Flying high

It felt like the day was filled with "hurry up and wait" periods, where the hurry up was manic and the wait was relaxed and chill. It started on the wrong foot when the taxi was 20 minutes late, then at Auckland airport the queue was the longest I've ever seen - it took us over an hour and a half to get through immigration and security. And to add insult to injury, they singled Phil out for drug and explosives testing. Luckily all travellers were in the same boat, and they delayed our flight till everyone got through. At Houston we had to run the gauntlet again - this time with dogs as well - and it was my shoe that failed the test and had to go through the x-ray machine by itself.

The flight to Orlando was fun. We flew along the coast over Corpus Christi, New Orleans, Pensacola ... with the blood-red setting sun glowing at the edge of the horizon.

Arrived in Orlando half an hour early, in time to get front seats on the bus and a bird's eye view of the pashing couple in the vintage Chevy truck stopped at the traffic lights. They looked like they belonged in the back row of an old-time drive-in movie.

The first view of the resort was breathtaking - majestic palm trees lining the curving driveway to the spotlit fountain and lobby portico. Almost as good as the view from our room over the tennis courts and golf course to the downtown skyline.

It felt entirely fitting that they put on a fireworks display to welcome us back to Florida 😁Læs mere