It was moving day so Karen set an alarm for 6.45am. I was already up and checking on Neil’s flight. There had been a slight delay on take off but making up time in flight he would be landing slightly early.
We have liked this villa. Nicely sized for the 2 of us, very quiet in a safe neighbourhood and close to the coast (well it would have been if the beaches were open).
A leisurely breakfast made way to a quickening of pace as we packed away and loaded the car. The back seat was rammed with the household items and food we seemed to have accumulated for the next villa.
I had the car moving out of the drive at 8.45am exactly on the time we were aiming for. Our first stop was 1 hour drive away at the Ellenton outlets where we planned to stop for a while. The traffic for this part of the journey was fine and we were parked up at 9.50am.
The first shop was the Colombia Clearance Shop as opposed to their outlet which was at the other end of the complex, something we had not heard of before. Everything in there was 70% off and was stock that they hadn’t managed to shift at other outlets. There was nothing that caught my eye although Karen purchased a fleece to replace the one stolen a couple of years back. Well that was her excuse anyhow, but I am sure it is now the 4thtime she has replaced it.
I wandered over to the Skechers store opposite and got some bargain ‘slip on’ water repellent black trainers which I was very happy with. Then we moved the car and reparked at the other end of the outlets to visit the other Colombia store. I purchased a ‘Black Friday’ special priced rain jacket for bargain price here whilst Karen bought some shirts reduced to under $10 each.
We just had time for a coffee from Starbucks before we had to hit the road again. After driving for about 1 hour we hit traffic and crawled along for about 30 minutes before reaching our turning just before Kissimmee. We were aiming to get to the Florida Mall to pick up a new iPhone for Graham that I had offered to purchase, before Neil’s flight landed.
Along the way we cheered when we got the alert that Norwich had take the lead away against Cardiff. We were happy until the next alert in the 89th minute and more upset when the final one came in added time. Defeat clutched from the jaws of victory.
We got to the mall only a few minutes late than the Sat Nav had predicted. Karen stayed in the car as I made a dash to find the Apple Store in the mall which inside seemed bigger than the entire Norwich City Centre. It was also as busy as a match day at Carrow Road. I found the store quickly though and the service in the store was also super quick, meaning I was back in the car with Karen 20 minutes later.
Then we drove the 20 minutes to the airport cell phone waiting lot where the display board confirmed Neil’s flight had just landed. A few minutes later he confirmed he was off the plane. It took about 40 minutes before he was waiting outside the terminal ready to be picked up. We drove round to pick him up and it was lovely to see him. As usual he was tired after the flight but we think secretly pleased to see us as well.
We drove to the villa on Sunset Lakes as usual, passing all the familiar sites. We were surprised to find traffic lights had been installed on the Funie Steed Road crossroads. We will have to wait and see if they help or hinder.
The villa was south facing over a small lake that we didn’t know existed despite all of our previous visits. It was very nice, although Karen still felt the need as usual to clean the kitchen once we had unpacked.
Neil showered and rested a while before he decided he felt awake enough to go and get some dinner. So we headed out on the 192 to the nearest Outback where we all had the usual. It was very busy and I reckon more than 50% of the customers were British.
Back at the villa we put the TV on and watched some College Football as well as more election coverage.
Despite knowing that for the 2nd time in a week we gain an extra hours sleep as the US put their clocks back overnight we were all very tired and had another early night. The bed was very comfortable but is possibly the highest bed in the world. I had to take a running jump up to get into it.
