Visitors from the UK (and indeed from Europe, North America and Canada) have a choice of airports for their Florida vacation.  There are many smaller airports which are suitable for shorter journeys, or as the final leg of an indirect flight), but there are 4 main options for visitors to Florida.

Each of them has its own advantages – this article is intended to outline some of the features, and will hopefully help visitors choose a suitable arrival airport

Orlando International Airport (MCO)

This is the nearest to the attractions area and the majority of the private villas featured on this site.  It is served by the two main scheduled airlines from the UK – Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, who offer daily flights from London Gatwick – Virgin also fly daily from Manchester, and less frequently from Glasgow.  It is a large airport, and as a result queues at security, immigration and the car hire desks can occasionally be a bit lengthy.

There is a variety of shops and restaurants – with on-site car hire offered by the main hire companies.  One less attractive feature is the need to double handle luggage (collecting from the carousel, and placing it on another conveyor belt to collect by the car hire desks) – although there is the option to struggle through with suitcases on the escalators…..

Tampa International (TPA)

A quieter airport than Orlando, which often results in shorter queuing times.  Whilst the journey to the attractions area is a little longer (around 45 minutes longer), this is typically saved through the time savings at the actual airport.

With direct flights from Gatwick most days with British Airways, this is becoming a popular alternative – Tampa is also suitable for indirect flights.  This airport is the closest International Airport for the Gulf Coast

There is less choice for car hire companies (although many more are just off the airport)

Orlando Sanford (SFB)

Sanford airport handles fewer flights than Orlando and Tampa, and as a result tends to be quicker passing through immigration and security.  This time saving often compensates for the longer journey time travelling to the attractions area.  Sanford is used by charter companies, which occasionally provides regional departures from the UK

Miami (MIA)

Miami is a major airport, but around 3-4 hours drive to the attractions area – an overnight stay is recommended before tackling the journey!  Miami is ideal for starting holidays on the Florida Keys, the southern Gulf Coast resorts, or Miami itself.

With many airlines there is no need to depart from the same arrival airport – which works well for two centre holidays.  Most car hire companies do not charge additional fees for returning a car to another airport within Florida

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.

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