Silly Second Thoughts

Well done to all of you for tolerating what felt like a marathon trip report, certainly to write it. As the saying goes though, be careful what you wish for, as now, without the structure and (patchy) notes of a holiday to write about I’m sitting here with just a keyboard and my “creativity” trying to dream up something to write about.

Sure, I could just stop these blogs but if you have any sense of who I am, as tempting as that can be at times, I’ve been at this since 2009 now and being a slave to routine, process and stability is a cross I’ve carried all my life and I don’t see that changing any time soon no matter the impact or cost.

So on we go.

As all the “good” TV shows say……. still to come, news of any future holiday plans where I reveal if we have anything booked for this tear yet. So stay tuned for that.

I’m not going to mention work as it doesn’t deserve to be called to mind on a Sunday right now. Instead, with it fresh in my mind and my aching, ageing body, I was out gigging last night. Yes, I still do that stuff and I continue to play in bands. Last night was a wedding in exotic Clitheroe at a lovely venue called Eaves Hall.

If you’ve been around for any length of time you will know that I’ve played in Mustard (that’s the name) for a lot of years now and in recent years we’ve expanded our horizons by getting into the tribute band market. In a blatant attempt to boost the views of our brand new showreel video, with our new Pink, after a recent personnel change, I’ll post it here.

Stupid Girl (Pink Tribute) is the name of our tribute venture, available for all kinds of events and stuff, should you randomly have a need for a Pink.

This was filmed live at a recent gig in the famous Blackpool Tower.

We’re looking into adding to our portfolio of bands further right now so you never know, I may inflict another video on you in weeks to come, depending on how much I am struggling for content.

Anyway, on to the stuff that if anyone has any interest in what is written here, it’ll be this. Do we have holiday plans?

We sure do.

It was back in early December that Louise and I had a fairly brief conversation about options which is unusual. Looking back on the many trips we’ve been lucky enough to go on in recent years, we have enjoyed them all, but one that stood for us was the trip we did in November 2023. This, despite the weather being absolute bobbins for most of it.

For those not keeping a detailed log of all our trips this was the one at The Drury Plaza near Disney Springs. It was so good that despite only originally booking ten days, as we neared the end of the trip we extended it to fourteen. Granted that was mainly as the weather in the first week was rotten and we felt a bit robbed, but all in all, it was just a lovely time.

So with that in mind and as we came to the end of our last trip, spending a few hours at Disney Springs, and realising how much we loved spending our evenings there choosing between the almost endless eateries and bars, it seemed a simple choice when discussing what to do next.

We saved ourselves the charade of me spending hours and often days looking around the world for other options that we could never be sure of the quality of and with us both being busy, we just booked it.

We are flying with Virgin on July 1st (we are taking no chances with the November weather this time) and staying at the Drury Plaza. We briefly looked at on-site Disney accommodation options, especially those around the Boardwalk but the exponential increase in costs just couldn’t be justified over the Drury Plaza despite the Yacht and Beach being one of my favourite places on the planet.

Whilst I baulk at the daily parking fees at the Drury (I couldn’t find a site to book through that offered them free as I did last time), the free breakfast every day more than covers that alongside other perks like late afternoon snacks and free drinks (that we didn’t partake in once last time), and overall it’s a cracking deal for a nice, clean, new hotel in a perfect location.

We have no plans to do any parks but of course, we do have a car and we will very likely be doing some “day trips” out to places and things to break up the arduous task of lying by the pool.

So that all seems simple enough right? Yeah, then the elections happened in the US and this may well be an overreaction, but with how things are shaping up over there in these first few weeks of the administration we have both expressed doubts and concerns about going to the US right now.

Why? Well, July is a little while off and if the shit show of the first few weeks plays out in a similar fashion until then anything is possible. Obvious concerns such as planes falling out of their skies on the regular are front of mind, alongside rising costs and tensions and it’s all a bit off-putting right now.

I’m sure it’s an overreaction as my dislike for the politics of the majority of Florida specifically has never put us off before and as ever, much of what is blasted out as propaganda is not followed through on or is backed down from, but I’d be lying if I said we hadn’t thought about a change of plans.

The sticking point (and I’ve not had time to look into it or talk to Virgin) is the flight which I assume is not easily changed to another destination without significant cost so we are in suck-it-and-see mode right now. By July, he might have invaded Canada, Greenland and Panama, given the Ukraine to Putin and imposed tariffs that mean an Espresso Martini is $65 a go.

Cost-wise, the risk is mitigated by our flight being paid for, as well as the hotel and car being locked in at the prices we booked at so it’s only really food and drink that could hurt us too badly. Assuming of course the US isn’t at war on multiple fronts and maybe internally too.

Maybe the solution to these concerns is to stop engaging with the news of it all and just go and have the holiday but the lunatics are in charge so ignorance doesn’t feel the way to go.

Stay tuned for updates as the weeks progress to see how geo-political events affect the more important matter of our thoughts on a holiday. This blog wouldn’t have it any other way.

Till the next time……