Starting out early for my short trip to Florida at the end of February 2005, the one thing most on my mind was the 50 miles to the airport, needing as it did a train, underground, and then another train - but that bit of the journey wasn’t too bad at all, and I arrived at Gatwick with plenty of time to spare. I was travelling BA and after getting through immigration and security went into the BA lounge - although I have a standard ticket, I have a silver BA executive card - I knew all those business flights would ccome through eventually!!!

The flight is called - on time - and I get my first pleasant surprise of the trip - I’ve been upgraded to Business class, so get a nice wide seat and plenty of leg room. I have a window seat, and hope to be able to look out at the icebergs as the flight path goes up over Iceland & Greenland - but no luck as it’s almost totally unbroken cloud all the way over the Atlantic! What can I say about flying Trans-Atlantic? - well, it’s long!!! You get to sit a lot, and you get some films to watch - or, if you’re like me, you get some films to start watching, and then doze off to sleep, and then wake with a start, and think it’s not worth watching now!! My meal is brought - and BA efficiency is great to see - a while back I’d put down in my preferences that I wanted low calorie meals, but had totally forgotten that I’d done that! But that preference followed me, so I got one - interesting to see the difference from my Business class companion - I get a salad starter and fruit instead of a sweet pudding, and my main course is chicken - actually, quite a good meal considering all:) I turn down alcohol, but do avail myself of the fruit juice and lots of water during the flight - I’m told that drinking lots of water helps with jet lag.

Eventually the clouds below break as we’re over Canada - and I can see snow fields and long ribbons that I realise are roads, and the occasional settlement - makes you realise how big and empty the wworld is when you look at it from up here - so different from flying over England, with its many towns and villages. Then the clouds come in again and the next we saw was coming in over Florida - that strange strip of land that is as flat as it looks from the air!

Coming off the plane is my first introduction to the latest US security measures, and the fingerprint and photo - but you know these are not in anyway difficult or any more time consuming than the rest of the process, and then it’s through to pick up the luggage, and watch the beagle dogs sniffing around - one person is found with some fruit in their hand luggage - an apple - and this is confiscated! Then we do this odd thing at Orlando airport - Carry our luggage through customs, and then put them back on a conveyor belt where they go away again, whilst we confused passengers are sent up to the main concourse, on a train, and then have to hang around another conveyor belt to collect our luggage a second time!!! This is really quite odd!!!

I am meeting a friend here who is also flying in today, and I check and see that their flight is due in shortly - and when it arrives I have some trouble finding the correct baggage collection point - I end up calling her from my mobile to their cell phone - which, of course, goes via the UK!! Quit bizarre really!! And even more bizarre when my friend hides behind someone tall, so it takes me a while to find them!!! But we eventually get sorted and find our car rental place - where I somehow get talked into getting up upgrade to a bigger, newer model - only when I take it back later do I realise the cost difference!!

I have learnt a trick about driving on the "other" side of the road than I am used to - and that is to switch over which wrist I wear my watch on - for some reason this really works, and I only have to ask my companion once which side of the road I’m supposed to be on!! It’s kinda weird - on a freeway - in fact when travelling along with a flow of traffic, it is just driving and no problem. But occasionally I have to turn, and that is when I have to concentrate on how to do a left, and still be on the correct side of the road!

And so out into the already dark Florida streets - we have booked a suite just off Orlando’s International Drive for tonight and then one more night after we get back from Cocoa Beach. Eventually we find the place, park and our booking - two separate nights, separated by a weekend - causes some confusion - the check in person assumes it’s a mistake and tries to correct it - but No! that really IS what we are doing!!!

Check into the apartment - nice, two large bedrooms one with a bath, the other a shower (I take the one with the shower!) and in the middle a kitchen/dining/sitting area, and a view from the balcony over the pool of Wet’n’Wild, and out over the lights of this very touristy part of Orlando. After a quick check in with the people we are to meet up with in the morning, we head over the road for a bite to eat, and then back to bed - although Orlando says it’s 10pm, to me it’s 3 am - and I’m really tired!

The arrangements for the day are that we will go over to meet up with some others going to the convention, have some lunch at the house of one of them on the south of Orlando, and then go off in convoy to the Cocoa Beach hotel. My body is kinda confused about what the time is, but strangely I wake quite early - now, knowing that my companion is on US ttime, I think I’ll get up and make some tea and read till it’s time to go - but find that they are also up, so we sit and drink tea together, and then we decide to go to the pool just as dawn is breaking - a very cool idea - only thing is - we’re not allowed in the outdoor pool - too early, apparently!! - so we go to the indoor pool and hot tub, and day breaks without us really seeing it!.

Getting directions to our friend’s house, we set off and find it without incident. The effects of the 3 hurricanes that Florida had are still evident in some of the houses around here, and in our friend’s house they have just had the ceilings replaced, and the ceiling stuff has covered everything in site. A few others are meeting here too, and we meet another friend that I only know from e-mail - odd when you do that - and it will happen a lot this weekend! - you "know" the person from having talked on e-mail for many months, know a lot about them, except what they look like and how their voice sounds!!. A number of people over the weekend convention look at a couple of us talking animatedly, and are confused that we know so much about each other, but this is the first time we’ve "met":))

Anyway, we play with the 2 big and very hairy dogs for a bit, then have lunch, and off in convoy to cocoa beach, and the Resort hotel where we are staying, and where the conference is being held. This too suffered from the hurricanes, and the sea frontage is still being repaired - including the main restaurant, so we will be eating in the evenings in another place. Some of us set off to walk to the sea - and wonder where the sun had gone, as the sky is dull - but the beach is wonderful, sandy and long, and the Atlantic is as impressive as the Ocean always is. I must admit to having fallen in love with the Florida coasts a long time ago - they are all wonderful in their own different ways - the Atlantic coast always seems wilder and more rugged - whilst the Gulf of Mexico beaches are, to me, relaxing places on which to soak up the sun, the Atlantic side seem more full of adventures and life - if I had to choose one to live beside, I’d have a tough time deciding!!!

The late afternoon and evening are filled with meeting people, registering, hugs and smiles - to cut costs I am sharing a room with another guy - and I like the US way of doing this - the rooms are big enough for 2 to share and not get in each others way too much. And in a conference situation, we spend more time out in the public areas anyway - this is no where near as stressful as I thought it would be. What was more stressful was the evening meal! I somehow managed to miss the shuttle bus - well, the "somehow" was talking to people, I found someone who had also missed the bus, and we drove there finding, as it happened, the last parking place at the restaurant. Now, on a hot sunny day this spot - on the side of the "island" with views over to the mainland, and cool water-born breezes, wafting over the tables which are right on the water’s edge, would be a wonderful place to have a lingering meal. However tonight it’s decidedly chilly to be sitting, effectively, outside, and the wind and - rain? spray? - don’t make it too conducive to sitting and chatting! So we eat quickly, and move on back to the car. Now as we set off back, we spot the hotel shuttle bus and someone running after it! It’s obviously a fellow convention person - so my companion winds down the window to ask if they would like a lift - and it was at this point that I found that I didn’t know how to unlock the doors! When you start driving in this car the doors lock - and I’d have expected a button to push to unlock them - well there very well may be one, but I couldn’t find it! But we got the door opened eventually, and we then have a very international car of people - English, Canadian and American:)

Saturday is a day full of meetings - but again I wake early for Florida, so go for a ride along the coast. I drive for a while, and then find a parking space to stop, and stand to look out over the sea. The sun is breaking and showing in patches between the ribbons of clouds and the waves are breaking. There is a a soft breeze from the ocean the only sounds are the waves and the gulls - and I think that this is about as good as it gets!

But this cannot last, and I return to the Hotel and into meetings - my piece goes down well I think, and I remember to s p e a k s l o w l y so that the audience can understand me:) It is a common place that the British and Americans speak the same language differently - and my audience seemed amused by my comments - and indeed it is odd that we all seem to find it necessary to find a different word for that place that we all need to use from time to time - whether we call it the loo, bathroom, washroom, rest room, clock room. And my accent is repeated back to me - apparently I pronounce my R’s as W’s so sorry is "saw-wee"!!! Well of course it’s not my accent that is strange, but everyone else’s!!

A few of us escape at one point, and have a meeting on the beach - again, people who have met by e-mail, and so know a lot about each other already, and can just start from there when we share our stories. And during a walk on the beach I get a call from BA - on my flight home, they have a different plane, with less seats - would I like to change my flight to a non-direct one leaving earlier, with a guarantee of up upgrade to Business class. The flight they offer is a lot earlier, and would mean no time in Orlando on Monday, so I decline.

After a full day of great sessions, it’s time for the trip to the restaurant by the sea again for our evening meal, and guest speaker. We go indoors! But I am very tired, and at the end of the meal actually doze off at the table while the others are listening to the key note speaker. Then there is some music and dancing, and I can see why this is a popular place - given better weather than we have here right now!!

I get up in the morning, go to the bathroom to wash and dress - and somehow manage to drop my mobile phone right into the toilet!!! And strangely, it didn’t want to work after that!! What was also strange was how it heated up - quite scary (scawee!!!) in fact. It intermittently comes on when I try it during the day, but eventually even I have to admit it’s made its last call!

The morning round up sessions go well, and then it is lunch and back to Orlando to check in at our apartment - well, not as straight forward as that, because I ignore the advice for my travelling companion, and take the wrong turning, so we end up doing a grand tour of different parts of Orlando that we never meant to get to!

That evening we are meeting up with friends to go to Epcot, have a meal and watch the fireworks. Now I’ve been to Disney places before, and I know a lot of us British think of Disney as just a thing for kids, but Epcot especially is great for adults - indeed I think many kids would find it quite boring. We get in as guests of a "cast member", and spend a bit of time just wandering around and gazing - a nice occupation I always think:) Disney - indeed all the Florida theme parks I’ve been to - do this really well - the landscaping is wonderful, and the general ambience of the place exudes warmth and fun!! After a while we into the Japanese pavilion for their sushi restaurant and a very enjoyable meal - and quite a theatrical one too with the chief showing off his skills as the food is cooked right in front of us. Then just time for a visit to a 360 degree panorama film in the French pavilion - these things are amazing, and can really give me feelings of vertigo at times - but they are stunning. And then we go to stand by the lake for the fireworks. And what fireworks!!!! They do put on a magnificent display - and to think this happens every night!!!! Even having see it once before, I find it a breathtaking site. The spinning globe is, I guess, the big feature of the whole show - but I am most impressed with the way the buildings around the lake are all lit up and choreographed along with the fireworks. Just one magnificent display.

My flight back on Monday is not till the afternoon, deliberately so that I can have some time in one of my favourite tourist towns - Orlando. I guess I’m not quite on US time yet, and am up bright and early - certainly there are not the crowds of people milling around you get in the evenings on I Drive. But I enjoy the feeling of space and freshness that you get in the mornings:) - there is something of the off-season seaside resort feeling that I just love. I am partially looking for presents to take home, including some trainers for my wife - everything is so much cheaper over here -- and we find a shoe outlet where I get what she wants straight away - so I stop to look for me too, and end up getting 2 pairs for myself as well - and still spending less than I would at home! My companion and I walk along I drive in the sun - yes - we did see the sun at last!!! and look at some shops and admire the go-cart track, without quite getting up the courage to have a go ourselves - if there had been a crowd of people it would be good - so as not to feel too conspicuous! Then we stop for a leisurely lunch, at a restaurant overlooking I Drive, and watch the world go by - and there are some interesting people in Orlando! No real excitement here, but a really pleasurable morning.

Back to the airport to drop of the car rental, and then I realise just how much it actually cost! But a car is essential to travel around Florida, and the one we got was really smart, so I have no regrets about the cost. Orlando is one of the nicer US airports - lots of shops and café’s - and I manage to buy a nice piece of jewellery for my wife, and some Harley Davidson things for the kids. Then through to the waiting area for my flight - and it is strange - there is a Virgin Atlantic and a BA flight to London Gatwick, both leaving at around the same time - I wonder why this should be? Anyway, I have an even better flight home, as I get upgraded to one of the "flat bed" seats - really cool and yes, you can actually stretch out flat on them!! My "low calorie" meal is in economy, and they offer to get it for me, but I settle for the salmon option, which is fine by me, and then actually sleep most of the way home. This is good as I find it really disconcerting travelling that way across the Atlantic - you seem somehow to lose a day because of putting the clock forward by 5 hours. But sleeping, and not drinking alcohol, seem to work for me. And we land in a cold and wet England with me not feeling too much jet lag.

Oh! And once back at Waterloo Station, I see a phone shop and go in to talk about my dead mobile, and walk out with a new one for free - so that problem is solved too.

So was it worth going all the way over the Atlantic for what was effectively a long weekend? Most of it was the conference, so if I wanted to go to that, there was no option, and I wish I had had longer. But yes it was great to go! Florida is such a friendly place to visit, with fun things to do, and great sights to see. It helped, I’m sure, that I was meeting people I liked and had stuff in common with, but even without that, I think it’s a great adventure to do - and I look forward to the next time!

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