Traveling from the UK to Orlando With A Young Child by Guest Blogger Charmaine Reichmann
In September 2011 myself, my mum, my sister, my Nan took my 4 year old cousin on her first Florida holiday. For us a holiday to Florida means a lot of travelling. Starting with the days running up to departure, the washing, making sure you have everything you will need, packing, unpacking, packing again, checking, double checking and triple checking that I have my passport. Then there’s the night before when you’re supposed to go to bed early in preparation for the early rise the next day… YEAH RIGHT!
The next morning we were up at 4 am so that we could be ready and outside waiting for the taxi to pick us up at 6 am to have us at the ferry terminal by 6:30 for the 7 am ferry. The 40 minute ferry journey is followed by a two hour drive to the Gatwick Airport. All of that before 9:30 in the morning! Having a 4 year old with us through all this travel meant the next task of keeping her occupied through all this travel and then for the three hours in the airport before we could even get ready to board the plan.. What did we do in the airport for three hours? Oh yes you guessed it we browsed the shops…ALOT!
When we finally board the plane, we then had to get comfortable and wait for everybody else to board. About an hour later we were taking off! Now came the fun of trying to keep the four year old entertained the nine hour flight. We start off by watching films, munching on snacks and reading/colouring and drawing. Our in-flight our meal, drinks and deserts were also a distraction. After eating she decided it was time for a quick nap, giving me the perfect opportunity to catch up on a book. Once woke up again it seemed like we are watched the in-flight Disney channel for hours before we finally began our descent. We are almost there… Yay!
After landing in Orlando it was time to go and stand in the customs queue which could be an hour or less wait, depending on how many flights have recently landed. By the time we hit customers we had a very excited family and extremely excited and tired four year old standing in line waiting to enter the country. Finally after clearing customs and collecting our suitcases we were able to go and find our hire car. YES we were on our way.
After a short drive to our rental villa and we finally began our holiday, only 20+ hours after our day started. We had a fantastic three week long holiday as a family are looking forward to our next trip in 2017 when we will be taking my Partner and our two little princesses for their first visit!
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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