Monday 7 March 2016

Blooming in Florida

It's pleasingly sunshiney in the sunshine state, with temperatures touching 80F and, most importantly, no snow.  We've done a very un-Davies thing and paid a little extra for a nice hotel.  So we have luxuries like a door with no gaps around it, and a plug in the bath, and walls that offer some sound insulation (unlike one of our hotels on the way down, where the man in the next room was coughing so much I woke up at 3am with a cold).

We also have swimming pools!  Seven of them, according to the brochure, although I think that's an exaggeration.  One of them does have a pirate ship, which has been Pete's focus of obsession for around a month.  It didn't disappoint, with canons and a water-spewing octopus.  The little one was entertained for hours, although signs disappointingly state that children have to be accompanied by parents at all times.  But, with the poolside bar opening at 10am, it doesn't state that parents have to be sober!

Before you worry that we've become actually, you know, classy, I should point out that the whole complex seems to be a massive timeshare.  We were offered "gifts" at check-in that included a free breakfast and $100 to attend a "short presentation" about everything the resort has to offer.  Long ago Hannah and I spent an entertaining few hours in Las Vegas at something similar so I demurred, even when the free lightsaber gifted to every child was waved at me, because giving a toddler a sword is a great idea on any holiday.

That tricky piece navigated (they called the room later to check there hadn't been a mistake) we've been lying around doing very little and soaking up the far more relaxed atmosphere than you find around the nation's capital, swapping politics for gin and tonics, The White House for white russians, lobbying for...well, you get the idea.  Now I just need to figure out how to get into Disney World for free.


Mmm, nice.  Would you like to buy a timeshare?


Pete takes to the pool.


The pirate ship, very much living up to expectations.


Responding to effective enemy fire!


The important sign.


Relaxing in the hot tub.


Just relaxing.


Arrr!


This might be part of the timeshare presentation (demonstrating what you look like after four hours of the hard sell?) but we jumped in while no one was looking.