The visit to KSC has to be one of my favourite things on the entire holiday and you just can’t go to Florida and miss it out. It took us about an hour to drive up from Orlando, passing three tolls on the way which we don’t have in the UK, and to our relief it was much cooler since we were nearer the coast. The first thing we passed was the Astronaut Hall of Fame and it is worth noting that your admission ticket to KSC also gets you in here if you are interested. My uncle said it wasn’t worth visiting unless you were a total geek - I wisely kept my mouth shut. This is one of my bugbears about the entire trip - if he didn’t think it was worth seeing - we didn’t go. Personally, I would’ve like to have made up my own mind and I know we missed out a lot of things because of that attitude.
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I woke up at 3:00 in the morning because my body clock was still on UK time so as far as it was concerned - it was time to get up. I stayed where I was since it was way too early and sent a few texts. I was still feeling queasy because it always takes me a couple of days to shake off a migraine. I was also pretty hungry too.

Once we were all organised it was decided we’d be heading to MK after a brief trip to the shops to pick up new trainers for those needing them. I was surprised we were hitting a park so soon after arrival but was all for it. We headed to the Ponderosa for their all you can eat breakfast buffet and were served by a really, pretty black woman with gold teeth! Since I was still queasy, I didn’t hold out much hope for breakfast since the idea was to eat as much as possible and make it last the whole day! I’m not a big breakfast eater but I really didn’t want to be starving the whole day so got stuck into French cinnamon toast and lots of fruit.

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UGH! That says it all really. I did my best to catch some sleep on Friday night but it was to no avail - I was far too excited to sleep. We all went out for a meal that night and secured the cases in the car so it was after nine before I got home. I got ready for bed, determined to get a few hours sleep because lack of sleep literally makes me ill as you will see. I just tossed and turned. We had an advert for Disney World in the UK last year which showed a mum urging her excited kids to get to bed before they left on their holiday and moments later the kids are seen asleep while both parents are sitting at the end of their bed with their suitcases at their feet. That more or less sums it up for us all!
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I arrived back this morning and am completely knackered. I’m trying to stay awake until my normal bedtime to get back into the UK time zone without too much bother. The holiday was mixed but I did enjoy it on the whole. Some things I liked, some things I didn’t like. I’m too tired to go into much detail and the flights were hell. I got a migraine on the flight out that really knocked me for six and the first night in Florida all I wanted to do was come home again. I was mostly okay on the flight back but just longing to be home again by that time. Long flights are nothing short of a nightmare when you are sitting in a cramped plane with hardly any room to move. Don’t even get me started on the whole take off and landing business which I totally hated - I was fine once we were in the air.

Florida was hotter than it was supposed to be this time of year and we were all really uncomfortable, of course, when we got back to Glasgow it was like walking from a hot oven into a fridge. I’ll post more about Florida and upload the pictures I took over the coming week when my head isn’t so stuffed with cotton wool. *yawns*

We’re flying out of Glasgow at around 6:30 in the morning so I’ll be leaving for the airport at 3:45. UGH! I’m going to try and get some sleep before we go but I’m not sure if I will be able to! I’m actually quite calm about the whole thing and I think the long flight has something to do with it. I don’t think any of us are looking forward to it. I so wish you could just beam over there like they do in Star Trek. I’m not afraid of flying or anything - just thought of all those hours and trying to keep myself occupied. We have such a long time to hang about the airport too but I guess it could be worse since we could be flying from Manchester or something which would’ve meant a three hour drive to get there.

We should get to Florida around 14:30 or thereabout so the first visit on the agenda will be Walmart for supplies for the villa. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing the rest of Saturday, I suppose it will depend on how tired we will be. What am I most looking forward to? Feeding dolphins at Seaworld and visiting the Space Centre!

I really wish the kids were coming with us as originally planned because I would have loved to have seen their little faces and I so wish I could share my adventures with Grandma when I come home. I’ll be thinking of her when I’m with the dolphins. I’d give up this trip in a heartbeat to have her back again with me but I know she’d kick my ass for even thinking that way and she would be so excited for us. I think losing Grandma is part of the reason I don’t feel as excited as I was when we were first discussing our trip. She has left such a big gap in my heart and I don’t think I’ll ever fill that place.

Okay, that wasn’t what I intended to say in this post. Be assured, I am looking forward to this trip and I’m going to have the best time I can possibly have. I will buy loads of gifts for the kids and spend money like it is going out of fashion in the malls.

Catch you all later!

Tomorrow is my last day at work for three weeks and I fly out to Florida on Saturday morning. You’d think I’d be able to start easing up at work but you’d be wrong since S royally screwed up and I got left to clean up the mess since she didn’t even bother to come in today. She’s been absent more times in the past seven months than I’ve been absent in the past TWO years and it is so evident that she isn’t sick at all. I’m so pissed at her! We had a really busy day today and I really did not need to clean up her shit into the bargain. My boss could tell I was really angry though and she asked me to leave the evidence of the screw up on her desk so I hope that means someone’s butt is gonna get kicked. She stresses me so much I feel like screaming all the time! The good news is I’m going back out to Mission Control when I come back from my holidays and hopefully I’ll get my promotion soon after that. My boss is also recommending me for a bonus! I can’t really count on getting since the final decision is out of her hands but if I do get it - it’s going towards my MacBook Pro.

I’m all packed for Florida - finally! Just need to grab a book and some travel sickness tablets just in case! I don’t usually get motion sickness but I’m not taking any chances. I’m so not looking forward to getting up at 3:15 in the morning though. I think I’m going to be too excited to get any sleep so maybe it won’t matter but I really don’t want to end up shattered when I get there. I keep having little “woo hoo” moments as the realisation sinks in that I’m actually going to the States! It’s really exciting at work because so many of us are all going to Florida at different times during the year so we talk about it constantly!

I’m probably not going to have internet access the whole time I’m there unless there is something in the villa. I’m really not going to make a point of finding an internet cafe or whatever because that’s definitely not on the agenda for the fortnight. I’m taking a notebook and pen with me to record everything so will blog about it at some point.

I’ll probably be around Friday though so will say goodbye then!!