Day Nine - Jan Hammer
After a solid two hours sleep it was time to set off for Orlando and the Kennedy Space Centre. It could have been three hours sleep but sadly I allowed Alistair to be in charge of this element of the trip and he got the time wrong by an hour. This did allow time for a steak breakfast at the airport but I would rather have enjoyed that elusive third hour in bed. As is the norm with taxis in the USA the car we had booked didn't bother to turn up, luckily two fellow hotel guests were headed for the airport and were only too happy for us to share their car (to be fair we may not have given them that much choice.) they had also been at the concert last night so we had a topic of conversation for the 6 minute ride.
As you can see we were looking chipper despite the 4:44AM time:
Having heard nothing but bad about Southwest Air I had low expectations about the flight. However there was plenty of space and an in flight WiFi service which I used to write yesterday's blog. All in all not an unpleasant trip. Alistair impressed all on the flight with his snoring. The other good thing was my bag was first onto the baggage conveyor:
On arrival in Orlando I picked up the next rental car. In this case it was booked with Alamo who have a system of self service terminals to enable you to pick your car up without the annoyance of going to the counter. However the terminals are as annoying as the counter but without the warmth of human contact. The good news was we had booked a convertible Mustang or similar which enables you a free choice of car from a certain area of the rental car compound. In this case we were greeted by a BMW 4 series convertible or a Mustang, after a short discussion it was agreed that the BMW was probably faster so we went for a black 430i.
I drove directly from the airport to the Kennedy Space Centre where we took part in a tour of the facility, a trot round the museum and the shop. For a space geek the shop has previously been a good hunting ground for new and unread space books, however on this occasion I think I had read / own 85% of those on sale so left empty handed.
As we hadn't driven a long way for a couple of days the next step was to head for Miami some 200 miles to the South of Kennedy. Essentially this journey involves getting onto the i95 quite near Kennedy and leaving it when you get to Miami. Before setting off we loaded up with beef jerky and gigantic cups of fizzy pop and were good to go. Alistair drove the first stint and sticking to the system that has held us in good stead this trip handed over to me at the point he was starting to fall asleep at the wheel. Highlights of the trip included a fantastic sunset and a gloriously bright moon.
As has become tradition on this trip whenever energy levels are flagging a quick burst of St Elmo's Fire by John Parr sees us right. As we were arriving in Miami it was also vital that the playlist included the Jan Hammer hits "Crocket's Theme" and the theme from the eponymous TV series. These two guided us to our hotel on Miami beach, setting for Police Academy III.
The hotel is not too shabby at all, in fact this trip I have not been as strict as usual about the 'only shit hotels' policy that I usually stick to. Then again I am on holiday.
Instead of doing the sensible thing and going to sleep we found a local Argentinian steak house (The New Campo) a short Uber ride away. Now having gotten our fill of steak it will be sleep time as soon as Seinfeld has finished.
Tomorrow is a rest day but that said there has been talk of going for an air boat ride, I suspect this is highly dependent on the hire companies letting us drive or having to be driven. I am in if I can drive, I am not if I can't.
Follow me on TWITTER etc etc
As you can see we were looking chipper despite the 4:44AM time:
 |
| Early morning |
Having heard nothing but bad about Southwest Air I had low expectations about the flight. However there was plenty of space and an in flight WiFi service which I used to write yesterday's blog. All in all not an unpleasant trip. Alistair impressed all on the flight with his snoring. The other good thing was my bag was first onto the baggage conveyor:
 |
| My executive luggage - winning the bag race |
 |
| "Hello kiosk company? Can you make me a terminal that is as slow and annoying as going to the counter? You can? That is excellent, I'll take several........." |
 |
| Alistair at the wheel |
I drove directly from the airport to the Kennedy Space Centre where we took part in a tour of the facility, a trot round the museum and the shop. For a space geek the shop has previously been a good hunting ground for new and unread space books, however on this occasion I think I had read / own 85% of those on sale so left empty handed.
As we hadn't driven a long way for a couple of days the next step was to head for Miami some 200 miles to the South of Kennedy. Essentially this journey involves getting onto the i95 quite near Kennedy and leaving it when you get to Miami. Before setting off we loaded up with beef jerky and gigantic cups of fizzy pop and were good to go. Alistair drove the first stint and sticking to the system that has held us in good stead this trip handed over to me at the point he was starting to fall asleep at the wheel. Highlights of the trip included a fantastic sunset and a gloriously bright moon.
As has become tradition on this trip whenever energy levels are flagging a quick burst of St Elmo's Fire by John Parr sees us right. As we were arriving in Miami it was also vital that the playlist included the Jan Hammer hits "Crocket's Theme" and the theme from the eponymous TV series. These two guided us to our hotel on Miami beach, setting for Police Academy III.
The hotel is not too shabby at all, in fact this trip I have not been as strict as usual about the 'only shit hotels' policy that I usually stick to. Then again I am on holiday.
Instead of doing the sensible thing and going to sleep we found a local Argentinian steak house (The New Campo) a short Uber ride away. Now having gotten our fill of steak it will be sleep time as soon as Seinfeld has finished.
Tomorrow is a rest day but that said there has been talk of going for an air boat ride, I suspect this is highly dependent on the hire companies letting us drive or having to be driven. I am in if I can drive, I am not if I can't.
Follow me on TWITTER etc etc
Comments
Post a Comment