We decided to have a quit day at home listening to music, swimming and resting around the pool area and we had Ham sandwich for lunch with lots of sun beaming down on us, time for a little kip now and again.
We had been able to by some Weetabix for breakfast which is good for Noel and so what with some yogurt and bananas this helps him keep to a diet which to some may be a little boring but for him its quite necessary. Following breakfast Noel got out his camera and took a few photos around the house and garden and the small river going by outside where you are advised not to swim in case of Alligators taking a bite out of you, no chance mate.
Alligators are basically scared of humans and would walk away unless disturbed or cornered but they do invade golf courses and roads from time to time
Noel was finally able to sort out the Amazon TV Stick and although we cannot get UK programmes as they are restricted we can can get lots of film channels including Netflix where you can get one months free viewing, not bad really as we only need less than one month.
In the evening we enjoyed a Roast Cold chicken Salad with some ice cream to finish and a glass of Chardonnay and then watched the James Bond move Spectre which is very good and then that polished off our New Years Eve and we were in bed before the clock struck twelve. There were some local fireworks going off but not many as we are in a restricted zone where it against the law to make a noise after 22.00 hrs
A nice lie in this morning and afterwards we spent some time emptying the suitcases and then Jennifer opened every draw in the kitchen( and there are lots of them) so as to discover what kitchen equipment we have available and there is quite a lot.
Prior to leaving the UK Noel had purchased a SIM card for use in USA and a fraction of the cos charged by EE/T-Mobile while in the USA. T Mobile wants about £ 5.00 per day whilst the Sim card from Lycamobile works out at £ 28.00 for tons of free calls and data and so he tried it in his phone and kept getting a rejection as it required a code??. After communicating with the supplier it appears that Noels Samsung phone is ‘Locked’ and it needs to be unlocked and se he had found a local company who could this. So off we went to McCall Road to I-FIX phone repairs and they entered all the data and it can take a day or more for the code to be returned and so we should have come back after a couple of days considering its NYE and shops will be closed on Monday.
On the way back we went to Publix Supermarket for the some top up shopping and then back for a light lunch and an afternoon rest to try and rid ourselves of the jetlag.
We had also brought along our Amazon TV Fire stick which should work in USA and the idea is that we can watch some decent series and films without the hours of adverts which is standard for US TV programming unless you are on the Public channels which have a restricted list of programmes.Well it almost worked and we got some programmes but not all but now as it was getting a little later and still a bit tired we decided to leave it until tomorrow and have another go. However we were able to get one programme and so was able to watch a film called the ‘Hurt Locker’ which is very good.
And then to bed.
We left the Hotel about 10.00 and decided on a brief beach tour before driving West. The beach looked very busy with people tanning themselves whilst the bars and restaurants were also quite busy serving late breakfast and coffee and some a few beers.
We are still getting used to our new SATNAV and at one point just leaving Fort Lauderdale Jennifer was looking at the map and Noel glancing at the Sat Nav and realised we had missed an important turning on to Interstate I-75. This was most likely due to have the SAT NAV View with a top down view rather then the 3D view which is often better. Anyway we did a u-turn and headed back the correct way. The Sat Nav had said there where toll roads on the route and did we wish to avoid and so we said yes, but when we got to the point of leaving the I-75 and taking the route plan the road exit was closed for road works and so we ended up on the Toll road anyway.
We stopped mid-route for the Loo’s and to buy some water for the car and then continues on the way to initially Naples and then on up to Fort Meyer where we stopped at the large Costco store to purchase our basic rations for the next few days. It was a large store and the usual layout with big TV’s at the front and pricing was so low?? compared to the price we pay in the UK. We had a quick hot dog and did our shopping and then headed North though Fort Meyers and then on to Rotonda West and briefly stopped at the Public supermarket for the last bits of shopping.
We found the house and opened up, they key was in a key safe outside the front door, and let ourselves in and we were duly impressed with the size and feel of spaciousness and that it was light and white, colours that we like.
So within the hour we had part unpacked, had a shower and opened a bottle of Chardonnay and sat on the patio by the pool before Noel BBQ’d a large rib eye steak actually it was getting a bit dark and the lighting by the BBQ was not too good and so it was a bit of hit and miss but it was great with a glass or two of Malbec.
We watched Television for a short while, actually we watched some adverts with some programming in the middle and then it gets so bad, Oh for the BBC.
So off to bed we go and lets see what tomorrow brings.
The Hotel breakfast buffet was quite busy and why they serve breakfast from 06-00/09.00 beats me as it was very crowed at about 08.30 when we arrived. Usual stuff of hot and old food and you could ask for an omelette to be specially made for you. Noel waited in the queue and and decided to not wait for fried eggs but take the scrambled with the usual scrunched up thinly cut bacon with some strange looking sausages which we were quite fatty and not to our taste.
Following breakfast we took a taxi to the Sixt Rental Car Agency to collect our vehicle, we wanted a Toyota Camry
but they could not [provide this and so upgraded us to a KIA Sportage which is fine. We then did a tour of Whole Foods and Target to try and find a chill bag so that when we do our food shopping tomorrow we have somewhere to put it.. We go back to the Hotel and we were sort of hungry and although they have restricted lunchtime menu it was great for us. So we sat by the pool and Noel enjoyed a burger and fries and Jennifer some pasta and meatballs with a nice glass of Chardonnay to wash it down.
We both needed a rest and so went back to the room and and had a lay down for about two hours and then considered if we wanted to join the free snack and drinks party in the evening but in the end decided against it and spent the rest of the evening watching a bit of TV watching a very interesting, but old, documentary about Gianni Agnelli the CEO of FIAT Cars watching him though his life before and after Fiat. It was most interesting and was quite long and so after about two hours we gave up and went to sleep with the usual breaks duty to time differences.
The beds in the Hotel were quite comfortable but the Hotel needs some sever TLC.
Tomorrow we leave for the West Coast of Florida and find our home for the next almost five weeks.
Not really an early start as the taxi would only pick us up at around 11.45 and take us to Gatwick Airport. We had spent the last couple of days taking down Christmas Decorations and also moving furniture from the Bar area so that the carpet cleaner when he comes in the New Year has a clear run to try and remove some rather ugly red wine stains.
The usual traffic on the M25 and it was very bad if you were on the clockwise side as it was at a snails pace and also the same on the Northbound M23 from Gatwick.
However we arrived at the Airport in plenty of time and found the Norwegian Airlines check in area and was astounded to see so many people, apparently they had some European flights delayed due to bad weather and so there were many people now trying to check in. We were going to the USA which had a separate check in area and as we were in the Premier Class we checked in and got rid of the suitcases within about five minutes.
We were given ticket ‘s to the ‘One Lounge’ but when we got to the lounge entrance there was about twenty people waiting to enter and clearly it was full up and so we went to the restaurant and had a glass of Sancerre and some Salmon and prawns which was excellent but hugely expensive. By the time we had finished our meal they were calling the flight and off we went down the travellators to the other side of the airport, it seemed, and a few minutes later we boarded. The Aircraft a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which had arrived much earlier that morning was about twenty minutes late being brought to the gate and so we boarded a bit later than expected and then we had to wait some more until finally the last passenger arrived who was not looking to good and had to be escorted to her seat. She looked confused and kept on getting up and talking to the service crew but finally sat down.
The aircraft was pushed back on to the carriageway and started its engines and no doubt the crew were doing the their final checks and then this woman was up and down again and finally there was a big discussion with her and then the Captain came out of the cockpit whilst another passenger who was a Doctor also attended. Anyway she sat down and the Captain went back in to the cockpit and then a few minutes later he made the announcement that we would be returning to the gate to offload a passenger who longer wished to travel, flight fright we understand. And so we returned to the gate and stopped engines and they brought out the gate and the lady got off and then so we had to go through the same procedure again to leave. So overall we left about two hours later than scheduled. Lets hope they charge her a lot of money for the delay etc.
We had chosen Norwegian Airlines as they have not a bad reputation and their Premier Class from a seat and space perspective is much better than Virgin or Ba whilst the pricing is a lot lower. We would not normally use premier economy on long flights based on our experience's with BA and Virgin and we would normally travel Business Class but the price differential was horrific. BA and Virgin to Miami wanted about £ 5800 business class return with no cancelation or flight changes whilst Norwegian was £ 2400 with the free option to change or cancel up to 6 hours before flight, no choice then.
The seats were very comfortable and plenty of leg space and even thought this was almost a ten hour flight, and what with the earlier delays we were in the seat for about eleven hours' so not bad really. Food was basic and Ok but because of Noel’s particular food requirements he had purchased some baguette rolls from Pret a Mange in advance of the flight just in case he could not eat the food on board.
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and they parked the aircraft on a stand which was a pain, and then the Immigration games began. It looks like they are trialling a new electronic system where you stand in front of a machine which reads your passport, asks you for finger prints and then finally takes your photo and then issues a bit of paper which says you are clear to go. Only you are not free to go so after waiting about 20 minutes to get to a machine, others would wait a lot longer we went round the corner and there was another long queue to go through the same procedure again with a real live Immigration guy , so add another twenty minutes.
So from aircraft arrival to being able to leave was about ninety minutes, very slow compared to other airports in the US. Oh well.
We found the Limo driver to take us to the the Embassy Suites Hotel where we arrived at 23.30 instead of the planned 21.00 . So quite a long day really and glad to be in bed.
Lets see what tomorrow will bring.
Well Christmas is nearly upon us after an eventful year with a new Grandson Christopher in January this year whilst Noel's health seemed to improve with quite a few ups and down's en-route, but that is life.
Following a Christmas with family we are due to travel to Florida for a few weeks where we have rented a house on the Gulf Coast in a nice area complete with private swimming pool which hopefully will get lots of use, We wanted to get away from the cold weather and start the new year without all the threats from the past.
Our Norwegian Cruise was good on the scenery front but we did not rate the shop much, too many people all trying to get served so we wont do that again.
For many years we hosted late in the year a themed party which stopped due to Noel's illness and now he is getting back on track we restated this a couple of days ago and it was a raging success as the photo will show. Unfortunately we did not get everybody that we asked due to various valid reasons but we all enjoyed the fun even though the carpet got a little trashed with a complete glass of red wine. Perhaps we may change the carpet in the bar to a more suitable color like burgundy so red wine spots wont show.
So now we are looking forward to some sun and relaxation and will blog on a regular basis. We fly to Fort Lauderdale Airport and stay for two nights and then head to the Gulf Coast with some shopping en-route and we are both really looking forward to the trip
See you in Florida
