Days 1 & 2 - Weds 20th & Thurs 21st Mar 2024
Participants: Tam & Kev
I guess we are
the same as many people in that we have a long list of places we
would like to visit before we shuttle off this mortal coil. The
problem is that as Tam watches more shows on TV like Race Across
The World she adds more beautiful destinations and so the list is
growing faster than we can take holidays (or have money).
I came across a cruise in the autumn of 2023 that allowed us to
cross off 3 things in one go, an opportunity too good to miss. It
was a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Los
Angeles. The things that got crossed off the 'to do' list were a
cruise through the Panama Canal, a stop off in Costa Rica and two
stops in resorts on mainland Mexico. It was also good that it was
with Princess as we've never cruised with them before. The added
bonus is that there is no chance that I'm not going to take the
opportunity to visit Disneyland as we end up in California.
It would just be Tam and I on this holiday, which tends not to
happen too much these days.
Day 1
Tam's mum gives
us a lift to our local station and we catch the 2.15 pm train to
Paddington. We could have gone straight to the airport, but
thought it would be fun to do something a little different rather
than sitting around an airport hotel for the whole evening. We
will be heading to the Sofitel in Heathrow later, but for now we
arrive in London.
Rather than trudging around with our luggage we drop our
suitcases at a nearby shop that we've booked online. It costs
£20 for a few hours, but makes things much easier.
We've sometimes seen a bit of the Paddington Basin as we've been
passing through the station but never been there, so this is a
good opportunity. It's part of the Grand Union Canal and has lots
of boats moored up as well as restaurants and bars.
We walk up to Little Venice and have a look around. According to information on signs around the place Little Venice may have been named by Lord Byron who jokingly compared the area to Venice. Well, it might not live up to the majesty of Venice, but it is very pretty.
After a drink in a bar we head to a wine bar called Vagabond and meet up with son in law Charlie (Georgia is on a work trip in Germany). We have a lovely time and get through a few glasses of wine along with a charcuterie, arancini, meatballs, olives, chorrizo in red wine and some croquettes. It's all very nice and it's been fun catching up with Charlie.
After picking
up our luggage we catch the Elizabeth Line to Heathrow terminal 5
and head to the Sofitel. We get allocated a room and when we walk
in we find it's not been cleaned with dirty towels on an unmade
bed. We have to wait outside for 15 minutes until they can get us
a new room. At least they apologise and give us a voucher for a
free drink each. We go to the bar and I have a pint of Guinness
before it's time for bed as we have an early start tomorrow.
Day 2
We're up at
6.45 am and walk across to the airport. That's the biggest
selling point of the Sofitel at Heathrow, it's so easy to walk
into terminal 5. It's also very expensive these days, but we had
some Tesco vouchers to use up so it was affordable.
We drop off the luggage and are through security reasonably
quickly. Breakfast is at Gordon Ramsey's Plane Food. I have eggs
benedict and Tam just has toast as she's not feeling 100%. We
look around duty free in case there are any decent prices on
perfume or aftershave. When trying all the various types on those
little strips of paper I always end up confused by which one is
which and the smells all blend into one. Never mind the aroma the
prices are certainly eyewatering.
The gate is now open and we are through and on to the plane very
quickly. It's been a very smooth process all the way through. We
are on an A380 on the top deck which has a 2-4-2 configuration.
Unfortunately we couldn't get 2 seats by the window (they wanted
something like £70 per person to pre-book those), but are sat
together in the centre 4 seats.
The flight is really good. It takes off on time and is smooth for
practically the whole journey. I even enjoy the food of roast
chicken with mashed potatoes.
I watch 3 films which are all enjoyable in different ways. I'll
not bore you with detailed descriptions but simply say:
Barbie - stuff
the patriarchy, funny as heck in places.
The Holdover - amazing acting, Oscar winner.
Latest Mission Impossible - Guns, stunts, fighting.
The flight
lands in Miami on time and we hot foot it to immigration just
catching the first internal airport train. This is very lucky as
we have a 45 minute wait to get through, but by the time we reach
the front there is a big queue behind. Some of those people at
the back are probably in for a 2 hour wait.
We try to get an Uber, but the app is not working for some reason
and so we change to a taxi. Probably not the cheapest way to do
it as it costs us $110 to get to the Ramada Wyndham Marco Polo
Resort in Sunny Isles just south of Fort Lauderdale. It ends
being even more expensive as I give Tam $10 for the tip as I sort
out the card payment in the taxi, but then get confused and add a
further $10. Lucky bloke got a $20 tip.
The Marco Polo Resort is definitely showing its age. It was probably quite swish in its day as the photos in the lobby show, but its day is well past. Our room is shabby with an old cooker and a massive fridge. Still, it's only for 2 nights. We change into more summery clothes, shorts and a dress. Just to be clear the dress is for Tam.
The view out of the window looking towards the beach.
Looking the other way towards the intercoastal waterway.
We walk up the beach for a mile or so to Newport Beach Pier. It's mostly overcast and quite breezy, but warm enough. We share blackened fish tacos and chicken tenders along with a beer and cocktail each. With an automatic 22% tip (22%! It used to be 15% as a norm) the bill is $119, probably a little overpriced, but you pay for the location.
You can just see the pier way off in the distance.
This is the view looking back from the pier.
Tam's got the Uber app working now, so we go to Duffy's Sports Bar and Grill on the intercoastal waterway where the margaritas are 2 for 1. With tax and tip it's $20. It's quite a buzzing place and fairly typical of an Amercan sports bar and I say that as a good thing.
It's been quite a long day, so we get a $14 Uber back to the resort. In bed at 10.30 pm.