We've Arrived!

I'm pleased to report that we had an uneventful journey yesterday.  As our seats on the plane had already been allocated by the travel agent's special assistance team, we didn't need to be at the airport quite so early.  Unfortunately for Harrison this meant that it was doubtful whether he'd have time for a full English breakfast before boarding.

We just managed to squeeze it in before the pager went off asking us to return to the special assistance area to take us to the departure gate. Good job I didn't want to do any shopping before boarding 😉

Harrison was the first person on the plane and was given plenty of time to get to his seat before the other passengers started boarding.  His oxygen was connected at the second attempt this time, so stress levels remained low for all parties!  We can't fault the service given to us by the BA staff at every point of contact. They frequently checked that Harrison was ok and have once again confirmed our decision to insist that we fly with them.  The only gripe that we had about the whole experience was to do with our seats.  Due to their location (at the back of the central cabin) they were more narrow than the others to allow for the passageway into the rear cabin.  It was great not to have anyone immediately behind us though.  Harrison had a couple of near misses with his water threatening to land in his lap as the person in front of him liked to recline her seat in an 'enthusiastic' manner!

We landed in Orlando a little earlier than scheduled at just before 3:00pm. 

We were the third of three large flights landing from the UK so were anticipating a packed immigration hall.  Despite leaving the plane last, we were directed straight to the special assistance queue behind a family of US nationals, so ended up being one of the first from our flight to baggage reclaim.  After last year's rehearsal, we knew exactly what to do this time.  The key to getting out of the airport quickly is not to give up your cases again after reclaiming them.  Last year we had a two hour wait for them to be transferred from one terminal to the other.  This time, I put my life in my hands (it would never be allowed in the UK) and took 3 cases weighing over 50kg in total onto the escalator to the transit.  The size and weight of them all behind me nearly pulled me back down the escalator.  A very risky action but the thought of saving two hours in the terminal made me determined not to fall!  In the meantime, Bernard took Harrison in the lift to meet me at the transit.  He still has on-going neck problems so was unable to take the cases and the lift was strictly for wheelchairs only.

The queue for car rental was very short as most people were still in the immigration hall so we were out of the airport within an hour and a half - far better than last year!  The sat nav that came with the car took us straight to the villa rental office (the same place as last year) and we were unloading our luggage at our holiday home at 5:30pm.

A quick trip to our favourite Walmart enabled us to pick up a few essentials (villas are rented with no cleaning or bathroom products) and a fan for Harrison's bedroom. 

We all managed to keep awake until 9:45pm local time (2:45am UK time) but were all up again at 5:00am local time (10:00am UK time).  Today we'll be organising a local disabled parking permit and just chilling.