Month: August 2024

The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024 – Day Eleven Friday 7th June

by mkingdon, posted in The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024

At least today there won’t be any going to the beach and I’m sure we’re all agreed that this is a good thing.

Instead, you get the riveting, very badly remembered travel home day. For those still here, I salute you.

We were awake at 6.30am after a poor night’s sleep. We dozed and rested for a little while before getting up to undertake the unpleasant task of packing. It took about an hour or so and then we showered. We left the room just after 10am with the weather outside already hot enough to make the recent shower irrelevant.

We loaded up the jeep and headed for a gas station. I filled up and got us some “breakfast” from the mini-mart inside. It was a high-class establishment as most “mom and pop” gas stations tend to be in the US. Breakfast took the form of a Starbucks iced coffee thing in a bottle and some sugary cake-based thing.

We endured the I95 for the final time this trip and it was a long and brutal two hours. Thankfully with none of the horrendous weather we endured on the way down (doesn’t that seem a lifetime ago?).

I’d set the sat nav for a mall in Melbourne that was not far from the airport as our last-minute gift shopping had become even more last minute. It was lunch time by the time we arrived so I was delighted to see….

It was pretty quiet and we were seated immediately. We wanted to go out with a bang and a need for some larger clothes so we started with the Bloomin’ Onion.

and the bread of course.

It was glorious.

To follow, I had Sirloin and Ribs and a Jacket Spud that bore little resemblance to the rock hard taste taste-free entities I endure at home.

Louise had Fillet

It was all gloriously tasty and I really enjoyed everything about it. The bill was $110 including tip.

We drove to the mall entrance and began the dash for suitable gifts.

We got Emily a couple of band T-shirts from this place…a sort of Hot Topic lite…

And my Dad would have been looking down approvingly as we secured presents for Rebecca, Tom, Freddie and Dougie in….

We got the grown-ups matching Nike caps for their October Disney trip and the boys a personalised cap each sporting a Batman logo.

Here they are a few days later, at my Mum’s house, having just received them.

We did the correct thing as Grandparents and also bought a “shit ton” of US sweets and candy too of course.

With our shopping done, we headed back to the car, topped up with fuel again and headed for the airport. Again, Melbourne proved to be a simple delight for car drop-off and check in. Security too came with none of the drama and queuing MCO is infamous for. As a testament to our “leave it to the last minute” approach to gift shopping we then got my Mum a fridge magnet in the airport gift shop (she collects them!).

We got a drink and sat and waited for a bit.

We watched an incoming set of passengers from a newly arrived plane wander in through that corridor. I’m sure airports do it on purpose. The last thing I want to see when waiting to fly home is a load of folks just about to start their holiday!

We wandered the short distance down to the gate and waited to board.

My notes stop here and I have very little recollection of the flight which is a slight concern. It can’t have contained anything unpleasant or I would have remembered, I’m sure. I do recall that our extra legroom seats in a row of three actually had a third person on it, which was unfortunate.

We ate, watched things and got progressively more tired as sleep was clearly impossible in what felt like a cramped environment.

Upon landing, and having trudged the long distance from plane to passport checks, as ever the automatic passport gates refused to accept my face and I had to go and see a human. Our cases took too long to come off and the drive back around the M60 and up the M61 after a Florida trip lived up to being one of the most depressing things known to man. Soon we were home.

We loved Delray. It was exactly what we were looking for and my low-level fears of it being a bit “Daytona” or “Blackpool-y” (apologies to residents of both) were unfounded. The beach was gorgeous and the eateries and evening options were plentiful. Our hotel was perfect and lovely and we would go to Delray and that hotel again for sure.

We flew TUI for the first time and it was very good. The plane and flight were fine. The 3-3-3 config isn’t ideal for those travelling as a couple of course but the seats, entertainment options and service were all absolutely fine.

Melbourne Airport is a delight though. It’s much smaller scale than MCO means you avoid many of the issues found there, namely that double bag drop nonsense, long security and immigration queues and the long schelps from monorails to terminals and car hire places. We would and indeed are doing TUI again in October.

I appreciate the (lack of appeal) this kind of holiday may have from a reading about it point of view and I almost did not do a trip report, but I figured it was worth doing just for me to look back on in the future and if a few of you tagged along then, thank you and I hope it was not too tedious.

Planning and prep for October is underway and next week I can begin to let you know my plans, concerns and ambitions. See you then?

Till the next time…..

The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024 – Day Ten Thursday 6th June

by mkingdon, posted in The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024

Hey, we’re almost there. We are on our last full day so you just have today and next week to endure before we can get back to slightly less boring content about the build-up and countdown to our more trip report friendly October theme park bonanza. You’ve come this far, it would be a shame not to stick it out to the end, right? RIGHT???

As much as you are bored of reading about it, I suspect we too were almost beached out by now as our start was slow, with a lie-in and then a beachbound brunch at Boheme.

We both had a blurry stuffed baguette, an iced mocha and an OJ.

$60 lighter we undertook the remaining steps to the beach in what were new levels of heat today. We grabbed some beds using the last of our bulk-bought days (who says beach holidays require no planning?) and an essential umbrella and, well you know the rest.

As this will be our last beach day for who knows how long, have several photos.

By early afternoon we needed drinks so I hauled myself into an upright position and made the trek to the nearest shop. With a big sweat on when I got back, I ventured into the sea and we both had a swim for half an hour or so. Hectic today isn’t it?

As the afternoon progressed we were surrounded by shite music from all sides, with various people nearby assuming we wanted to listen to their music. If only someone had invented a device that allowed people to listen to music without inflicting it on others.

These were the worst offenders.

This group arrived late afternoon and seemed to be a rag-tag collection of about ten man-boys, definitely too old to be listening to gansta rap and making gang signs at each new member of the group as they arrived. The testosterone levels and the use of the word “bro” were intolerable and immeasurable.

Their musical taste or lack of it was the final straw and we left the beach at 5pm. We enjoyed the stroll back to the hotel in that glorious golden hour sun and heat, knowing we would not see its like again for some time.

Whilst readying happened, I booked that Mexican place again for 8pm and our Lyft took us there in a very nice Volvo X90. We opted to eat outside, again not knowing when we may next be able to do so.

For reasons I cannot fathom I chose to capture that very attractive bin.

We went full Magaluf and ordered a jug of Sangria which was delightful. Of course, we ordered the Nachos too.

Our server was excellent. He advised us just to have the Nachos and then see if we could manage an entree just as we were about to order them. I know we can put food away but he was right, we were full after the Nachos. He could easily have let us order entrees and increase his tip. As a reward for him and us, we did order the Churros which were outstanding. Again, he stopped us ordering two desserts as he knew the size!

I don’t know why everything was blurry this evening to be honest.

The bill was around $90 with a good tip included. We strolled Atlantic Avenue starting our traditional last-minute search for gifts. The heat and “closeness” tonight was off the scale and we were both dripping with sweat, which was attractive. The feeling of an incoming thunderstorm was obvious but it never materialised, it just got hotter and hotter.

The level crossing right through Atlantic Avenue had us wait whilst possibly the longest train on earth went through.

We stopped for one drink at the hotel we’d watched the guitarist at the other night and then walked up to the Yacht Club again for another karaoke night. Several drinks were had which no doubt led to Louise getting up to sing in public for the first time in over 20 years. She made me delete the video the next day.

We left at 12, ready for bed, but not really ready to leave this lovely place.

Till the next time…..

The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024 – Day Nine Wednesday 5th June

by mkingdon, posted in The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024

Today’s post is for the 99% of my readers who are fed up with reading about lying on a beach and eating food. Yes, today we did something different, so buckle up for more excitement than the D23 announcements. Maybe.

We awoke with no plans, but the fact that we were too sunburned to subject our bodies to more sun forced our hands to look for a plan B. I did some googling and before too long found a suitably affordable and local activity and booked it.

We were headed for a two-hour catamaran tour around West Palm Beach. It was $50 each and came with a lot of good reviews. It didn’t start until the afternoon so we positioned ourselves in some shade around the pool for a couple of hours, and the weather was hot!!

We got ourselves ready and left around 1pm. We endured the I95 to West Palm Beach and parked in the recommended car park on the tour’s website. It was a ten minute walk down to the port/harbour/docks (I don’t know nautical stuff) and the place oozed money.

Just so you know, there will be a lot of photos of boats and houses.

Our mode of transport would be more our style/wealth bracket.

We checked in and waited about ten minutes before boarding. We cleverly found some seats in the shade to escape the unrelenting sun, but soon realised that when we set off the boat turned round and we were exposed and were both buckets of sweat within seconds.

The tour takes you along the coast of West Palm Beach island to witness some incredible monuments to wealth.

The crew do a great job of narrating the properties. Of course, it could all be made up but we saw houses owned or previously owned by the likes of Andre Agassi, Sly Stallone, Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang and many others that I have since forgotten. Some of the history was fascinating and the amount of dollars involved even more so.

We passed a marina/yacht club where we were told that membership was only possible for those owning a property on the island valued at more than $60m and a golf club with a membership fee of $250,000 a year.

What you need outside a $100m house of course is a boat of similar value.

There was a real variety of properties, with some smaller, cute ones too.

They were much more affordable!!

This is probably one of the most beautiful and wealthy places on the planet.

This was Sly Stallone’s and apparently it’s the one he films his reality show in.

We saw a Bond-related yacht.

Then we pulled away from the coast and took in some of the open water.

After a while we started to see some of the more industrial parts of the port.

Before quickly returning to the wealth and this was, we were told, the largest and most expensive sail boat (may not be the correct term) on the planet.

We were told how much it costs just to moor a boat in these parts and safe to say, if we sold our house and a couple of kidneys we may be able to do so for a week. It’s not cheap to be very rich.

For the last 45 minutes or so Louise was really struggling with the heat. It was brutal. We got drinks of course but the sweat was incessant and as we headed back to where we started, we were very much looking forward to some shade and air con.

We disembarked at 4pm, Louise sat in the shade and I walked back for the car and then returned to collect her.

We absolutely loved the tour and if we were to do this kind of trip again I think we’d look to do more of this kind of thing. I know anyone reading this will probably endorse those thoughts.

The I95 got us back to Delray around 5pm and we had very welcome showers and I watched some TV whilst Louise got ready. I booked what turned out to be our favourite eatery of the trip, the Mexican Roccas Tacos for 7.45 and our Lyft picked us up at 7.15. Our driver was Luigi and he was, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying, a nut case. He was a real character and made the short drive very entertaining. He had lived in the UK for a while and hated it. He now lived in Delray managing the eight properties his parents owned and doing some Lyft driving when he got bored.

We were seated immediately.

Once again we had our Guac made table side….

I had a beer and in a strange turn of events, driven by too much sun, Louise had a diet coke.

Louise ordered from the specials and it was an incredible Beef Fajitas that looked like this. I cannot describe how tasty that bowl of brown stuff was.

I had Steak Tacos and they were also incredible.

I think we both agreed this was our best meal of the trip. It was $113 including tip.

We were very ready for bed at this time and we ordered a Lyft. It turned out that our driver home recognised us, as he was the driver that almost killed Louise by setting off with her halfway in the car. He was still apologetic.

Bed soon followed and was very welcome.

Till the next time…….

The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024 – Day Eight Tuesday 4th June

by mkingdon, posted in The Doing Diddly In Delray Tour 2024

I cannot suggest a plausible reason for it, but somehow we did not feel too hungry this morning. I resisted the urge to call 911, as clearly this constituted some kind of medical emergency, instead, I chose to believe the frankly ridiculous theory that we’d eaten quite an amount of food recently and that may be the root cause. So, and I know this will shock you, we skipped a meal and set off for the beach breakfast-less.

We mounted our sunbeds around 10.30 and enjoyed the lack of wind. Let’s face don’t we all when that is the case.

It was, as you can perhaps appreciate from that photo, a scorcher.

We did some proper lying down until about 12.30, at which time our rediscovered appetites forced us over the road to Lune Rosa to rectify that situation. Luna Rosa is one of the oldest eateries in Delray I think. It has some Brown Derby vibes going on as it is quite old school with lots of dark woods and photos of famous folks on the walls.

We ordered –

A Chicken Walnut Salad for me.

No breakfast and then a salad for lunch could be seen to be some kind of cry for help in my case, but I still wasn’t feeling too hungry.

Louise ordered an Egg and Ham Croissant from the specials board.

They were both excellent, and with soft drinks, such as the iced coffee below the bill came to $60.

We strolled the 50 yards or so back to the beach and did some more lying down.

Once I had observed the universally accepted amount of time after eating to avoid immediate death, I ventured into the sea. It was incredibly warm and clear today and there was none of the nut shrivelling tip-toeing into the water than can often be the case with a sea.

Mid-afternoon there was drama. I say drama, but it’s relative to the complete lack of activity at all other times of course.

We saw lots of people leaving the sea in a hurry and then a group of folks all watching the same dark object move about under the water.

Not being able to muster the energy to leave my bed to investigate further, I just zoomed the camera in a bit and took a lot of photos, so I appreciate that my reporting of this event will not be troubling the Pulitzer committee.

After a while the small crowd dispersed and people ventured back into the water. There was no conclusive declaration of it being a shark, but this was pretty much at the same time as the shark attacks off another Florida coast so it may have been.

At around 5pm we decided to call an end to all this not doing anything and with Louise feeling a bit drained/weird (too much sun maybe?) we headed for home. Leisurely showers and readying happened before deciding that we couldn’t be bothered to head into the main Delray area, so we just strolled the short distance to Luna Rosa again. We were glad we did. Having had breakfast and lunch here already, adding the dinner option too proved to be a smart move.

Bread service with the most garlic we’ve ever consumed.

We then went with the Antipasto Platter. We opted for that rather than the Propasto Platter. Ba Dum Tish.

This was fantastic and I complemented it with a Chocolate Martini.

Louise had red wine and we moved on to –

Steak for me.

Pasta with Broccoli and Sausage in Truffle Oil for Louise.

Both dishes were superb. Louise was still not feeling hungry so did not finish and her lack of energy and feeling a bit “weird” persisted from earlier. So there would be no late drinking/partying tonight, unlike all the other nights when we were in bed before midnight.

Back at the hotel, I made a quick trip to Walgreens in the Jeep for some itch/bite stuff to attend to some wounds we had. We were still in bed by 10pm and I read for a few minutes before welcoming sleep.

Till the next time…..