At the end of our summer holiday in 2007 we were due to fly from Orlando to Manchester via New York (JFK) but our flight was delayed several hours due to bad weather.

Many outbound flights from JFK had also been delayed. We arrived at the terminal in the early hours of the morning so we were expecting some problems in the airport. Understatement of the year.

If you can picture the crowds at a theme park on a very busy day and they had all just suddenly decided to go to the arrivals / departure lounge at JFK then all stop and either stand, sit or lay down you will get the idea. People had set up camp on every available area of floor space in the departure lounge and adjoining corridors. We had to physically step over dozens of people to reach the Delta information desk.

When we arrived at the desk there were in excess of 300 people all in one line. It took nearly 3 hours to reach the front of the queue and be informed that our connecting flight had departed so we had to rebook our flight for the following day. The representative also informed us that we could retrieve our suitcases but it would probably take another 2 – 3 hours to find them. We didn’t take her up on her offer.

By the time we left the desk the queue had grown to an even longer length than when we joined it.

It was difficult to estimate the number of people in the departure lounge but we guessed it to be around 3,000.

We decided to try and book into a hotel. All the hotels we contacted or managed to get through to were fully booked (due the airport problems). We decided the solution was to take a taxi back to the hotel we had stayed in when we began our holiday.

So here we were in New York, under the shadow of the Empire State building in the not so early hours of the morning, no luggage (that would be of any use to us) arriving in the same hotel we left 2 weeks previously.

To say we felt strange about the whole experience doesn’t really describe how we were both feeling.

The following day we were exhausted but we did a quick shop for essential items and had an excellent and unexpected day in New York.

We went back to the airport with some trepidation not knowing if their would be seats for us on the plane.

It was clear when we arrived that the flight was over full. Some passengers from the previous day had just turned up expecting to board the flight. They were disappointed.

Boarding of the plane was about to begin when we herd our name called over the PA system. Thinking the worst we checked with the Delta agent only to be pleasantly surprised that we had been upgraded to 1st class. I can honestly say that we saw very little of the actual flight. We had our silver service meal then we both slept (with our noise reducing earphones on) until we were 45 minutes from our arrival at Manchester airport.

Our flight home had been one of the longest and most eventful we have ever had and most defiantly one to remember.

Our flights home at the end of our 25th wedding anniversary holiday consisted of a hop from Orlando international airport, via New York JFK then onto Manchester airport.

The first sign that it would not be a straight forward journey was a 3 hour delay to the departure time from Orlando due to bad weather in New York. Once we were airborne all went well until we were 20 minutes from landing. The pilot announced that due to bad weather we were to maintain a holding pattern just outside the New York area. As we circled the airport we could see the bad weather. A huge rain storm cloud had settled itself over New York and refused to move. The lighting from the cloud was unbelievable. Lighting seemed to be constantly leaving the cloud in all directions including upwards. It was a lighting storm to compete with any we had seen in Florida.

As we circled we noticed that we were not the only plane in a similar holding pattern. If you have see the film Die hard 2 were numerous planes circled the airport trying to land you will get the idea. It was now dark and all that could be seen were the lights from all these planes, very un-nerving.

The pilot announced that he and most of the other planes needed to refuel and as a result we were diverting to Norfolk Virginia. The only problem was the airport we were to fly into was closed. We arrived at Norfolk Virginia and after waiting 2 hours on the tarmac a fuel lorry arrived to refuel the plane. Shortly after refuelling commenced the passengers in front of us noticed a liquid pooling on the tarmac beneath the plane. It was brought to the attention of a stewardess who tried to convince us it was condensation. A statement that was brought into doubt when a few minutes later 2 fire trucks and patrol car approached and stopped at the pool of liquid. It would be safe to say that by now most of the passengers were now aware of the problem and a number had started to panic. This wasn’t helped when the fire crews started to deploy absorbent booms around the liquid and our plane was coupled up to a tug ready to be moved from the immediate area.

The tension on the plane as we were moved was incredible with many passengers wanting to open the emergency exits and leave the plane.

We eventual left North Virginia and arrived in JFK.

We were expecting a delay and some problems at JFK but we weren’t even close.

(See our unexpected New York stop over)

Brian Pearson

During our holiday in 2007 we visited the Florida Keys. We booked in advance for a 3 night stay at the ragged edge resort on Islamorada.

We chose the keys as we wanted to be somewhere peaceful and quiet on the actual day of our wedding anniversary rather than the hustle and bustle of New York (which we had visited a few days earlier) and somewhere we had not visited before.

We drove from Miami to the keys and had been used to the 2 and 3 lane Highways and Interstates now we were on US 1 a single lane road behind a slow moving truck loaded with construction materials.

It was our own fault. We hadn’t taken much notice of the distances involved in driving too and through the keys.

We just assumed we would drive out of Miami, cross a few bridges and arrive at our destination shouldn’t take us long, wrong.

It’s like most things in America everything is on a big scale and the distances between the keys and therefore the bridges linking them are no exception.

 When we arrived at our destination a feeling of dejavu came over us both (not for the first time on this holiday). Before we got the Florida bug our annual family holidays were to a Greek island and that’s were we felt we were, on a Greek island. The buildings looked as though they belonged in Greek holiday resort.

Our accommodation, the ground floor of a 2-story villa, was no more than 30 feet from the Atlantic Ocean. The view was breath taking and instantly reminded us of a small Mediterranean village fishing port.

The tranquillity was a world removed from New York and the theme parks you associate with Florida. We spent a lot of our time talking to vacationers and taking walks around the island.

We visited Key West not a short drive but well worth the journey.

 We had intended to find a restaurant on the day of our anniversary but as we had spent the day relaxing and had one or two drinks by the time we decided to take ourselves off to a restaurant neither of us could be bothered to drive.

We decided to walk to the nearest bar and check out the menu.

The pub we came across had the un-reassuring name of Chilly Willies and appeared not to fall into the category of the type of venue Carol had intended to celebrate her wedding anniversary.

How wrong we were. The food was excellent, some of the best we had ever eaten and the service was second to none.

 If you want to see a totally different side to Florida and want nothing more to do than relax and chill out then I can thoroughly recommend the Florida Keys.

Brian Pearson

During our holiday in 2007 we included a 2-night stay in Niagara Falls. Carol my wife had booked us into the Marriott hotel. She had reserved a room which overlooked the falls, had a king size bed and whirlpool bath.

We arrived at the hotel mid afternoon and as the flight from New York to Toronto had not been as relaxing as we anticipated (see a relaxing flight to Toronto) plus the hour drive to Niagara we were tired. Carol sat in reception while I booked us in. She had not made me aware of the type of room she had reserved so I accepted the keys from reception without question and we made our way to the room.

We had been in the room seconds and before Carol spoke I sensed something was not as it should be.

The room didn’t have the whirlpool bath or a falls view, something I obviously was not aware we should have had when I checked us in.

Carol is the most placid accommodating person you could wish to meet, except when she is annoyed. On this occasion I sensed she was more than very annoyed.

My attempts to pacify her were failing miserably and after the day’s events I didn’t have the energy or the desire to return to reception for a confrontation.

As a result is was me following Carol back to reception suitcases in tow.

I could sense myself feeling sorry for the young male member of staff as Carol approached the reception desk. As her deliberations with him unfolded I could physically see him backing away from the reception desk almost cowering against the back wall. He didn’t have much of an input in the discussion. Carol didn’t raise her voice or showed her anger she just put forward her points of view, forcefully.

It turned out the hotel had over booked the whirlpool / falls view rooms. To cut Carol’s ‘conversation’ short the reception manager apologised, assured us we would be moved to a different room the following day, reduced the cost of our over all stay, waved the car parking charges and invited us to a evening meal ‘on the house’.

On our way back to the room I commented to Carol she should be a champion of people’s rights.

After our room problem was sorted our stay at the falls was very relaxing. Again it’s one of the places you have seen on TV but never thought you would have the opportunity to see in real life.

Our view was amazing. We from almost any point in the room even the bed we looked directly down at the falls.

We took the opportunity to walk across the Whirlpool rapids bridge into America. The US customs officer not to sure what to make of our reply when he asked what was the purpose of our visit to the US and we replied to have lunch.

If you get the opportunity to stay in the area visit Niagara on the lake. A town that seems to be frozen in time. If you’ve ever had a desire to emigrate and ‘get away from it all’ this town will bring that desire flooding back.

 We visited Niagara falls in August 2007 it was hot, very busy and left us both with lifelong memories.

 Brian Pearson

We boarded the plane and were sat a few rows from the front. After a short while we noticed a young woman in the front row leaning over the aisle to attend to an older man and at the same time a passenger in another seat was alerting the stewardess to the to the now clearly unwell passenger.

It turned out he was her father who’s name was Sam (Samuel)

Sam had the appearance of continually fainting and she was attempting to keep him awake.

After a period of a few minutes the stewardess announced that due to his condition she would not be continuing with the drinks service until she had attended to him.

It was at this point that everyone on the plane became aware of the total lack of conversation and apart from engine noise total silence.

This activity had taken place in less than 10 minutes.

Over the PA system the stewardess asked ‘THE’ question ‘was their a doctor or a nurse on board’.

It seamed no one on the aircraft moved for a long time; in fact it can only have been a few seconds.

The stewardess stood to the side of Sam with her back to the rest of the passengers.

I told Carol that I would check with the stewardess if there were anything I could do to help. As my offer of help (and the fact that I was a Firefighter from the UK) left my lips I could sense and see the relief on the stewardess face.

Almost instantaneously I found myself in front of Sam medical Oxygen in one hand a first aid kit in the other administering first aid.

I spent most of the remainder of the flight which seemed to last forever in a cold sweat. At one point the stewardess asked me if I thought the pilot needed to divert the plane and my cold sweat turned into a hot sweat.

Sam remained conscious for the remainder of the flight. It turned out he had several medical conditions resulting from a previous heart attack and was taking numerous medicines and drugs to compensate and regulate his condition. As we landed Sam improved and it was suspected that the pressurised interior of the aircraft was the cause of the problem.

We landed in Toronto and I spent the first 2 hours of our visit to Canada filling in medical forms for the paramedics.

We spent the remainder of our time in the airport almost in silence and both Carol and I heaved a huge sigh of relief as we left the airport. We needed a holiday.

The first thing that hit us when we stepped off the plane was the heat.

The East coast was having a heat wave it was 100f (35c).

During our stay the weather never changed. Even at night the temperature remained in the high 70’s aided by the heat given off by the buildings after standing in the sun all day.

The second thing to hit us was the airport. It felt as though thousands of people had just arrived in JFK airport and assembled in the arrival lounge at the same moment we had.

Definitely not for the feint hearted.

We picked up our luggage and joined what seemed a never-ending queue for a taxi. We didn’t have to wait long it just felt like we did.

We hadn’t been in the taxi long when we both experienced a feeling of Déjà vu. It was one of those occasions when you see something you know you recognise and seems very familiar. You momentarily think it’s in the wrong place, and it shouldn’t be here, yet you know you have never been anywhere near it before.

We were passing the observatory towers of the worlds fair held in New York in 1964 used in the film Men in Black and the ride in Universal.

What we hadn’t accounted for were the images (left from watching TV and films) that had been placed in our memory.

Just on that journey to our hotel we ‘remembered’ buildings, bridges and other structures we had never before seen in real life. Then the real challenge, naming the film, program or series we had seen them in.

It happened on many occasions during our visit, the giant floor piano in the toy shop (F.A.O. Schwartz) in the film ‘big’ with Tom Hanks, The fire station used as the headquarters in the film ghost busters and grand central station bombarded by asteroids in the film Armageddon to mention only a few.

We also had what we would describe as reality checks during our visit.

Seeing the sight of the twin towers, the damage to the surrounding buildings and the narrative given to tourists by an employee of one of the banks who witnessed the events as they unfolded on the day.  

Outside the Dakota building were John Lennon died and his Imagine memorial a short walk away in central park. All truly unforgettable experiences.

 New York is well named as the city that never sleeps. It feels as though every building is illuminated. Even the police station in Times Square is brightly lit with large neon lights letting you know it’s the NYPD.

 I could write pages on our experiences of our short visit. If you have never been New York I would very much recommend you include it as one of your must see places to visit.

We originally had the idea to chill out at our house and during our stay visit other parts of Florida.

After Carol had done her flight costing routine with the Internet she concluded that it would be cheaper for us to do a hop and stop than it would be to fly from Manchester direct to Orlando. It worked out £40 each cheaper.

When Carol had finished she presented me with the following itinerary.

Depart Manchester airport direct to JFK airport, New York. Stop over 3 nights.

We booked a room in the Metro hotel one block away from the empire State building.

Depart JFK, New York, direct to Toronto, Canada. Pick up hire car drive to Niagara Falls. Stop over 2 nights.

The Marriott hotel at Niagara Falls (16th floor) directly over looked the falls.

Depart Vancouver, direct to Miami, Florida, Stop over one night.

Pick up rental car drive to Islamorada Key, Florida. Stop over 2 nights.

Ragged edge resort motel, overlooking the Atlantic.

Drive to West coast stop over one night in Naples. The biggest bed we have ever slept in.

Drive to our house10 night’s chill out.

Fly home from Orlando airport direct to Manchester airport.

I briefly thought (for about 0.01 of a second) that I should point out that the additional costs we would have staying in the hotels ‘we’ had chosen would far our weigh any savings we would make on our flights. However I could see Carol was now in full flight making the arrangements so I thought if I wanted to reach our 26th wedding anniversary I had better keep my thoughts to myself. After she had finished making reservations at hotels, booking flights and renting cars we could barely contain ourselves. The thought of us visiting and seeing some of the ‘must see’s’ in life in one holiday was beyond belief.

When we made our plans, decided what we would do and were we would visit we anticipated that all might not go as planned and alterations to our itinerary may be encountered. It turned out fate had some additional items on our agenda which proved to be every bit as memorable for very different reasons.

I can highly recommend a hop and stop holiday. For us it was totally exhausting but the sights; experiences and memories will stay with us forever.

Brian Pearson

1 Cost

2 The duration of the flight including the number of stops on route.

3 If people have experienced bad flights either due to the weather or the airline they flew with was poor.

Because we are frequent visitors Carol (my better half and is the one that makes all our flying arrangements) usually has a good idea when she see’s a flight advertized if it’s a good, bad or indifferent price.

As well as being able to judge the cost she can also equate in the additional time taken for potential stop over’s, the experiences we have had with the different airlines (if we have flown with them before), the time of year we intend to fly which in turn dictates how close to our departure date before books the flight.

She also takes into account the differences between chartered or scheduled flights.

This is all way over my head so my input is usually limited to a whine if the flight is delayed, there is not enough leg room or we don’t have our own headrest TV’s but credit were credit is due Carol usually says ‘I am a great help’ when I make one of my observations.

When we are asked for ideas from people it usually boils down to 2 main areas depending on individual circumstances.

During high season especially for new visitors to Florida, people who are not frequent flyers or if they are flying with very young children we would suggest a direct flight. Not always the cheapest but you get on a plane 8-9 hours later you get off.

If lowest cost is the main aim then chartered flights with stop over’s can usually be the cheapest way to travel. The main disadvantage is the time it takes to get to your destination.

We once took 24 hours from taking off at Orlando to landing at our local airport Durham Tees Valley. I can’t remember my exact words at the time but in a nut shell I stated I wouldn’t be doing it again in a hurry.

I think that was an occasion when Carol mentioned that I was ‘a great help’.

We have had a number of odd, interesting and unplanned experiences using scheduled flights. If you are interested I will put some of our experiences on the articles site.

 Brian Pearson

It’s a question we regularly ask ourselves when we are intending to eat out either for breakfast, lunch or evening meal.

A variation of that same question can often come from guests. Usually guests who are visiting for the first time.

Like many who have been the area more than once you soon become aware that the choice of eating establishments is enormous.

Breakfast is easy. If we want to fill up prior to a days activities it would be one of the ‘eat as much as you like’ establishments, usually Ponderosa (192 opposite the old town).

Lunch time eating out would depend on where we were. If we were at the house the choice would be between Beef O’Bradys, Chili’s or Applebee’s

Evening dining out can be a little more difficult.

If we had a family debate every time we ate out for our evening meal we would be never get out to eat.

In our family depending on who is making the final decision where to eat for an evening meal it’s usually a forgone conclusion for the rest of us where that person would choose.

Carol, my wife would choose chili’s (Champions Gate) or Applebee’s (H27). Her reasoning would be that both places have a good choice on the menu at very reasonable prices. However the deciding factor for her would be that they are both with in a few minutes drive from our house so she could get back, pour a red wine, soak in the spa and chill out.

My eldest daughter would probably choose either Antonio’s or The Columbia Restaurant both in Celebration.

The menu is more expensive than other eating establishments but in our experience the food has always been excellent and if I’m picking up the bill what do the others care what it costs.

For my youngest daughter and me it would have to be Logan’s roadhouse (opposite the old town 192). If their was one thing I could bring home to the UK it would be a Logan’s roadhouse.

The menu choice is good but for me you could take everything off and just leave the stakes.

The pub / sports bar set up is excellent, we have never been rushed, the staff are laid back, you can drink beer or spirits and you get the bonus of walking over to the old town to check out the old cars and motorbikes (if you pick the right evening) and spend forever deciding which one I’m going to buy and ship home.

In your dreams (as carol would say).

Eating out in Florida is not as easy as you may think.

We found flights on the Internet from Manchester airport direct to Sanford airport return for £130 each so we bought the tickets.

We contacted Bob to let him know we would be going over for Joanne’s birthday where upon he informed us that the plans had now changed.

The new idea was to book a 3-day cruise – to the Bahamas.

Bob explained we could use an agent that he new and book the cruise ourselves. To say we were shell-shocked would be an understatement after we had finished talking to Bob all that we could think of was what would it cost us; it was close to Christmas and an unplanned visit to the Bahamas was not on our agenda it was the furthest thought from our minds but we had booked the flights so we were committed to the visit.

We contacted Bob’s agent and to our surprise the cost turned out to be much less than we had anticipated. 

For the same reason as our cheap flights (low demand due to the time of year) we were able to book an all-inclusive, outside birth, 3-day holiday on board a cruise ship including a day stop over in Nassau for £150 each. We couldn’t believe it. We decide to consider the whole visit as an early Christmas present to ourselves.

The ship departed from port Canaveral and being first time travellers on a large ship we were unsure of what to expect, we need not have concerned ourselves, as soon as we boarded we were given our first drink, our luggage was taken to our cabin and were given the key to the door. Apart from having to attend a safety brief the only decisions we had to make for 3 days were what shall we have for our next meal, which show, bar, club, casino or pool should we go to. If we had wanted we could have had all our meals and drinks brought to use were ever we were on the ship, being pampered didn’t come close. The day visit to Nassau was excellent the temperature was around 82f (about 26c) with clear blue skies, better than a summer’s day in the UK and it was December.

Anyone visiting Florida considering a similar venture please remember we booked our cruise in December 2005 but if you have flexibility with your plans I would suggest waiting until the last minute to book. A couple that decided to come along at the last minute booked tickets 2 days before departure and paid $150 each.

Brian Pearson