We flew from Gatwick and to make life a little less stressful we stayed over at the airport on pre-travel day. This time our hotel of choice was the Premier Inn on Airport Way which is located just behind the North Terminal. As this PI isn't actually classed as being at the terminal its always slightly cheaper than the one that is right by the main airport building. However its location shouldn't put you off booking as it only takes 10 mins to walk from the hotel to the terminal, there is also a shuttle bus (an each way fee is payable for this) if you didn't want to walk. The hotel also offers onsite parking, a restaurant and a bar. Its somewhere we have stayed several times now and we would have no hesitation in staying there again, its always been clean, warm and comfortable. If your a light sleeper our top tip would be to ask for a room on the top floor (level 3 I think) so your not disturbed by anyone above.
As we were flying Virgin Atlantic this trip we had the benefit of being able to do Twilight check-in. The desks are open from 5pm to 9pm and all members of your party have to be present then its just a simple and straightforward process. You show your passports and then all your checked luggage is taken and your boarding passes are issued. We always like to take advantage of this service when flying with Virgin as it makes travel day a little less stressful. While we were in the North Terminal we decided to eat there and once again we chose the Nicolas Culpepper, its where we ate last year on our Florida pre-travel day. The food is fab, service is friendly and quick and its reasonably priced. As an added bonus they also have their own gin which is great for me!!
Our travel day started with a visit to the Number 1 Lounge. The North Terminal lounge is slightly different to the South in that the hot food is served buffet style and is unlimited. You can go and help yourself to as much as you want, as many times as you like. There is also a full bar as well as unlimited tea/coffee/juice etc. For us the lounge is the perfect way to start our long haul trips, we always shop around to get the best price and check out booking through sites like Quidco or Top Cashback.
As I previously mentioned we flew Virgin Atlantic this year, we chose them purely because at the time of booking they were far cheaper than BA. We used some of our flying club miles to upgrade from economy to premium economy which is our preferred way to fly long haul. We are much more comfy and relaxed if its just the two of us side by side with a little more room overall to spread out in. The flight was fine although it was quite bumpy, the fasten seatbelts sign came on several times and the flight attendants were even told to take their seats at one point. Anyway despite taking off about 55 mins late we ended up landing just 15 mins behind schedule which wasn't too bad. Due to being PE and in the lower cabin we were one of the first off which is always a bonus, however our joy soon turned to frustration when we saw the queue in the immigration hall - it was massive!! It ended up taking us almost 90 mins to get through then we had to collect our cases, take the monorail to the main building and go and collect our car. Thankfully the drive to our villa was swift and took just 30 mins but by that time we were well behind our planned 'schedule' as well as tired and hungry. We knew that we were not going to make our FastPass so we cancelled our plans to visit a park and instead headed to Walmart to stock up on snack and supplies. We ended the day by having a bite to eat out by the pool before jet lag hit and we headed to bed to get some sleep safe in the knowledge that we were finally in Florida!!
Thanks for stopping by for a read - Part 2 will be with you soon!
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