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Day 1 Florida 2017

Day 1….we’re on our way….again

Bit of deja vu going on here….Vegas then Florida? Bit like last year, and you’re right, almost to the day. In fact, this time last year we were in San Francisco freezing our little old butts off in minus 12 temperatures. Actually, it was mid 60’s but after Vegas it felt like Arctic Tundra. This trip will take us to Las Vegas then down to a tour of Florida. We’ll be taking in the Keys, the west coast, Orlando and Kissimmee, and then the east coast again. Florida again Talb? Oh yes…..

Check in at the airport today, after Georgia had “Kinged” it to the airport, (see previous blogs) and it was relatively painless. We’re seated upstairs on the Vigin Atlantic “English Rose” affording fantastic views of the Atlantic. I’ve got a playlist of nice tunes on my iPod, and the sun is beating down outside. It’s minus a million, but the sun is shining. I’ve just eaten a lovely dinner time meal…salad, beef and potatoes and a cheesecake, all boring i know, but these are the details! Virgin have entertainment to suit everyone, and Nikki has settled down to watch, “Orphan Dog with Three Months to Live gets Knocked over by His Owner, Accidentally, and Timmy, the three year old child, cries himself to death due to his previous pet not surviving a washing machine related incident – 2” Honestly, its a film….and she likes a good weepy…

There are two things to mention whilst I’m typing away. And for new readers, here’s the facts….I write a blog whenever i go away, partly to remind myself of what happened and when, but also to list the numerous things that happen, stupid things, things that you talk about in the pub later….you get the idea….

When we were in duty free in Terminal 2 at Manchester, shopping, we were browsing. Nothing unusual there, but as we exchanged pleasantries with the staff, offering us everything from Korean Whiskey to Holly Willoughby’s Snatch (a perfume), we approached the Jo Malone counter. Nikki asked,

“How much are the bottles of perfume?”

“Which one?”

“Oh, are they all different prices?”

“No they’re all the same price”…..

I have to confess, I’ve just knocked Nikki’s 3rd GnT over her lap. She complained of being freezing, soaked, bereft of drink, and smelling of GnT. Again. I said sorry, and even mopped up. It was an accident, but she insisted it went in the blog. The real emergency is not crying over spilled alcohol, its the fact we’ve forgotten our credit cards. You cant move in the States without producing a credit card, and we have none…

Arriving in Vegas, they have the new automated immigration entry system, that allows you to enter via a machine, and not via a grumpy old immigration officer, who wants to know why you want to be in his country. Thing is, once you’ve done the automated thing, you have to present it to said officer for approval, thus negating your speedy entry.

It’s 7pm now and the sun is still up in Vegas. It’s still 28* and the strip is still alive with scantily clad revellers. Were trying to stay awake as long as possible, but with the 8 hour difference its hard to stay awake…by my calculations its 3 in the morning, and if I don’t stay awake I’ll be up at stupid o’clock.

As predicted, I’m typing this at 3.18am…that’s 11.18am in real money. Wide awake, coffee and late night news, and wide a bastard wake. The only slightly funny thing to happen was that our taxi driver, Abdul, from the airport to the hotel, tried his best to destroy my golf clubs, when he tried to bend them into his boot (or trunk as its called here) saying, as he jumped up and down on them, “they go in, i make them go in”.

The Billboard Music Awards were held tonight across from our hotel, so i might just go roam the Las Vegas strip and try to find Ed Sheeran….cant be that hard to find a ginge in a pair of jeans and a tramps shirt warbling miserably in a casino. Can it?

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