Month: August 2013

Final Fiddling and Fond Farewells

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

So here we go with the final blog before our latest US adventure.

Judging by the glacial pace of last week, I am hopeful our two weeks in the States will feel like about seven, but I suspect not.  One more long, long week to navigate at work before the fun begins.

Louise has finished now, and has all of next week to do all my packing.  She is having a day off on Tuesday though to take the girls to Alton Towers for a pre-holiday theme park warm up.  It’s fine, I’ll just go to work.

This weekend, I have checked and double checked all our documents, confirming for the one hundredth time that our passports are still valid.  I have checked our seating on the various flights and even tweaked them on one leg.  This is the final fiddling of a man desperate for the holiday to start.  There is additional final fiddling that I shall keep secret just for now too.

As I mentioned last week, always at the back of my mind is the worry around the journey.  I don’t think (like Louise) that we are nailed on to plummet to a fiery death somewhere over the Atlantic.  My fears are more mundane and revolve around us missing a connection and it eating into valuable holiday time.  It has happened before, and will no doubt happen again as long as we travel indirect, and that shall be the case until we do not need to fly at peak holiday times where direct flight prices seem to involve you actually buying your seat forever, rather than simply renting for around nine hours each way.

I am telling myself that should such things happen, they are outside of my control and I should not be upset or stressed about it.  What do you think the chances are?  Should we end up spending a night in Chicago, well that is all part of the adventure isn’t it, and should be treated as such.  We’ll see.

I often feel, after months of waiting and counting down, a sense of panic that I have not only forgotten something, but have not planned enough to make the most of the holiday.  It is silly I know, as we’ve not had a bad one yet, but such is the thought process for a planning Type A control freak such as myself.

This time next week we shall be in and around Chicago, about to undertake the final leg of our journey down to Orlando.  This throws up the age-old question of when does your holiday start?  Every year I tell myself to relax and enjoy the journey as much as possible.  This is a life lesson I would do well to heed in general, as even though the long journey can be arduous, tiring and stressful, it is better than any other day when we are not heading for Florida!

De Plane!

I love the child like excitement and anticipation of the airport on departure day.  It smells of bright white trainers, too much perfume, childhood memories and raw adrenaline.  In Louise’s case the latter is pretty much all from her as she still finds flying a major challenge. The enormous breakfast, the visit to WH Smiths and in more recent years Starbucks are all part of the pre-flight routine that confirm that we are heading off for fun and sunshine.

Here comes the annual offer of in holiday updates should you wish to follow any or all of us.  There are the links you need –

Me – @Mkingdon

Louise – @MrsMkingdon

Emily – @elmooose

Rebecca – @becky_willie

The advent of in park WiFi has changed things forever in my view.  Travelling to the States just a few short years ago meant leaving your phone and/or laptop at home, and being blissfully disconnected for the majority of your time away.  Now, you can get online all over the place, and this makes it much easier to taunt those stuck at home with photos and updates galore.

We will be pretty active on twitter I would imagine, but the trick is to remember to put the phone away (are you listening Emily?) and enjoy things in the old-fashioned way.

Jet lag dependent the next scheduled blog will be September 1st, but I make no guarantees.  I may not be able to see the laptop over my enormous stomach for a start.

As ever it does not feel real that we shall be back home in a few short days, dining in our favourite places, and doing our favourite things, but I shall do my best to adjust to the idea over the next week, readying my body for the onslaught of calories, heat and Disney.

For those we may encounter over there, I look forward to meeting you, and I hope my sack does not disappoint.

See you on the other side.

Till the next time…..

Probably not as good as last week’s blog!

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Walt Disney World

So, last week’s blog went pretty well!

And now, normal service is resumed, both in terms of the lack of exciting content, and in terms of me being able to talk about plans for our upcoming WDW holiday.

We’ve been waiting so long for the reveal that I always thought once we’d done it, we’d be more or less setting off for the airport immediately.  Unfortunately this is not the case, and the week since has been one of the slowest I can remember.  We have two more to conquer and I don’t see them whizzing by either.

So as tradition dictates, my holiday clothes shopping started at around 10.30 on Saturday and ended two shops later at around 11.45.  I have my bright white trainers, a new pair of “leezure pants” in which to travel, and some other bits and bobs.  Done!

Trainers
These are all white.

As usual, at this time of year I dust down Ryan, and check out whatever we left in him last year before he was tucked into hibernation for the year.  It turns out he didn’t contain half of the things I hoped he did and so had to visit Amazon for some stuff essential to the modern traveler.

  • Rechargeable batteries for the camera
  • Four new plug adapters (for the vast array of electrical hair devices and phone chargers)
  • Some inflatable neck pillow things (who needs Business Class?)
Ryan
The main man

The dollars were ordered this week.  No doubt I could have gained an extra three dollars or so by studying the phases of the moon or Michelle Obama’s menstrual cycle, but instead I just ordered from Travelex for next day delivery and got on with my life.  I am not cool and sophisticated enough to be able to resist counting my dollars and even having a quick sniff when they arrive though!

Now of course it is not unusual for all those pre-trip concerns to rear their head.  Of course being on an indirect flight the main fear is that this will cause us trouble. The risk of one leg being delayed is a worry.  Only on the way out really to be honest, as if we’re late coming home I can live with that.

The relief of getting to check in to find that everything is running to time is one I really look forward to.  If it isn’t, be ready for one enormous sulk, and be thankful you are not travelling with me!

From everyone’s lovely comments and replies last week, it really does seem that half of the UK will be in Florida with us, most of whom seem to be staying at Old Key West.  If you do see us there or anywhere else, please come and say hello, and I’ll do a collection of blog reader photos for a special blog when I return.  I’ll even let you hold my sack!  In fact, let’s make that a rule.  To avoid any embarrassment of approaching some bald bloke of the internet you must introduce yourself by saying “Hi, I’d like to hold your sack”.  That should be an ice breaker.

I see that I also picked up a number of new readers last week, so welcome to you all.  You will quickly discover that last week’s exciting and emotional post isn’t something to expect every week.  More likely you’ll find irrational rants and woe is me moaning, but hopefully you will stick around for a while.

You should know also that the rule is that if you have ever read one of my blogs you must buy my book.  It’s the law, OK?

I’m off to watch the clock tick down some more and work out how the hell I can write a trip report that is in some different from all the ones before.  That may take some thinking through.

Till the next time….