You’re insecure, don’t know what for You’re turning heads when you walk through the door
What is it that makes some people just naturally more confident than others? Some people ooze it. Typically, it seems to us that Americans and Aussies are much more outgoing than us much more reserved Brits. It must be something in their upbringing. Whether it is confidence or just brashness though is probably a point for debate. What I do find it is often those who do not know they are beautiful are actually the most beautiful.
Today was another lovely morning as we sat outside having breakfast. It is also marked the first week of us arriving in the villa. Karen decided that this meant we should have a general clean and tidy as well as changing our bed linen.
We did these chores and laid around until just before noon when we left the villa to head up the I4 to ride the Icon Wheel. We had done this a few years ago when Neil bought us tickets for Christmas one year, but as there was an offer on Groupon, we thought would do it again.
There was plenty of free parking and we soon found the entrance. The whole complex here has developed considerably since our last visit and it all seemed very well done.
Surprisingly the wheel didn’t open until 1pm, but as that was only a few minutes away we joined a queue – well we stood behind the one other family waiting.
We were soon on the wheel. It allows you to Bluetooth to the speakers in the ‘carriage’ and so as we were alone, we played our own soundtrack as we went around. The view was excellent as we could see Disney, Universal and Sea world as well as much more.
The wheel is next to the big free fall tower where tragically a teenager lost his life when he slipped out of his seat. Unsurprisingly it is still closed and there is still coverage of the incident on the local news here. It seems the operators had made some changes to the safety features to allow the some ‘bigger size’ people to ride it and that seems to have been the problem.
All too soon we were back on the ground again. We decided we had time to get Karen a coffee. I found a table and waited for her. When she returned I noticed her necklace was hanging undone. She then realised she had lost the sentimental pendant from it. We didn’t know where or when. She was really upset.
I decided to then look at the photos we had taken on the wheel and could see she still had the pendant on at that point which was something. We decided to first of all retrace her steps back to the coffee shop which was over some artificial grass. Unbelievably we found it within a few steps hidden in the grass. Cue much relief all round.
We had been tracking Graham & Jo’s plane and could see it was due to arrive 30 minutes early. We calculated we had just enough time to try another Staples on route to get the locking clipboard we had been asked to try and pick up. The drive was about 20 minutes but in the general direction of the airport.
This time fortunately Staples had it in stock, although I had to point out to them that their instore price was $7 higher than online but they agreed to honour that. There was a Marshalls almost opposite and Karen ‘nipped’ in whilst I was in Staples. The trouble is that it is difficult to just ‘nip’ in one of these stores. Whilst I was paying for a hat that Karen wanted, first of all I got a message from Graham confirming they had landed and they almost immediately that they had cleared immigration. I then spent ages trying to find Karen telling her we needed to leave. Of course, by then she had found something else she needed to queue and pay for.
We hit the road. Although we were only 9.5 miles from the airport as the crow flies, it was nearer 20 by road. Traffic was fine and we reached the Cell Phone waiting lot before Graham messaged to say they had got their luggage and were waiting for us. They were at Terminal B. The signs from the car park we were showed Terminal A one way and so we went the other. This took us straight out of the airport! Eventually I managed to do a U turn and headed towards Terminal B. The traffic was horrendous but we got there and picked them up.
They were remarkedly fresh and bright after their flight, which is obviously a big benefit from their Upper-Class flight. It was lovely to see them both and the car was full of exciting chatter. The drive back to the Villa was slow and for once I think that Waze let us down.
We all sat by the pool for a while and eventually the girls decided that they should try a bottle of California Champagne that we had chilling in the fridge. There were pleasantly surprised how goo d it was. It was all rather lovely except that as I will be driving later then I couldn’t join in with the bubbles.
I reserved a table at Outback for 7.30pm which meant when we got there, we only had a 15-minute wait rather than the 1 ½ hours they were quoting to people just turning up. The food was very acceptable as usual and we all enjoyed it.
We were back at the villa by 9pm but as it was 2am UK time, Graham & Jo headed off to bed. We watched more Shark Tank before retiring ourselves.
