As I have mentioned many times in the past, I hate having one of the boys go home early on holiday and I have vowed to try to not to let that happen again, so that we all travel back together.
Originally, today was supposed to be the day we all flew home together. But then Virgin cancelled our flights from Tampa and put us on flights 24 hours later. As it happened, we had booked the villa for an extra day, so we didn’t have to leave early. Karen & I just shrugged our shoulders and said, ‘Oh dear – another day in Florida’.
Neil was not happy, though, as he had a football match and a korfball match he wanted to be back for, as well as wanting a full day’s recovery before going back to work. After much thought, he was able to cancel his flight with Virgin for tomorrow and rebook to fly home today from Orlando with Norse instead.
Then, about a month ago, Norse cancelled that flight as well. By now he was getting a tad annoyed about it all and so booked back again with Virgin to fly with them today from Orlando.
Hope you followed all that, as there may be a test later. Surely Neil’s trip home couldn’t have any more complications, could it?
It was slightly cooler having breakfast by the pool, but I still had no shirt on and Karen was in her swimming costume. It soon warmed up and was rather lovely.
I was holding it together rather better than I had worried I might, about Neil going home before us. Probably because it was a definite choice made by him and we would be following 24 hours later.
To make the most of his last few hours, we offered to take him somewhere of his choice for lunch. That turned out to be ‘Dave’s Hot Chicken’, where, if you have the hottest option on the menu, you have to sign a waiver in case of death.
It only took 10 minutes to get there and the orders were placed. Karen & I shared a couple of mild tenders whilst Neil went halfway up the heat list, although he wished he had dared to go higher. The chicken was exceptionally good quality, which we ate sitting in the now quite hot sun.
Neil suggested that we go back to Starbucks in Celebration, which was almost opposite, so Karen could have a coffee. This time they secured a lovely table next to the lake whilst I fetched the drinks. It was quite, quite lovely and we sat there talking about all we had done on this trip and planning next year’s trip.
All too soon it was time to get Neil back to finish his packing, as he wanted to leave for the airport at 5pm.
At 4.25pm a message came from Barry telling us that all US flights had been grounded. A quick check of the internet confirmed this. Stress levels rose, but we all remained calm. There was no indication from Virgin or Orlando Airport as to what we should do, so we continued with our plan of leaving at 5pm.
I said that if the worst happened, I would go back to the airport later and pick Neil back up and bring him back, as at least we still had the villa.
As we got to the airport, we could see flights still landing and one taking off, so we were hopeful. Neil jumped out and, in the nicest possible way, I hoped not to see him again until we were all back in Norwich.
At least this problem had taken away most of my feeling of sadness at Neil leaving early.
Karen & I drove to Saltgrass on the way back for one last steak and to use, rather than lose, a final $25 credit. It was rammed, so we volunteered, as there were just the two of us, to sit and eat at the bar.
Whilst checking on Neil and the whole situation, Karen had a couple of margaritas to calm her nerves. I calmed mine with water. At that time Neil’s flight was still showing as on time and he had been through security, which we took as a good sign.
The steaks were melt-in-the-mouth good.
We didn’t hang about, as Karen wanted to start her packing and I wanted to use the laptop to see the developing flight situation. There was good and bad news. The ground stop was just lifted but, not surprisingly, Neil’s flight was delayed, eventually by nearly two hours. Although annoying, we (and we hoped he was as well) were just pleased that he should be getting home and not be ‘stranded’ trying to sort out another flight.
To pass the time until we had seen he was in the air, we finished up the last of the beer and wine in the villa and watched the last two episodes of the final series of The Bear.
I retired for the night after Neil’s flight was in the air, leaving Karen to watch the BBC 10pm news, which was pointless as far as I was concerned because it still talked about flights being grounded, followed by Newsnight, which covered much the same thing.
And so it was back to being just the two of us. The villa seemed quieter without Neil and I already missed him.
Don’t get me wrong, I love having quality time alone with Karen, but it’s always better when we are all together. I just love having people around me, and the boys and Ellie more than most.
