Traveling with dogs

If you own a dog, like me, you’re always looking for places to visit, to stay and to enjoy along with your pet.  Because  I too try to find suitable accommodation for our family and our pet, we find ourselves in the same predicament as many loving pet owners.  Where can we go, where can we stay, where can we eat outside and where can we take our dog for walks.??

That’s why we have great pleasure in being able to offer pet friendly vacation homes! The biggest advantage of staying in a home rather than an hotel is the sheer ease of settling in with your pet.  Dogs are far happier in a home than a hotel room – there is less unfamiliar noise, for one thing.  My dog has a habit of barking at unfamiliar noises, like other guests passing along the corridor outside our room.  She hates the sound of vacuum cleaners, so that’s another problem;  they’re always cleaning the hallways of hotels.  And in a vacation home, we can bring her own bed, blankets, and food bowls.  The outside is easier to access, so taking our pet for a walk is less stressful; most homes are in quiet developments with sidewalks, and open areas that we can walk to and from.

Florida has just been confirmed as having one of the top five dog friendly areas in the United States.  We are fortunate enough to have Fort De Soto beach on our doorstep.  It takes about 2 hours easy drive from Central Florida to reach the famous Fort de Soto doggy beach, where dogs and humans mingle happily on the sands and in the calm Gulf waters.

Jilly on Fort de Soto beach

There are two fenced dog runs for off leash play;  one for smaller dogs and one for the larger breeds, complete with water bowls and showers to wash the sand and salt off.  Shaded seating areas for owners are also provided.

With miles of sandy beach to run along, and soft and gentle waves, dogs of all ages and sizes have great fun .  Obviously all dogs must be kept under control, and sometimes if the larger dogs appear to be too boisterous we tend to walk further along the beach to provide ourselves and our little one some peace and quiet.

The end result of a trip to Fort De Soto is a happy and tired pet, with a grand vacation home to return to, with all the comforts of home.  Their own blanket, doggie bed and food bowls.  What more could a pet on vacation want?

The trip to the UK for my daughter’s birthday was quite eventful.  Preparing for the trip gave me  some very busy days , and it wasn’t until two evenings before I was due to fly out, that I managed to pack my case.  Trying to decide which clothes would be best for the UK weather was difficult;  we had been having temperatures in the 80′s here in Central Florida, and I knew that it  wouldn’t be that warm in the UK.

Check in at Downtown Disney

However, I packed what I thought would be suitable,  checked in at Downtown Disney early on the morning of the flight and went back to the office for a few hours work before leaving.  Why Downtown Disney for check-in?  Because you can check your luggage in and arrange your seat, so you don’t have to go to Orlando airport three hours ahead of the flight.  All you have to do at the airport is go through the security screening and board your plane.

There were obviously a lot of passengers on this flight; it was standing room only at the boarding lounge.  Boarding took place and we were all seated eventually;  lots of children, lots of hand baggage on this flight, but no major upsets – until we were due to take off.

I settled into my seat, nodded to my neighbours and prepared to open the paperback I had just purchased.  Just as the plane started to taxi out from the gate, an announcement came over the tannoy.  The Flight captain gave us all some bad news, then the good news……………..there had  been a  volcanic eruption in Iceland; they had just heard about it, and we would not be able to fly into Manchester airport!  All the airports North of Birmingham had been closed due to the volcanic ash from the eruption.  The good news was that if we left right now, we might be able to get into Gatwick airport………………

There was a collective gasp of horror from the passengers, including myself.  We had all booked to go to Manchester because we needed to

Volcanic eruption in Iceland

go to the north of the country.  To land in Gatwick with all the headaches of trying to get back up to Manchester was a bit of a concern.  And, none of the staff members knew what would happen when we landed.  Nor could we understand why an eruption in Iceland had closed down UK airspace.

Anyway, once in the air, there was nothing we could do except settle back and enjoy the flight.  Close to our arrival time, the pilot announced that we would be put on coaches for the trip back up to Manchester.

Having landed safely,  and collected our luggage, we were ushered to the bus terminals to wait for the promised coaches.  There was a bit of confusion over the transit to the coaches, but finally we were on our way , and we arrived in Manchester Airport at about 3.30 p.m.  From the airport, it was a fast and comfortable train journey to my daughter’s home town.

The day of the party dawned clear and cold, but at least the sun was shining.  I know now why so many of our guests enjoy coming to Florida to stay in our vacation homes; one forgets just how cool even a sunny English day is, and how small British homes generally are.  We have become used to the spacious rooms and extra amenities of our homes here.  And of course, we are usually fortunate enough to have sunshine all year round.

Some of the family

My daughter Kate and myself

Once the party was over, and normal life resumed, then of course, the worry about the closure of the airports had time to surface.  After checking the Virgin internet site, it became pretty obvious that there was little I could do until the day before I was due to fly back to Florida.  So we decided to make the most of my admittedly very short stay, and took the train into Newcastle for the day.  Not for shopping, I hasten to add, but to have a look around a city that I haven’t visited for many many years.   The weather wasn’t too too bad, although I had to borrow a fleece jacket to be comfortable.  We visited art galleries, museums and walked across the “blinking eye” ; the Millenium Bridge over the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead.

Millenium Bridge

Eventually my short break had to come to an end, and the worries over how to get back surfaced again;  the news media were  showing stories of many people stranded all over the world, getting more and more frustrated and unhappy with the lack of assistance and information.  We stayed in touch with Virgin Airline, and on the day before I was scheduled to fly, we were informed that it was very likely that the flight would go.  Virgin staff took a mobile phone number, and at 2.00 a.m. on the Wednesday morning, texted a message to get down to Manchester, the flight was On!  We left the house at 4.15 a.m for the drive down, and arrived just as the check in desk was opening.  I joined the queue and checked my baggage and tried to get a decent seat.  The plane was already pretty booked up even then.  I went to the Boarding lounge, and found a huge number of people waiting; and we waited, and we waited……….. the original flight time of 10.25 a.m. was delayed to 12.15, then to 1.45 then to 2.45 …………. eventually we were given the go-ahead to start boarding at 5.05 in the afternoon!

At last we were off and heading back to Florida……………… I think we were twice lucky;  firstly getting to Gatwick when we did on the trip over, and secondly getting out of the UK on the day we were scheduled to leave.    Sad to leave them all, but there will always be another time or another celebration to enjoy.

Once, many years ago,  we managed to get down to Titusville to watch one of the Night Flights of the Space Shuttle. There have been very few experiences since then to rival it.

The long wait for the countdown, the murmurs of other people who are waiting just like you, dark shadows moving around you while all eyes are on the launch pad  far off in the distance, radios pressed to ears, listening for the latest news, and hoping and praying that there will be no last minute stand-down.

When the start of the 10 second countdown commences, eyes and ears strain to see and hear the first of the blast-off;  people craning to get their first glimpse, fingers on camera shutters ready to go………….9,  8,  7,  6,  5 .…………. now the time is getting so close, you can  feel the tension…………….you can feel everyone willing it to be a safe lift off………

.4, 3, 2,

ONE!!!

and a tremendous cheer erupts at the same time as the fiery steam billows out of the ground, and the shuttle lifts off.  Going so slowly at first, then gaining speed as it lifts away from the launch pad.  Trailing a huge cloud of orange vapour behind it like a cloak, and speeding up , up into the night sky.   Our eyes are blinded by the vision, cameras are clicking as the shuttle passes in front of the moon, and onwards, and  then comes the roar; the noise of the blast off – we didn’t expect that!   The sheer volume of sound compresses the chest,  pulses through the body, feels as though you can’t breathe for a moment  and makes you feel as though the earth itself is trembling.   We clap our hands in sheer delight and relief that everything has gone smoothly; we turn to people around us and express our amazement and awe at the sight and sound we have just experienced; we watch till we can’t see the Space Shuttle any longer…….. then everyone drifts away to their vehicles and moves on with their lives.

No matter how many times I watch the Space Shuttle take off from Kennedy, that one experience will never leave my memory, and this morning I watched another Space Shuttle take off with its crew bound for the International Space Station.   A Space Station that we could see with the naked eye in the dark hours of this morning!.   Our TV was on, showing the countdown, as it has so many times before, and we watched the incredible sight of the  lift off, then rushed outside into the dark, to see the sky lightening from the blast, then the sight of the Space Shuttle lifting about the tree line to speed across the dark skies.  We watched it till it had gone over the horizon, and walked back indoors to a hot cup of coffee.  Yes, we did take more photos, and yes, we did wish, briefly, that we had been really there at the Cape to witness this wonderful sight.

You have to admire those crew members who board this amazing piece of machinery for the ride; there are never any guarantees of safety on this ride!   STS 131 is carrying a full complement of seven crew to the International Space Station.

Discovery and Crew Delivering Science Hardware to Station
Commander Alan Poindexter is leading the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Joining Poindexter are Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Discovery is carrying a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the laboratories aboard the station. The mission has three planned spacewalks, with work to include replacing an ammonia tank assembly, retrieving a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior, and switching out a rate gyro assembly on the S0 segment of the station’s truss structure.

STS-131 is the 33rd shuttle mission to the station.

Team Applauds Beautiful Launch for Discovery

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:21:27 AM EDT

During a postlaunch news conference at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the 6:21 a.m. EDT liftoff of space shuttle Discovery was hailed as a great success.

Calling the launch, “a great start to a great mission,” Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, said the successful liftoff was a tribute to the team at Kennedy that got the vehicle ready to fly.

Mike Moses, chair of the Mission Management Team, said it was, “a spectacular launch and picture-perfect countdown.” He outlined a few minor technical issues that were recorded, but that the spacecraft and crew were ready to start an action-packed mission.

Expressing his happiness that they were able to launch on the first attempt, Pete Nickolenko, STS-131 launch director, said he was proud of the teams that make such a difficult job look so easy.

Also on hand was Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Keiji Tachikawa, who noted that this will be the first time two Japanese astronauts will be in space at the same time, as Discovery’s Mission Specialist Naoko Yamazaki joins Expedition 23 crew member Soichi Noguchi for the STS-131 mission.

Discovery and crew will spend 13 days in space on their mission to the International Space Station.

With only three more  Space Shuttle missions planned,  this was the last mission planned for a night-time take off, and what a fantastic sight for those of us who were fortunate enough to either be there to be able to watch it from our homes.    My thoughts go to those brave astronauts and I make the same comment I made all those years ago, when I saw my first live launch;  Good Luck and God Bless!