We're on our way!

Everything went so smoothly to start with! The taxi driver managed to locate the house (after a phone call to us for directions); on arrival at the airport we were fast tracked through check in (tried to check in online but because of Harrison extra needs this wasn't possible) and there was hardly anybody at security control so by 8:30am we were seated in Garfunkels awaiting Harrison's cooked breakfast.

Being the only healthy person out of the three of us, I pushed Harrison to gate 111 whilst Bernard accompanied the hand luggage in a special assistance buggy!  We were amongst the first to board the plane and had plenty of time to get settled before the remaining passengers boarded.  We'd organised for Harrison to have continuous oxygen throughout the flight so checked with the flight attendants that this was in place. They said that it would be set up approximately 15 minutes after take off because he was going to be connected to their ring main. 

Ready for take off

In time an attendant came with the nasal cannulae and attempted to plug them into the supply. After a few minutes of trying she decided to seek some help from another attendant. He had a go, also without success. They both disappeared with the reluctant equipment and after a few minutes returned and tried again. Still the connector wouldn't stay in place. They decided to see whether the port above Harrison's seat was faulty so tried other points around the plane.  By now they had quite an audience!  This activity continued with various attendants taking turns, disappearing and returning with different masks / cannulae but they just couldn't get any of them connected. We were all starting to feel rather stressed and began imagining 'what if' scenarios. Nothing worked for the attendants so as a last resort the captain was called!  It had just needed his magic touch because his first attempt at securing the tubing worked! We were extremely relieved because this had taken over an hour to resolve. Bernard and I could finally retake our seats and settle down to watch our first movie - Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit. 

Lunch: 

It was very nice! 

As we approached the Florida coast, Harrison was very excited to notice Cape Canaveral right below him.  He also pointed out all the baseball pitches, golf courses and possible car / drag racing tracks. Just hope he doesn't want to spend the next two weeks looking for them! 

 

We landed at about 3:20pm and the fun began. The american's really know how to welcome visitors to their country! We were the last off the plane as we had to wait for Harrison's wheelchair to be brought up to the door. The walkway to immigration was deserted except for one elderly lady abandoned in a wheelchair! If we could have helped her we would but already had our hands full with Harrison, his medical bag, a small wheeled cabin bag and a back pack. As we entered the immigration hall we found everybody who'd arrived from two transatlantic flights. It was just a sea of people filling the hall queuing to go through one of four(!) booths. We spotted a glimmer of hope - a special assistance lane with only a few families ahead of us.  We naively thought that we would soon be reclaiming our luggage that we could see beyond the hall going round and round on the conveyor belt. Wrong! Even though we were expected to be cross examined about our visit, we hadn't allowed for us all to be individually finger printed and photographed! That holding area was sooo hot and nobody was in a hurry to get us all through.

So, we get through the first check, collect the bags (by now the carousel has been turned off) and head for check number two. That was easy - two lines for four officers. Everybody seemed to join the long queue. Why? We chose the short one and barely had to stop. Through the double doors and somebody told us to put the bags we'd just collected onto another conveyor belt. We then followed everyone onto the transit and to the second baggage reclaim. Big mistake! The reclaim area was deserted except for one more family from our flight and another female passenger. They'd already been there a while. It was a good hour before there was any sign of our bags again. By now we'd already been trying to get out for over two hours! Next stop Alamo car hire. Guess what - another lengthy queue mainly due to people who either didn't have reservations or couldn't find their reservation number - aaarrrrgggh! Add to that the agents trying to sell upgrades and add ons and we were there for ages. By now we were very tired and finding it hard to remain civil! 

Car sorted; time to find the office to collect the keys for our house. Using the written directions given to us by the travel agent and the sat nav on our phones we easily located the address although it was a 30 minute drive. Rather worryingly the building was empty and up for lease! We were sure that this wasn't the correct building so we drove around the area looking for it but the sat nav was insistent that this was it! I finally went into the Radisson hotel to ask for directions - we had been to the correct address. We went back and saw a note taped to the door. 

The offices moved at the beginning of May to another area of Kissimmee. Really not happy now! Back to the freeway and off to the new office. Complex found, now where was the office? I've already realised that directions given get you to the vicinity but then you have to turn detective to find what you're actually looking for! A member of staff in the supermarket directed us around the side of the building and inconspicuously amongst a nail bar and estate agent there was the office. One advantage of its location was that there were only three other families in there so it didn't take long to get our keys. We finally opened the front door of our home at 20:50. 

These photos were taken on arrival so they are a bit dark: