Wednesday October 6th

[05:21]

Looks like it will be a wet journey to the airport this morning according to the weather forecast :(

[7:45]

Still on the A406. Roadworks have been a nightmare :( Car's sat-nav says another 30 minutes still to go.

Pick-up with the car was spot on time - the guy way waiting for us at 6:30 as planned. Happily, he's bought along a big car too, plenty of room for luggage!

[9:30]

We got to the airport around 8:30 - arriving in the middle of a rainstorm! Sadly, unlike Gatwick, Heathrow has no undercover area where you can unload. So that short wade through to the terminal doors meant we were soaked through :(

FYI - we checked in this morning with three bags all just over the 21Kg each, PLUS an extra bag of shame that was needed to carry a few extra bits that wouldn't quite fit into bag three...

So I'm sitting here alone in the lounge. Linda's off ransacking duty free and I'm left listening to a group from Essex talking loudly about their golf handicap :| Bring on the sunshine!

[21:11 EDT. 02:11 BST]

Back in our hotel room now, after a quick bite to ear over in the Steak 'n' Shake just across from the hotel. Things have calmed down a bit now. Let me summarise:

• Arrived at airport a hour late
• Got soaked walking to the terminal entrance
• Thought I'd lost my wallet! Damn my bag with all those hidden zip pockets!
• Flight time almost a hour longer than normal - 9h 24m due to severe head winds
• Crushed knees as the woman in front of me decided to put her chair full back from the moment we took off!
• Pretty uneventful flight. I watched Hot Tub Time Machine and Jonah Hex Linda just watched It's Complicated then dozed for most of the flight.
• Miami airport is shit... let me summarise:
  • Massive walk to the immigration area
  • Arrived behind a Mexican flight - extra scrutiny for all Mexicans arriving it seemed, so queues were long even before we got there.
  • Took about 45 minutes to get through customs
  • Outside the terminal is a free for all as people clammer for the car rental shuttle buses which seemed to pull up where they pleased (on the opposite side of a busy road) and they expected people to drag their cases over to them.
  • Linda dragged one of our cases over to the bus and slipped off the kerb, she's now got a very stiff ankle
  • 10 minute drive to the car rental place
  • 30 minute wait to get seen there!
• Arrived at the hotel after a slow drive up the I95 towards Ft Lauderdale.
• Check-in was fine - we get free WiFi and a breakfast tomorrow
• Room is OK

Just time to upload a couple of photos and we're done for the day. Just hope Linda's ankle behaves itself.