchen, two queen beds etc and a view to die for. Having paid 3 times as much for the Marriott and similar in Marco Island and Naples I have to say it was worth every penny and the extra money saved was better spent in local restaurants and filling the fridge with beer and wine so that no driving was done for our stay.

Back to Orlando and we sorted out new Management for our villa, my drivers licence arrived the day before we came home and my dear husband celebrated by drinking the bar dry on the final evening.

Sorry, more of a holiday report than a flight one, but as the flight was so uneventful it would have made a boring tale.

Thanks for reading
Jilly

Jilly

Always keen to read about the LGW - MCO Route[y]

Sat at the back of PE upstairs (80H&K), on the last couple of trips we had no choice of meals by the time the CC got to us. A nice touch this time was that they came to us first, noted that we were Au and Ag card holders and asked us for our preference before anyone else. A nice touch, and although very much appreciated I still didn't partake of any of the offerings as they didn't appeal to me.

Although this is no longer one of the benefits of Au, the fact that the crew noticed your staus means they were on the ball[y] As 80H&K is my favourtaire, i can only hope that the same happens to me next time[:w]

As part of the drink drive policy in the buns' household - She does the drinking, I do the driving - I can imagine the response to your licence absence[:w]

buns

Jilly,
Great to hear someone else enjoys SWFL.
We'll be at Lover's Key next week.
Much better than Marco [8D]

Bill

Glad your flight went well, thanks for the TR [:D]