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…..
Mkingdon's Blog 
Brilliant thanks for sharing wanting to do this kind of holiday next year so lots of tips x
Always enjoy reading your trip reports Craig, my sister lived in Boca Raton for a few years and often went to Delray Beach. Do you think the cost of meals has got more expensive though as some of your bills seemed quite high? Look forward to your next trip planning.
Thank you. Yes. Long gone are the days when eating out in the US was much cheaper than here. We had one ridiculous meal this trip at that Italian but even for just two of us we seldom ate for under $100.
the shopping mall looks suspiciously like the one we visited in Melbourne. Did it look like the apocalypse? Only a few shops open?
I’ve enjoyed reading along.
looking forward to the next one
It wasn’t too bad tbh. The one at Daytona on a previous trip was proper Walking Dead.