Thankfully I had been warned in advance by my friend Sandy, not to expect too much from the domestic airlines in America, but it still didn't make the flight to Fort Lauderdale on Virgin America, any easier. She also pointed out that we would be crossing several time lines, so in reality, instead of an all night flight, it only took 5 hours. That was long enough, thank you.
Over-booked and over crowded, snippy stewardesses, awful seats by the toilet that wouldn't recline, all three of us separated and the hideous pink ambient lighting.
It was with a great deal of relief and gratitude we spotted some familiar faces at the airport when we finally landed. Julie and Will, and Julie's parents, Joel and Catherine were there waving flags to wish us "bienvenue". After hasty introductions they guided us to our baggage and then to the car hire place where we had booked a Dodge Caravan (people mover) to transport us all.
After what seemed like hours, to us weary, anxious travellers, we sorted out the car and purchased all the add-ons like toll passes and an upgraded GPS, (thank, goodness we did - it earned its keep that day) then William took us to the Charmes' (Julie's parents) for a light breakfast.
Our first experience of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, but William handled it confidently, so we started to relax and enjoy our surroundings.
First impressions were:
We safely arrived at the Charmes' home in Florida, an apartment in a huge complex set in lovely grounds overlooking a golf course. It was an elegant oasis of cool white and cream and we sat on the balcony and ate our breakfast. Joel explained that when they first arrived here, they removed the netting that enclosed the balcony, but quickly replaced it for fear of being carted off by the mosquitoes. I have to say, although we were all bitten during our stay here, the insects were nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated.
Having said that, my mission one day while we were there, was to purchase insect repellent at a local Walmart. Couldn't find it in the pharmacy area and on asking was sent to the camping place. There was a huge array there and my final choice proclaimed that it would repel, amongst other nasties, mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies, gnats and .... CHIGGERS! "Well" I thought, "we don't want no dang chiggers!" Having consulted Rose, she agreed, "I don't want no dang chiggers neither!' So Off! Deep Woods insect repellent it was @ $5.48. And it worked too. We didn't see a single chigger!
After saying goodbye to Catherine and Joel, we climbed aboard our chariot with Rich holding the reins. I'm not sure if he was fully mentally prepared, but as Will said, he had to start sometime. We followed the kids to Coral Springs, some 30 minutes north to what was to become our home for the next 9 days.
Julie had swapped her parents house in France for this lovely, spacious family home. Other than being a little out of the way, it was perfect. Cool (we had to keep the air con going all the time), large, tidy and best of all, a beautiful in-ground pool out the back.
We couldn't wait to get out of our clothes and into something more suitable for the Florida climate. While we were organising ourselves and settling in, Rose asked if anyone had seen her bag. You know, the Macy's bag with her purse, her passport, her phone and the pen she nicked from Nieman Marcus..............!!??
After much frantic searching and scrambling around the missing bag was discovered to be... well missing! We wracked our brains and as far as our weary minds could remember, the last sighting was at the airport. An unattended bag full of valuable documents and cash lying around a foreign airport and the stories you hear - "Ah oh, bye bye bag" I thought to myself.
It was here that the GPS really came into it's own. A Samsung Galaxy Note which made free calls all over the world, had Internet, was a mobile hot-spot and could tether up to 5 devices AND it told us where to go. (There were times I wish I could have told IT where to go, but that was more my problem than the GPS.)
We started making calls to everyone we could think of. The airport, the car hire place, not very easy when most places have call centres out of town, but thanks to the magic of the Internet we managed to find the relevant numbers, but still, no luck.
Eventually I decided to research what to do about a missing passport as I honestly thought this was the path we would have to take. Before anything could be processed we would need a police report number, so obviously the next step was to ring the police. After much hoo haa, Rose was eventually put on to the Broward county Deputy Sheriff and in a remarkably calm manner managed to explain to him the problem and could she please have a report number.
"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll go out there and look for it myself."
Aw that's sweet, but good luck buddy.
A couple of anxious hours pass, then the GPS rings:(ha ha, who would have thought 10 years ago)
"Ma'am, we've found your bag and everything seems to be intact."
We promptly burst into tears.
After arranging for Will, who had a pick-up at the airport the following day, to claim the missing Macy's bag, we piled into the chariot for our next adventure - the supermarket. Supporting Rich as much as possible with his driving by chanting 'righty tighty' and 'left is long', arguing with the GPS, calling out instructions and pointing the opposite direction, we eventually found the supermarket. It took a few minutes longer, after some u turns and about faces, to actually enter the car park, and the manner of this jaunt was to set the scene for the rest of our driving days in Florida. I would like to say Rich remained calm in the face of all this (it's true, I would like to say...). Anyway, he did a stirling job, one which neither Rose nor I was prepared to accept.
Sustenance purchased we repeated the performance in the opposite direction and eventually found our home again, nestling in its tree lined neighbourhood.
We sometimes wondered if it would in fact be quicker to walk despite the heat, but there were very few footpaths. Another thing we noted, was the lack of public transport. If you didn't have a car, I guess, you just had to stay home.
It would have been a nightmare trying to find our way around without the help of technology (instead of just a bad dream). As I mentioned before, Florida is very flat, the highest point in South Florida being the rubbish dump, which we passed and got all excited because we saw a hill. As well as few natural landmarks, the urban landscape where we were based, was all very similar. The shops were all painted the same colours and there seemed to be no heart to the towns. Wikipedia says on the subject of conurbation:
No wonder we felt lost.
Still, we didn't worry too much about it; after a couple of swims, a few glasses of lovely Californian chardonnay, we gratefully sunk into our deliciously comfortable bed and blissfully slept the night away.
Note: 'Entertaining distaster' is a term our son William coined. He said without them, it was very difficult to write interesting accounts (an excuse as to why he hadn't written me a story about his travels). It's true I guess, but we could sure do without them.
Over-booked and over crowded, snippy stewardesses, awful seats by the toilet that wouldn't recline, all three of us separated and the hideous pink ambient lighting.
It was with a great deal of relief and gratitude we spotted some familiar faces at the airport when we finally landed. Julie and Will, and Julie's parents, Joel and Catherine were there waving flags to wish us "bienvenue". After hasty introductions they guided us to our baggage and then to the car hire place where we had booked a Dodge Caravan (people mover) to transport us all.
After what seemed like hours, to us weary, anxious travellers, we sorted out the car and purchased all the add-ons like toll passes and an upgraded GPS, (thank, goodness we did - it earned its keep that day) then William took us to the Charmes' (Julie's parents) for a light breakfast.
Our first experience of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, but William handled it confidently, so we started to relax and enjoy our surroundings.
First impressions were:
- It was warm
- it was humid
- it was flat.
We safely arrived at the Charmes' home in Florida, an apartment in a huge complex set in lovely grounds overlooking a golf course. It was an elegant oasis of cool white and cream and we sat on the balcony and ate our breakfast. Joel explained that when they first arrived here, they removed the netting that enclosed the balcony, but quickly replaced it for fear of being carted off by the mosquitoes. I have to say, although we were all bitten during our stay here, the insects were nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated.
Having said that, my mission one day while we were there, was to purchase insect repellent at a local Walmart. Couldn't find it in the pharmacy area and on asking was sent to the camping place. There was a huge array there and my final choice proclaimed that it would repel, amongst other nasties, mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies, gnats and .... CHIGGERS! "Well" I thought, "we don't want no dang chiggers!" Having consulted Rose, she agreed, "I don't want no dang chiggers neither!' So Off! Deep Woods insect repellent it was @ $5.48. And it worked too. We didn't see a single chigger!
After saying goodbye to Catherine and Joel, we climbed aboard our chariot with Rich holding the reins. I'm not sure if he was fully mentally prepared, but as Will said, he had to start sometime. We followed the kids to Coral Springs, some 30 minutes north to what was to become our home for the next 9 days.
Julie had swapped her parents house in France for this lovely, spacious family home. Other than being a little out of the way, it was perfect. Cool (we had to keep the air con going all the time), large, tidy and best of all, a beautiful in-ground pool out the back.
 |
| Lovely granite benchtops |
 |
| Oh bliss. Not a luxury, but a necessity in this climate. |
We couldn't wait to get out of our clothes and into something more suitable for the Florida climate. While we were organising ourselves and settling in, Rose asked if anyone had seen her bag. You know, the Macy's bag with her purse, her passport, her phone and the pen she nicked from Nieman Marcus..............!!??
After much frantic searching and scrambling around the missing bag was discovered to be... well missing! We wracked our brains and as far as our weary minds could remember, the last sighting was at the airport. An unattended bag full of valuable documents and cash lying around a foreign airport and the stories you hear - "Ah oh, bye bye bag" I thought to myself.
It was here that the GPS really came into it's own. A Samsung Galaxy Note which made free calls all over the world, had Internet, was a mobile hot-spot and could tether up to 5 devices AND it told us where to go. (There were times I wish I could have told IT where to go, but that was more my problem than the GPS.)
We started making calls to everyone we could think of. The airport, the car hire place, not very easy when most places have call centres out of town, but thanks to the magic of the Internet we managed to find the relevant numbers, but still, no luck.
Eventually I decided to research what to do about a missing passport as I honestly thought this was the path we would have to take. Before anything could be processed we would need a police report number, so obviously the next step was to ring the police. After much hoo haa, Rose was eventually put on to the Broward county Deputy Sheriff and in a remarkably calm manner managed to explain to him the problem and could she please have a report number.
"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll go out there and look for it myself."
Aw that's sweet, but good luck buddy.
A couple of anxious hours pass, then the GPS rings:(ha ha, who would have thought 10 years ago)
"Ma'am, we've found your bag and everything seems to be intact."
We promptly burst into tears.
After arranging for Will, who had a pick-up at the airport the following day, to claim the missing Macy's bag, we piled into the chariot for our next adventure - the supermarket. Supporting Rich as much as possible with his driving by chanting 'righty tighty' and 'left is long', arguing with the GPS, calling out instructions and pointing the opposite direction, we eventually found the supermarket. It took a few minutes longer, after some u turns and about faces, to actually enter the car park, and the manner of this jaunt was to set the scene for the rest of our driving days in Florida. I would like to say Rich remained calm in the face of all this (it's true, I would like to say...). Anyway, he did a stirling job, one which neither Rose nor I was prepared to accept.
Sustenance purchased we repeated the performance in the opposite direction and eventually found our home again, nestling in its tree lined neighbourhood.
We sometimes wondered if it would in fact be quicker to walk despite the heat, but there were very few footpaths. Another thing we noted, was the lack of public transport. If you didn't have a car, I guess, you just had to stay home.
It would have been a nightmare trying to find our way around without the help of technology (instead of just a bad dream). As I mentioned before, Florida is very flat, the highest point in South Florida being the rubbish dump, which we passed and got all excited because we saw a hill. As well as few natural landmarks, the urban landscape where we were based, was all very similar. The shops were all painted the same colours and there seemed to be no heart to the towns. Wikipedia says on the subject of conurbation:
The entire tri-county area also known as the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area is now continuously urbanized along a roughly 100 miles (161 km) length of the Florida east coast as well as extending inland and continuing south of Miami as far as Florida City.
No wonder we felt lost.
Still, we didn't worry too much about it; after a couple of swims, a few glasses of lovely Californian chardonnay, we gratefully sunk into our deliciously comfortable bed and blissfully slept the night away.
Note: 'Entertaining distaster' is a term our son William coined. He said without them, it was very difficult to write interesting accounts (an excuse as to why he hadn't written me a story about his travels). It's true I guess, but we could sure do without them.
OMGOSH ROSE!!! What an incredibly fortunate person you are to get your bag back intact!
ReplyDeleteSeriously Nicki, can you not tell your left from right???
As I write this on my deck and am being bitten by chiggers, I need your stuff;)
Great read again Nicki. When is Rich doing a guest blog ? xx