"It's an adventure" Day 0: The trip to Gatwick

Cast
Me: David – 35 – Planner
Dad: Ray – 60 – Bank Roll

I woke up at 4:00 a.m this morning and had trouble getting back to sleep again. When I did finally get back to sleep I had a weird dream where I flew a plane load of people somewhere and then when it was time to come back I couldn’t find the airport building. I hope that’s not a sign of things to come!
I had originally thought I would be working today but I found out a couple of days ago that I had an extra day of annual leave that I had forgotten about so I got up about 9:00, had a shower, shave etc. and did the last few bits of packing.

At 11:00 I did online check-in to make sure I bagged the seats I had pre-assigned last year and printed off the boarding passes so all we would need to do at Twilight check-in was drop the bags off.

I then did some last minute DISing, which was lucky as reading one post I realised that I hadn’t put my driving licence in – a bit of a problem when you are picking up a hire car at the other end :eek3:

Our taxi was booked for 2:00 and he was outside bang on time, I think he had probably been waiting at the end of the road! Traffic was light and he dropped us off at Gatwick’s South Terminal at 3:00.

We made our way over to Twilight check-in and found a German party in the queue in front of us who appeared to be repacking their suitcases. Once they had sorted themselves out we got to the desk and dropped our bags off no problems at all. One interesting thing that we realised later was that we weren’t asked the normal security questions like “Did you pack the bags yourself?” etc.

Bags gone we took the monorail over to the North terminal and walked round into the Sofitel. We got an airport view but as we were on a low floor all we could see was the car park and terminal building.

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Sorry the first one is a bit blurry.

To celebrate the start of the holiday we had a drink in the hotel bar and then went for a walk around the airport terminals to find somewhere to eat. We decided that Garfunkels looked good but as it was still early we went back to the Sofitel to relax for a while. This was when I saw my first hidden Mickey – as I laid on the bed the shadow of the smoke detector on the ceiling looked just like the classic hidden Mickey shape. We also took the opportunity to fill out the US immigration and Customs forms we had been given at check-in.

Around 6:00 we went back down to Garfunkels and although I can’t remember what we both had I know we both enjoyed it. From there we went back to the hotel bar for a nightcap and then on up to bed to dream of the days ahead.

Tomorrow: “It’s Virginia Plain, no it’s Barbarella” - Day 1

I love the day before you fly - it's the anticipation I think.
Twilight check-in is fab we did it last year at gatwick then stayed at my sisters and left all our overnight junk there too! Great
Can't wait to read more Wicksey Thx for posting

More trip reports YAY :smiley4::sigs-tv-010::sigs-cartoon-005:

thta's cool, finding out you have an extra day off....:yes:

I've never stayed overnight at a hotel before flying off on holiday - it must be so exciting!

More please :) :yes:

Oh go on then as you asked so nicely, day 1 is up now. :p015:

Good start. :yes:

A new trippiy brilliant i do hope ou have lots of pictures to add as you go on.
xx