Day 3 – Pompano Beach to Orlando

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Unfortunately, we have both had a very bad night’s sleep. There has been constant shouting very near to our door nearly all night. We are not only suffering from the effects of the transatlantic fight, but also now a bad night’s sleep.

We packed up and left the hotel by about 11.00am and started the 250 mile journey to Kissimmee.

With Norwegian Air, we each got only one 20kg bag to stow and one 10kg bag for hand luggage. To try to maximise the clothes we can bring with us, we have brought only enough toiletries to get us through to today. Part of our shopping over the next week will be our ongoing toiletries, the toiletries for the three weeks when we are on the cruise and also a pair of water shoes each which we will need for some of the special activities we have planned

Along the way, we made several stops for the various shopping that we are planning to take home with us. It is 5.00 pm before we eventually get to the hotel and realise we have not eaten anything all day.

Tonight, we are staying in the Econo Lodge in Kissimmee. This is just around the corner from the hotel we stayed in during our first visit to Florida in 1999. We are staying here as there is a Longhorn Steakhouse next door and that has a lot of memories for us.

When we visited the Longhorn in 1999, Theresa had a ketchup bottle literally explode over her and they gave her a free T-shirt which we still have. We think of that holiday every time we wear that t-shirt. It will be nice to make a return visit to the restaurant.

As it is Spring Break here in Florida at the moment, there was a long queue at the steakhouse, so we sat at the bar for about half an hour before being seated. The wait was worth it though, as the food was just as good as we remember it to be.

As we were walking the short distance back to the hotel, we were both drawn towards something speeding very high up through the sky. It looked like it could have been a rocket launched from nearby Cape Canaveral / Kennedy Space Centre. It had bright red flames / exhaust coming from the rear. It was quite a sight but too far away for a photograph.

When we got back to the hotel, we checked out the rocket launches, and it is very likely that what we saw was a rocket launch. It was originally planned for a little earlier in the week, but was delayed with technical issues. This has resulted in the rocket launch that we were hoping to see tomorrow being delayed until 24^th March. So hopefully we will get to see it the night before we board the cruise.

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Comments

[Sandra Riggs]

Day 3
The Steak looks wonderful, the bread massive. I bet you enjoyed the shopping, interested to know what you bought.

[gandt2000]

Steaks
Were divine

[ailsa mcgibney]

steak house
Sounds like a long day after a bad nights sleep but also sounds like once you got to your Hotel a good time was had ,

[Kath]

Day 3
Bad nights sleep is not a good start to a long day. Wow how lucky were you to see the rocket launch and for free. Looks like you made a good choice with the Steak they look delicious.

[Simon Tune]

Carry out.
That looks like an enormous loaf of bread and half a cow. Did you manage to eat it all or did you make sandwiches for the rest of the week?

[gandt2000]

Bread v Steak
We managed everything apart from half a loaf of bread