Day 1: Travel Day - Busy Bee, Orlando then Philly

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Well, I thought our day would start at 4am but the nervous Nelly’s decided that we should leave Friday night so that we don’t have to worry about traffic, leaving late or accidents on the road that would make us late.

I love traveling with the girls that think our luggage is going to get lost and all the glass half empty stuff. They are a pleasure. I told them I’m gonna change their thinking and work on thinking positive.

Anyway, we headed out just after 11pm. Don’t tell my mom. She will be mad.

I will say there aren’t many folks on the interstate this late at night. We did find one or two that are might need a little visit from the county Sherriff. Holy intoxicated, sleepy or just plain bad drivers.

Busy Bee

Halfway down I-10 there was a mandatory stop at the Busy Bee. What in the world is this place?? I personally have never been but since Mandy was driving we decided she could stop there.

This Busy Bee place is amazing!!! I’m pretty sure you can buy all your Christmas gifts and groceries all in one store. Yeah, we probably bought more than we should have and spent a little more time than expected.

Oh, if you have a Tesla this is the place to be. Pretty sure they have 20 terminals. Did I mention this is Live Oak, FL. Not the biggest city in Florida. How many Teslas are really in the rural area of Live Oak. Who knows, if you have one make sure to take a little trip to the Busy Bee.

Orlando

On the way to Orlando we had just one more stop before we got to our hotel. Well, that stop was worth every minute. We saw a uniquely dressed lady get solicited, the sister tried to talk her out of it but then she got it the guys car. It was amazing.

We arrived at the hotel at 4am and went promptly to sleep.

I don’t know how or why but our very own Mandy decided to wake up, get ready, make coffee and conduct a few phones calls at 6am-ish. I walked into the living room area of our hotel room where Mandy was conducting business and offered that she could go down to the lobby use the free breakfast buffet voucher. She politely declined stating she would wait for us. Oh goodie!

So we get moving around and eventually head to breakfast. I’m not hating on the Sheraton Suites breakfast. One item - ham croquettes. I mean when you start off you day with some awesome Cuban food it’s gonna be a good day folks.

Little Airport Fun

I think getting ready for a vacation are some of the most stressful days. Maybe that’s why Cheryl and I like last minute trips. They require a little less thinking, planning or packing and fun is immediate. With all the being said, I’m slowly getting into vacation mode but I was quietly getting a little anxious about getting to the airport.

So with a good two hours sleep we find the long term parking, board the bus and find the American Airlines terminal.

We walk in and Mandy spots Kim right away. We give hugs and go to the self service terminals to print out our luggage tags and boarding passes. That sounds easy right. Well, technology is fun until it isn’t. So 15 attempts at scanning my passport, starting the process over, a little tension and then glory, glory it finally worked. I would say it was a little tense for a minute of two.

We aren’t seasoned travelers so applying your luggage tag to your bag can be a little overwhelming. Thanks to Miss Cheryl that wasn’t a problem. She locks eyes with a American Airlines employee and said, ‘I’m pretty sure your are better at this than I am (insert coy smile with a cute laugh).’ In three seconds flat our bags were tagged and we were onto the next stop.

Cheryl won the bag weighing challenge with a weight of 29 pounds. Mandy placed second with 39 and Kim and I brought up the last places with 43 and 47. Guess Cheryl is the lucky winner of ‘you get to lug all our souvenirs home.’ Congratulations Cheryl!

As we arrive at the Security check point we see a crazy long line then with the twinkle of some security guards nose a new line opens and in a matter of minutes we are sending our stuff through a scanner. I felt like I hit the Fast Pass Lottery.

Then there was the Everglades seasoning Kim is attempting to bring Lori. Of course it has to go through some special scanning and testing. Each bottle was opened and drug tested. It was kind of funny. I am looking forward to seeing what customs in Germany is going to say about this dried green leafy seasoning mix.

We have 41 minutes to kill and since we’ve been rocking on 2 or so hours of sleep we might as well add alcohol to the mix. Bloody Mary and Tequila Sunrise’s all around. Vacation Mode has officially set in.

Next stop Philly, Philly. We have a 3 hour layover then we have a direct 8 hour flight to Germany.

Later,
O.

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