Shopping in the US

Best Buy - Port Charlotte, Florida

Shopping in the US is an experience.  Apart from the obvious savings on many products, despite the state of the economies, you are simply spoilt for choice.  Shopping malls and shopping strips or plazas abound,all with plenty of free parking.  I reckon we must have visited very shop in Port Charlotte at least once over the years.

Sports Dominator, International Drive, Orlando, Florida

With the demise of the Circuit City chain (although they are still trading on the internet), Best Buy moved into their slot.  It is technological heaven - computers, laptops, cameras, camcorders, iPods, iPads, itunes, cookers, fridge freezers, satnav, software, hifi, wifi, printers, TV's, videos - you name it, it's here. Rebecca bought herself a new camera here, a Nikon P100 and saved about £100.  I have in the past bought my Kodak cameras and camcorder from here.  Again, helpful and informative staff who know their stuff.

One of my favourite stores is Walmart.  The supercentres are amazing places and you can buy just about anything here and soooo.... cheap.  I guess part of the attraction is the fact it was the first bg store I ever went into in the US.  Buy goods, food, have something to eat and get your car serviced at the same time.

Sports Dominator is based on International Drive in Orlando.  This is a huge sports retail outlet and offers products from Reebok, Nike, Adidas and more.  It sells products for all the mainstream sports including football, soccer, hockey, golf, etc.

Bed Bath & Beyond, Port Charlotte, Florida

Bed Bath & Beyond is an Aladdin's cave of treasures - bedding, furniture, glassware, cookware, bathroom fittings, curtains and more.  I defy anyone who goes into these stores to leave without buying something!

Another favourite of ours is Office Depot in Englewood, Florida. A national chain, they offer computers, furiture, stationery, packing materials and much more.  A good shop to browse and buy with helpful and informative staff.

If you are into art and crafts, you'll simply love Michael's Arts and Crafts in Port Charlotte.  This store is superb with a huge stock of art materials, gift ideas, seasonal ranges, pictures and framing, flower arranging and they even undertake classes in the store.  Another of those stores that I suspect you will not leave without making a purchase!

My other car's a Jaguar..!

Having negotiated arrivals, customs and immigration, we quickly make our way to the Car Rental offices. The main rental firms have offices on site at the airport, rather than having to get transport to an outlying area of the airport. So it's collect luggage, quick exit from main terminal and into one of either Hertz, Dollar, Budget, Enterprise etc - we opt for Hertz again this year. Within 5 minutes, the pre-booked forms have been signed, car collected and we're ready to leave the Airport. Just a few minutes to set up the TomTom - I know the way after all these years but it is reassuring to hear and see the route confirmed.

Most car rentals offer SatNav but we are lucky to have a UK and US version of TomTom so use that instead. After a quick upgrade of vehicle - we get a Mazda CDX SUV that greets you with "Hello" and "Goodbye" when you switch on and off the engine, a check all is well with lights, wipers, breaks etc and we're off. Before long we are on the interstate heading south - I want to get over the Sunshine Parkway bridge before dusk.

It's holiday 2010...!

Almost a year on and we are embarking on our latest trip to Florida. I have already mentioned how I like to break the trip down into components, each with its unique bit of familiarity and tradition - this year is no exception. Our usual taxi firm collects us as 7am and we are on our way. Check-in at Gatwick is quick and easy and whilst we may get there a bit early, it's worth it not having to wait in queues. BA check-in staff are their usual helpful selves, polite and reassuring and we soon have our cases checked in and and through Security etc. Just time for some browsing through the shops for those last minute forgotten items (!), and up for breakfast at Cafe Noire.

A good breakfast, brief wander round some more shops and a light beverage before we wend our way down to the departure lounge. Clearly the gate staff are on a mission today as boarding starts almost at once and before long we are on board the BA 777 and seated. Take off is on time and we have soon left UK airpspace and are cruising at 38,000 feet. The mood on board is good, lots of families on their way to Disney no doubt. The nine and a half hour flight seems very quick once cabin crew start serving some complimentary drinks, lunch, in-flight entertainment and afternoon tea. I have to say, BA's in-flight entertainment system is really good - latest films and TV programmes, a film library with a good choice of films, music, quizes and even surveys. And the moving map tops it all of nicely. Well done!

We soon arrive in Florida but our landing is held up by some really bad storms around the airport so we circle round for 35 minutes or so waiting for a clear spot in the clouds and weather.

Storms - the way we used to have them

Ok, brief interlude from our ramblings on our trip to Florida. August usually brings the late afternoon storms - bit of thunder and lightning, and plenty of rain, which the locals crave as the earth needs it. We have just reurned from Venice, about 30 miles up the road and this one today started at about 4:30pm and it rained, and rained AND RAINED. The thunder was loud, hmm, very loud and the lightning was spectacular.... forget about theme park firework displays, this was the biz.... !

I rather bravely stood out on the pool deck to film it - I say bravely as standing in a few inches of water, out in the open in what can only be described as God's Thunder, Lightning and Rain Test Zone is perhaps not the smartest thing to do - heck, even the golfers had scurried off in their golf carts back to the club-house for a well-deserved cold beverage, ready to recount tales of "some damned fool they'd spotted waving a camera about....!" They know we're Brits - we've got the flag up on the posts!

The footage is not brilliant but you'll get the drift. The loud thunderclap at 01.02 actually made me jump which is why the camera shakes. I'm not prone to bothering about such noises usually but this was a particularly long, loud and wet storm and was right over the top of us. The joy is, it clears up after an hour or so and is as hot as hell again...!

Oh, and do come to this site again, there's much to go the blog between arriving in Orlando and today's entry... not least I realise my ambition to pilot a "Shuttle" and experience a launch as an "astronaut". For those who know me may recall, one of my childhood dreams was to become an astronaut. I even applied to NASA - got turned down as I had no flying experience and was not a US Navy Marine aviator. The fact I was only 11 years old at the time may also have had a slight influence in the decision by NASA but I hold no grudges. This opportunity was amazing fun, very real and thoroughly awesome to use the oft-overused adjective! I was joined at the controls by Rebecca who was the Flight Commander for the launch and journey to Mars!

Anyway, play the film below for the thunder storm, and come back to read our musings later!

Orlando - ah, we arrive..

There's something very satisfying about coming back to somewhere that you know and are known by staff (and I do mean that, some of the staff here are old timers and have been trained to remember people. That coupled with my natural desire to find out what makes the locals tick, the fact that we are Brits (yep, there are still places in the World who like us) , and that I also lost a rather nice white towelling robe here on my last visit, means they don't forget easily! The Regal Sun Resort Hotel, formerly The Grosvenor in Orlando is just such a place. We've visited this hotel some six times over the years and in the past two it has been upgraded to a "Hotel in the Disney World Resort" - not in Disney, but just yards away from its threshold.

So what? you may ask. Well, even when it's busy, it appears quiet and unhurried. You haven't got hoardes of screaming guests - and that's just the adults, it has good bars, good restaurants, a concierge and cafe that is open 24/7, Disney Character themed events, a Disney shop and free transportation to all the Parks and other attractions. That coupled with friendly, courteous staff, comfortable accommodation, TV, wireless interent, pools and spas, tennis courts, games room and free parking, you're made!

Just 500 metres from DownTown Disney, it is ideally situated close to the theme parks, International Drive and all the shopping. Our rooms, on the 11th floor of the towers overlook DownTown Disney and from here you can see the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, MGM Studios and more and at night the fireworks displays are spectacular.

We check in, settle into our rooms and decide to enjoy a swim in the recently refurbished swimming pool. Simply relaxing - it's 7pm, the light is fading, the pool is like warm bath water and the lights are coming on. It's still busy but quietly so. The bars are serving cold cocktails - the Mojita's are superb - and we decide we'll eat in the hotel this evening, which gives us some more swimming time.

Simply glorious... and tomorrow, we hit DisneyWorld...!!!!

Orlando via Arcadia... part 2

We decided to journey up to Orlando - about 160 miles up through the central parts of the state, thus avoiding where possible most of the Interstates. As much fun as it is driving on the UK motorway equivalent, maintaining 70 miles per hour and watching that you do not slip below 50mph (a traffic offence), can be very tiring, very boring and keeping a constant alert for traffic merging from your right, lorries that seem to have super engines as they power past you, and the occasional lunatic driver, is a drain.

TomTom Sat Nav is really good here in the US and the speed reminder, traffic updates and other points of interest are eerily heralded by a doom-laden gonging sound.

So we opted for a quiet, leisurely drive up through countryside, following the emergency evacuation route through to Arcadia and beyond. Not that the evacuation route was much use in August 2004 as Hurricane Charley, originally expected to hit Tampa and cross through the State over to Orlando, decided to wobble, made landfall at Port Charlotte, just 18 miles from us, tore up the Peace River, and followed the poor souls who had left their homes in Punta Gorda and were dutifully following procedure and the road to Arcadia.

You may recall seeing the image on the top left of the Arcadia water tower. The hurricane devasted the area with many homes and businesses literally disappearing in the space of minutes.

In some earlier footage I took during that hurricane we witnessed a speed boat that had been parked on a driveway hovering some three or four feet off the ground as the storm took hold before it was zipped across the river and through the pool deck cage some 500 yards away.

Anyway, this is a nice journey on a quiet road, with lovely countryside on either side passing through some small towns (village-size) with their very old Floridian-style houses. We also saw huge cattle ranches (NB., at one stage there was a greater herd of cattle in Florida than there was in Texas and much of the land around our home in Rotonda was once owned by the Vanderbilt family and used as cattle grazing land).

We headed in a north easterly direction passing through interestingly-named places such as:

• Zolfo Springs (population 1642 at 2000 Census)
• Bowling Green (population 2,892 at 2000 Census. Second photo shows the historic train station dating back 1911.)
• Fort Meade (3rd photo shows Christ Church about 1889. Fort Meade is the oldest city in Polk County, dating its origins to 1849 when it was an old military road from Tampa (Fort Brooke) to Fort Pierce during the Indian wars. The 1880s business district was located on old Wire Street (now Broadway), which was a casualty of 4 devastating fires. The Future Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, was stationed at the fort in 1851. The town was burned by Union forces in 1864 and all of the original structures were destroyed, except the 2nd fort which was dismantled in the 1890s. Fort Meade has over 300 hundred homes on the National Register of Historic Places and a handful that date to the late 1800s).
• Haines City and back on to the I-4 to Orlando.

Orlando here we com..via Cracker Barrel - # 1

Ok, you cannot come to Florida and not make at least one attempt to get to the theme park centre of the world. Love 'em or loathe 'em, there is still nothing like the American theme park experience.

We decided to have four days up in Orlando and set off early on Tuesday morning to have a breakfast at a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. These are a real culinary experience - all kinds of breakfasts either from the menu or to suit your taste. They also do lunches and evening fare.

The Cracker Barrel restaurants are usually located just off the interstates or at busy state route junctions. The one we go to is at Jacaranda Boulevard, nestled in amongst the pines and palms of the countryside. Eggs done anyway you want, Grits, Hash browns, sausage patties, bacon strips, whole meal toast, various preserves, pancakes, ice cream etc - you name it, you can have it. Your meal is complimented by a mug of good coffee that keeps being refilled.

You then walk back into the shopping area of the restaurant and can find all sorts of trinkets, books, confectionary and any manner of gifts.

Or sit outside on the stoop in one of the many rocking chairs (that are also for sale) and either indulge in a game of checkers or solitaire or simply sit and watch life pass by.

The car by the way is a Chrysler C300 - a superb car to drive. You can see them on the roads in the UK, but they look way better over here!