Good Morning From LGW N Terminal Clubrooms Lounge

Hi Everyone,

Just having a relaxing hour or so here in the No1 Clubroom before boarding the VS 15, which appears to be on time for a 1300 take off.

Good run from Ascot to LGW although the motorways were very busy. No serious holdups, thankfully, but lots of roadworks. Left home bang on 0800 and we were deposited in the drop off area just before 0900. Our local taxi driver produced a plastic gizmo that he used to procure our trolley so £1 saved. Hoping this is a good omen for the rest of our holiday.

Slight delay at the check in. The main luggage belt had broken down. We were processed very quickly, however, by Stacey, who told us it had been fairly busy earlier on but seemed to have hit a lull. Modest queue at Economy and a few passengers lined up for Premium and Upper.

Hardly anyone in the Premium Passport Control area and Mrs Southroma was through in a couple of minutes. I always take a lot longer with laptop, iPad, etc but at least I didn’t ping any of the alarms and we sauntered through duty free (which seems to get longer and longer with each visit) to a moderately full airside.

Current flight status on the VA website shows us on time for departure and an added bonus of eta MCO 1724 (scheduled 1840).

Presently awaiting a gate number (rumoured to be 52).

I will endeavour to let you know how we get on in due course.

Kind regards,

John

Nice!
Enjoy your flight and Florida!

Schoolboy error, going through duty free!

(Although the secret corridor was closed when I last went through 10 days ago.)

Have a great flight!

Which taxi company do you use from Ascot? I live in Bagshot and usually use Atlas in Sunningdale but they "forgot" us once

Hope you have a lovely flight and great stay in Florida

Schoolboy error, going through duty free!

(Although the secret corridor was closed when I last went through 10 days ago.)

Have a great flight!

Secret corridor - I have clearly missed this each time we have been and had to battle Duty Free. Are you able to divulge where this is please, as we will be back again next month ?

Sorry. I’m an idiot. I was thinking of the South Terminal where there’s a cunning short cut.

Sorry. I’m an idiot. I was thinking of the South Terminal where there’s a cunning short cut.

Darn, we used to use the corridor in the South Terminal and loved it. Hoped there was a new one for the North Terminal - cannot stand the chaos of DF (or the North Terminal, not a fan), but at least the Clubhouse is waiting for us after all the madness...

Which taxi company do you use from Ascot? I live in Bagshot and usually use Atlas in Sunningdale but they "forgot" us once

Hi Lucylu,
Have PMd you.
Kind regards,
John

Thanks mrady and Lindsk for your good wishes.

Here in Florida now. Very warm.

Good flight on GVROS Forever Young. Took off a little late but got us in around an hour or so ahead of schedule.
Cabin crew excellent, with special mention for Sam and Sean in the Premium cabin. Especially Sean. Mrs South Roma thinks he’s wonderful. She is not a great flyer and always appreciates any kindness when we are on board. Sean not only magicked up green tea for her, but also made up a special lunch tray - Mrs SR is allergic to mushrooms and it often isn’t clear on the food selection definitions, which has caused much trouble in the past.

Wheels down at 1736, and ten minutes taxi around MCO before linking up with the airbridge. We were seats 19 A & C so we were off pretty sharpish and headed to a virtually empty immigration lounge, which rather defeated the benefits of our Global Entry. Had our pictures taken at the facial recognition machines and received clearance to go straight up the GE aisle to an IO who stamped our passports and welcomed us to the USA. Took around ten minutes from leaving the aircraft to reach the carousels.

Took another ten/fifteen minutes for the luggage to reach the carousel and our cases finally arrived. Four cases (Mrs SR doesn’t do travelling light!) so we decanted the bags onto the secondary belt for onforwarding to carousel 8A in the main terminal
.
The VA flight appeared to be the only one being processed at immigration, so most passengers were through very speedily. Pity it can’t always be like that.

Seems as though all the recent construction work has now been completed and the carousel/customs area was very clean and tidy. There were even a few customs officers around! Walk through to the escalator up to the shuttle is completely finished and again looks very clean and tidy. Shuttle duly deposited us into a fairly quiet terminal and Mrs SR sat by carousel 8A while I went in search of the Visitor Toll Pass ‘pop up’ booth, which I found just to the side of the carousel and a little way from the Virgin Holidays desk. Very helpful VTP staff quickly processed me and explained how the hanging card works. Incidentally, the promised email from VTP had arrived (and confirmed our successful signing up and the three tolls we went through on the 417) by the time we arrived at the rental home.

Went back to find Mrs SR still awaiting the luggage, so trotted out (into 90 degrees – wow!) and headed for the Alamo parking lot. Very poor selection of Int SUVs. Aisle included minivans because they were short on space, and I was invited to take one, but respectfully declined. Made a quick check of all that was available and disappointed to find that none of them had less than 20K – most over 30K or 40K. I was about to settle for the ‘best of the worst’ when a Nissan Rogue was delivered to another part of the lot. I checked it out as soon as the staff driver left and discovered it had only covered a mere 738 miles, so took the keys, locked it up and headed back to the main terminal, collecting a floating cart on the way. There are always carts just left in the parking lot. The staff often collect them up and stack them next to the booths. It’s only a $5 saving, I know, but that’s almost a large cup of Starbucks plus!

Mrs SR had collected a couple of our cases from the carousel, but the two largest were a little too heavy, so I managed to manhandle them off, loaded the cart and we headed to the Alamo lot and loaded up the Nissan. The Skip-the-counter scheme is a real bonus and we finally exited the parking lot at 1901, onto the Southern access road joining moderately heavy traffic which continued on the 417 until we passed the turnpike turnoff where it thinned out a bit.

To avoid the slow-moving stream that was the I-4, I came off at Celebration and joined the 192 through to the 27 and then south to the home we are renting at Westridge. Called into the nearby Publix supermarket to pick up a few provisions and finally arrived at the home around 2100.

I had requested to pay for the fuel and return the car with an empty tank. Stupidly I just took the receipt form and didn’t check it. Big mistake! My only excuse is that I was just so weary and hot. First time ever in something like forty odd years of vehicle renting. Just checked the form a couple of days into the holiday and discovered I don’t have the fuel service option, so I need to decide whether to return with a full tank -and the hassle of doing just that – or call into the Alamo office up on the 192 and see if I can change it there. I’m certainly not going to lose a couple of hours or so going back to the Alamo garage at OIA. Oh well, could have been worse. I won’t let it spoil the holiday.

Just a couple of days into our stay and it’s wonderful. Haven’t heard, or seen, a single mention of Brexit!!!

Kind regards,

John

Thanks for the update, John. This is great.

We have also signed up for the Visitor Toll Pass, so it was good to read that you found the staff there helpful. And a great tip about the carts, I will bear that in mind for next month

Regarding the fuel option, we always opt to return the car to Alamo with a full tank - there are a couple of 711s near the Marriott property we stay at, so we pop there quickly on the last day, en route to the airport, and it saves us a fair bit of cash vs paying Alamo for fuel, so hopefully this works out for you.

Have a great holiday over there (90 degrees, I am quite envious....)

[buns]

Thanks for the update John

Good to hear about Immigration times, like you, we have gone for GE, but we still considerit a wide investment as things could change.

Graet to know about how the crew looked after the Mrs - do make sure you send something to Crawley Towers

Enjoy the heat!!

buns

Thanks for the update - also signed up for the Florida Toll Pass for next April so glad to hear it went smoothly. Currently waiting for my GE approval (108 days now) and desperately hoping it comes before my NY trip later this month but certainly before MCO in April - I can’t face another 2 hour wait at immigration.