Ok, a quick couple of days coming up ….. 24th December, this was the day we were going to spend with Wendy and her lovely husband. Unfortunately, Wendy was way too ill to go anywhere apart from the sofa in her villa today.
So, DH and I had a lie in. We decided to take it easy today as I was still recovering from a throat infection I had picked up too. I don’t think we left the villa until maybe 11.30am.

We headed over to Premium Outlets as we’d never been there before. There weren’t many shoppers about today. I bought a Disney scrapbook at the outlet store along with a Steamboat Willie plush and a Mickey pin. A couple of hairslides at another store and that was the total of what we bought that day.

Over to Chiles on International Drive for a meal about 3pm. For starters, I had a bowl of chicken soup which was actually delicious! DH had nachos. We both had a ‘create your own combo’ meal. I went for the chicken and ribs, DH had the steak and ribs. With 2 soft drinks, the bill came to $52.87 before tip.

Next, we drove over to DTD and had a wander up and down the shops….bought nothing. Deciding on the cinema, we watched Day the Earth Stood Still.

We then went over to visit Wendy & Chris at their villa to wish them a merry Christmas. Poor Wendy, she looked rough.(Wendy…you know I love you but, you looked, well, rough. Erm….trying to decide if I should leave that in or not. Wendy is a beautiful looking lady …normally! Well, she was still beautiful, it was just masked by illness tonight) If I suddenly disappear from the boards….you know whose garden you have to dig up! I actually didn’t look too hot that night either so, who am I to point the finger. Love you Wendy. Just better leave this

25th December…..the start of our 5 day road trip.
We left the villa about 8.15am and headed to Cape Coral. We were spending the day with friends. It was actually a family gathering at our friend’s parents home. We arrived about 11.30am. We were introduced to the family members that we hadn’t yet met and everyone sat around a huge decorated tree chatting and joking.
We had a meal outside by the pool around 2pm. This meal was nothing like the traditional English Christmas lunch of turkey and stuffing. We had boiled ham, shredded potato, filled boiled eggs, cheese….lots of items I had never seen before too so I avoided them!
This was followed by cakes and fruit pie.
We then moved on to the Christmas crackers we had brought with us. Each of us wearing the silly hats and telling the bad jokes. Most of the family here today had never pulled a cracker before in their lives. We took a group photo of us all with the hats on before some of us jumped in the pool.
We finished off the evening playing Wii games before we decided we had better make a move over to Naples as we had a room booked for the night at the Best Western.
I wasn’t sure what to expect at this hotel but it was actually very nice and very clean.

26th December.
We arrived at Naples Zoo just as it was opening at 9.30am. It was a lovely day today with plenty of sunshine. Not many people here which made for a very relaxing day.
I must say, I was expecting this zoo to be a lot larger than it is. A lot of the land it covers are gardens and walkways. You all know how passionate I am about animals but, we were done here by 2pm.

I did see my first ever fosa……


We took the boat ride around Monkey Island….


There was a Subway where we bought lunch but the menu is very limited compared to other Subways.

Visited the lions quite a few times. They also do a ‘meet the keeper’ for the lions so we went to this before heading out of the zoo. A keeper chats to you and answers any questions you have. They feed the lions small pieces of meet on a stick…..




So, not quite what I was expecting from this zoo but I was pleased that I gave it a go. The animals could do with bigger enclosures but I have seen a lot worse.

So, it looks like we have some spare time…what will we do? Brainwave…we’ll put ‘points of interest’ into the satnav and see what it comes up with. Not a lot! There is a location for a horse and carriage ride around Naples which sounds good so we decide on this. We let the satnav take us to the location….to find the road came to an abrupt end! There was a new housing estate there so it looks like the horse and carriage rides have been moved on.

Giving up, we head over Alligator Alley to the East coast where our next stop would be for Butterfly World in the morning. Goodness….I don’t think I’ve ever been on such a long , straight and bland road as this before! I can imagine people falling asleep at the wheel if they’re not careful.
We managed to stay awake but then went through a Sunpass lane by mistake at a toll booth. It really was a mistake….the toll was only $1. Anyway, we panicked and expected to see a sheriff’s car waiting for us at the end of the road. Even with the time difference, I knew Keith and Mick would still be online so I texted them for the number for Dollar car hire. After being told to ring Dollar back on Monday morning, we did get it sorted. We were told we had 10 days to get the $1 fee in the post…we did it that day.

We arrived at Studio6 where we were to spend one evening. This wasn’t the best place we’ve stayed in so far….in fact, it was probably the worst, by far! The rooms cleanliness left a lot to be desired and it was a little uncomfortable having to stay there.
We still had the evening ahead of us so we walked over to a retail outlet area where we found cinema. We watched 7 Pounds with Will Smith.
We then had a wander around Targets as we’ve never actually been in one before. I don’t know what got into us but we ended up in fits of laughter, we were like a couple of kids….wandering through the isles, pointing out the funny names on food items that would have folk in the UK leaving the item on the shelf.

We headed back to our room at Studio6 where I couldn’t bare to leave anything lying on the floor so all bags etc were put on table tops and getting into bed, I made sure no bed linen went to the floor. I did however, sleep like a baby!

Tomorrow….Butterfly World.