Leaving on a jet plane
So its finally time, ~~in just a few hours we head to the airport and~~ we are currently flying out to Orlando, Florida for our first holiday in 5 long years, after much rescheduling since we originally intended to go back in 2019. And of course with that, THE BLOG returns (I am sorry in advance, truly)! This was meant to be posted before now (last night, then this morning, now whatever time zone we are flying across), but the last 24 hrs, nay the whole week has been absolutely choc-a-bloc, from lastminute.com stuff at work to the important stuff like making customised t-shirts, fixing switch controllers and making up snackle boxes (which we couldn’t use anyway because of someone’s stupid stupid peanut allergy).
And since the last time we were there, we’ve seen more than a few changes.
Our “kids” are no longer kids really. Patrick turns 18 at the end of the month and is off the Uni is September. Roberts in studying Advanced Physics and Applied Maths and doing a HNC in Cyber FREAKING Security all while still in six year. And Grace is the only one who is not yet taller than me which I don’t think that’ll be the case for very much longer. Oh and fun fact: Grace is older that Patrick was the last time we were here back in 2017… eesh! No more buggies (well not ruling that out completely for me and Ann), and obviously no more tantrums or arguing from the kiddos (lol, I wish).
Old School
Social media, since the last time, has seen a big change. Patrick laughed at me when I told him I was continuing to use Tumblr for my blog, because everyone’s on YouTube, Tiktok or Instagram these days (well maybe not even Insta, I can’t keep up). I’m a terrible speaker so me doing live, unedited vLogs is an absolute no-go. And Tiktok? I’m sorry I just cant, I dont have the actual energy or sanity to plan and film a little skit of me talking to myself, pretending to be another character (seriously can we check on these people I’m worried for them). And the purpose of this blog is mainly to create a somewhat historical record of our events, intended mainly for personal consumption. Anyway, I’m too committed now to stop and this continues to be the format, however boomer it is.
I digress.
So only a short unofficial update today before we start the main event and roll out a rundown of our daily escapades. Michael graciously dropped us off at the airport this morning with our luggage which came in at just under the limit (not looking forward to smashing said limit on the return leg that’s for sure). Check in and security was fairly breezy and managed to get an obligatory pint & some decent Eggs Royale for breakfast oh and a wee sneaky purchase of a nice 14yo Aberlour. This, mainly for me during our three weeks, will also likely be Patrick’s first sip of alcohol EVER, as he won’t legally be allowed to drink until he’s back home and above the country’s legal age limit. Not bad for his first ever drink and sure beats Rolling Rock for a quid or so down at McFly’s in Coatbridge watching Shifter on a school night 😏
Best laid plans
Writing down this last part from the sky above the Atlantic, we have about 4 hours left until we land in Melbourne. I had, rather optimistically planned to watch ALL of The Last of Us and play the Switch at the same time but due to having about 8 hrs of sleep all in in the past 72hrs, and the kids probably not far behind, we pretty much all crashed as soon as we took off. So all in all I’m about two episodes in and had my Switch on for a total of 30 minutes. At least we’ll be rested for when we get there, though will probably play havoc with the old body clock, with an emphasis on old. Absolute belter from Grace because we’ve been plane buddies today - she turned around to me after struggling to get back to sleep at one point due to the noise and said “there’s too many kids on this flight” Oh dear… 😂
Itinerary is locked in (on a nicely formatted Excel spreadsheet I may add), and contains everything from Restaurant prices and happy hour deals down to best snacks and secret hacks at each of the parks. We’ll be kicking things off with Islands of Adventure tomorrow on our first full day (it would have been Magic Kingdom but they don’t do 21 day tickets any more 🤷🏻♂️). Once we pick up the car, we plan to head via Disney Springs to pick up our Magic Bands and grab some food (if we’re hungry which we probably won’t be). Then onward to the hotel to get unpacked, grabbing the traditional Starbucks at the Java cafe, grabbing some provisions at Walmart then heading to bed for some semblance of sleep.
Pauline & Kevin have been here since last Sunday too so we’ll also be catching up with them this week and it looks like they’ve had a blast thus far… 😁
Right I’m going back to watching The Last of Us on plane tv and kidding myself on I’m going to get back to sleep, so will catch you guys on the flippity flip!