Oldies On Tour

Wednesday 8th April 2026

It rained heavily in the night and it was still raining when they took Elton to school this morning.   Today Elton went to school dressed as James Bond, suit, collar and bow tie, very smart.

Had we have known about our flight change, we would have kept the hire car, so we actually wasted a day yesterday and packed too early!!!!   So like yesterday we hung around the house until the rain stopped and the sun came out, then headed straight to the pool.   

Again sun and clouds but when the sun came throughs, it was hot, we felt it burn us.   Andrew joined us later but by then we had decided to leave so borrowed his car to get back🤠🤠, his new 4-litre BMW X 6; some oomph under the right foot; shame there is a 30-MPH speed limit around here👹👹. It was now we got another message from Virgin informing us our new flight was being pushed back “another” hour to 11.30pm, what’s going on???

Soon after lunch we got a call from Andrew asking us to collect him and said we are all heading off to view a second house as he had discounted yesterday’s.

Andrew collected, we headed off to The Hamptons, another area within Woodfield.  Here the houses were much grander, the tree-lined avenues were wider, this’s area is more impressive than the last house we saw.   We met the agent and when he opened the front door, well, a very big “Wow”, very impressive.   Four bedrooms 5 bathroom, a home movie room, a much nicer garden with a bigger pool and the bonus, no traffic noise.   Obviously this house is in a different league to yesterdays and it was very impressive; we think he was impressed, we certainly were!!!

Today Elton is being collected for the first time by his new part-time nanny and coincidentally we all pulled up at the house together.   Christine got another email from Virgin, OMG what else, but to our surprise we had our seats allocated, and we are very pleased; the first bit of good news we’ve had from Virgin today. 

After showering and final packing we left, Andrew very kindly drove us to Miami Airport through dreadful weather, very heavy rain.  Dropped off we walked Straight up to the desk and checked in, straight through passport control and very quickly through security.    Now for our next disappointment: in this particular terminal there is no airport lounge to enjoy so had a four hour wait in those not-so-comfortable chairs!!!   A route march away was a bar so thought a couple of drinks would ease the pain.   I ordered a white wine and a Bloody Mary and nearly fainted when presented with the bill, $58, (£44) so only had one round!!!

The four hours dragged by but there was some entertainment.  Somehow Virgin had really “cocked up”, most probably because they cancelled the 1830hrs flight.   It turned out all upper class was completely full so no upgrades available, but there was one seat in economy available, but here is the issue.   Virgin had managed to book in one person too manny in Premium and was looking for one volunteer to “downgrade”!!!!!  The entertaining part was how their “offer” to downgrade kept going “up-and-up and-up” as the boarding time got nearer.   The final offer we heard was a free return flight to “any” destination Virgin fly to!!!  Someone obviously capitulated; just as well for us as it would have caused extra delay!!

Eventually we all boarded, every seat occupied, but then we couldn’t get off the stand due to some issue with another plane blocking a stand and causing a “plane jam”.

Eventually we got away at midnight, five and a half later than our original booking, but the pilot was confident he would make up some of the time as there was a strong following wind.

Apart from a small child kicking up because he/she didn’t want to wear a seat belt, the flight went well and we did catch up some time, and the bonus was: our bags were on the carousel as we walked in to reclaim.  

We got to the Elizabeth line and a train arrived very soon after, and got to Paddington in-time to catch the 1430hrs instead of the 1530hrs train that we had anticipated to use.

We eventually got home via “Hope Farm” to collect our car a little after 1800hrs and in-spite the issues with Virgin at Miami AirPort, the journey back was flawless, and we got to catch Mark (builder) for an update as to where we are.

Thank you Andrew for putting us up, sharing your Country Club facilities and making our visit memorable, the downside to that is of course, we will be back!!

Tuesday 7th April 2026

Back to early morning as it’s a school day today, followed by packing the main suitcase with “stuff” we won’t need; don’t want to rush about too much tomorrow morning!!

After an early lunch we headed to the pool, not so busy today, mind you the weather isn’t up to much.   We have moments of rain, lots of clouds interspersed with nice, warm sunshine, still our last day so had to do it.

The highlight of day was later in the afternoon when Andrew took us to look at a prospective house that’s for sale.  This house is also in Woodfield but in the Kensington community, the main concern is that it backs onto a busy road; noise!!!

We arrived a few minutes early and waited but virtually the moment we switched off, the agent pulled up.   We wandered around this two story house, quite quirky, 3-beds, 3-bathrooms and a small plunge pool in the back garden, and here we got the full force of the traffic noise.   The reason this property had “appeal” to Andrew was the fact it was a “project”, though an American project, ie. it needed re-decorating and up-date a bathroom or two; oh yes It did need a new roof.   Apparently people replace their roofs after about 20/25 years!!!!  This place did nothing for either Christine or me, but we are not buying.

Back home and our last night, Christine cooked a delicious roast lamb dinner with all the trimmings; we were lucky to find a lamb joint, they don’t seem to be that popular in the local supermarkets, it’s all about beef.   

After dinner we sat down, Christine had an email from Virgin informing us our flight had been cancelled and that they had put us on a flight that leaves 4-hours later.   That’s a b….y nuisance, we have train tickets booked and are not changeable!!!   We then tried to secure our seats but were unable to, but got a message to say they would be allocated at the gate.   When we brought our flight forward we paid to secure our preferred seats, now we have to wait; not happy bunnies as headed to our beds. 

Our trip is now definitely coming to an end,  we have to return our hire car by midday🥵🥵, still fun whilst we had it, got us out and about.

School is back today but Andrew had already booked Elton onto another “tennis camp” day, organised here at Woodfield, so no early early morning run today😄😄.

It rained again overnight; I think a pattern is forming!!!  Anyway Elton was delivered to the tennis club on time, we cleared out the car, Andrew went for his tennis lesson and we headed to the car rental office, about 20-minutes away.   Stopping for petrol en-route we arrived with time to spare. Booked the car back in, confirmed I would be re-funded for the booked period we haven’t used and left.

Our lift back (Andrew) has to finish his tennis lesson before heading out to collect us, so we arranged he’d meet us in the local “Dunkin Donut”; very convenient place for parking etc., and more importantly our last chance to have one more “Apple Fritter”🤪🤪🤪, in fact we’d just finished them when our lift arrived so finished our drinks on the way.

Back at base we headed to the pool or some last minute sunshine, but he’d to be ready to leave the moment Elton had finished his day camp as we had an appointment with the Jungle Queen later.

After a quick change we were off, our destination Fort Lauderdale for a 90-minute boat ride up the new river.   Getting there was mildly fraught as it was rush-hour and though Easter Monday, traffic was heavy in-spite of the 4-lane highway we were on.   The good news we just made it in time, 3 minutes to spare!

The Jungle Queen left her mooring and headed into the river and at that point all sense of reality went out of the window as we passed mega yachts costing untold millions; some with helicopter decks and one with its own sailing boat as one of its “toys”.   But that’s not all, we passed mansions belonging to the mega rich.  We thought the “pads” in Palm Beach were extraordinary but wow, along the new river they exceeded them.   It wasn’t just the odd one, oh no, they were “side-by-Side”, the length of the river, and on both banks!!!!     Our guide was telling us the “who’s who” of mega rich people along this waterway, and how many 10’s of millions and the odd one or two even more!!!!    As I said this seems like fantasyland but of course it’s not!!!

Eventually we turned around and headed towards Fort Lauderdale Docks where there were two Disney cruise ships and a Celebrity that pulled out as we were passing by.

Sunday 5th April 2026

Easter Sunday and here at the Woodfield CC there is a special “brunch” being laid on, so Andrew has booked us a table for 1200hrs    With this in mind we had “minimal” breakfast, as by all account’s this will be something special.    We had also booked “Cap’s Place” for a meal tonight, the same fish restaurant we tried to get to last Monday, but it was closed.   I think we will have a dilemma later!!!

Elton was tired even though he had had a good night’s sleep so we all lounged around until it was time to go.

We arrived at the country club main building with its magnificent wide staircase leading up to the “ballroom” where they are holding today’s brunch, checked in and went up, shown to our table, then went for a wander.  

The ballroom was enormous, and if if that was not enough, the end wall can be moved to double the size of the room!!!!  The food itself was actually on the landing outside the ballroom, only slightly smaller than the half ballroom.    There were numerous islands covered with food of every kind and around the outside of this landing, were stations with multiple chefs cooking and  carving etc.   Of the many stations, each with its own group of foods, I spotted the “oyster and prawn”islands so got stuck in, it was like being back on the Oriana cruise ship, magnificent oysters washed down with a first rate glass of French Chardonnay.   The rest of the meal followed a similar pattern, up to a station, fill your plate then back to the table to consume it,  then repeat the process, several times!!!   We all did the same thing yet only scraped the surface of the number of dishes provided.    Not sure how many of us were at this sitting but every time you went to an island, it always looked full, there were numerous waiters just topping everything up continuously.

We now moved into the next room where there was a full array of deserts to “go-at”.    The thought of going out to dinner again  tonight is daunting!!! 

Once completely “stuffed” we thought it was time to leave and make room for others.   Andrew left with Elton to head to a dog show so we walked back, but this time cut through the golf course.   It was a lovely, hot day for our walk and luckily no golfers about.

We had a period of about 4-hours before we ate again but after about three, it became obvious that none of us, except Elton, could eat another meal so the final decision was made and I cancelled Cap’s Place, but definitely go on our next visit to Florida.

Quite relieved, we sat down for the rest of the evening.  We have one more complete day here but unfortunately can’t do much as we have to return the car at midday.

Saturday 4th April 2026

We woke up to a much sunnier day though it had rained during the night; we can live with that.  As everywhere is so green and lush naturally it has to rain but at night is perfect!!!!

We headed out to do some shopping.   We have discovered this retail chain called “Dollar Tree”; a cross between “Poundland” and the “Chinese” shops in Spain.   They sell a variety of everything, from clothes to household goods and from food to tools with everything in between; an Aladdin’s cave at knock-down prices.   We wanted a couple of toys and an Easter bunny for Elton and I needed to get another box of wipes designed for hearing aids, about 10% of the price in uk!!    The only issue in these shops is finding what you want, there is minimal staff as they naturally need to keep their costs down, but we managed!!

A quick stop at Publix before getting back to Woodfield, and after a quick lunch, headed to the pool.  

Fortunately Andrew was already at the pool as he had dropped Elton off for his first Golf lesson; they start young out here!!!  The pool area was extremely busy and we think the three “front row, poolside” loungers Andrew secured were the last three, most of the second row loungers had also gone.

Eventually Elton emerged after his golf lesson and “hooked” up with a lad from New York and went off playing.  Unbeknown to us his pal had taken a box of small beads with him and they came back sporting bracelets and neckless’ they had just made and using them as samples, asked us if we wanted one, followed by the “punch-line”, $1 for the bracket and $2 for the neckless, paid for in advance.   This lad from NY was quite adamant about the up-front payment!!   A budding entrepreneur we thought.   Christine ordered a bracelet but we had no cash with us so Andrew after much negotiation persuaded the young lad to take the order and we’d pay on delivery.   The bracelet never materialised!!!! 

Upon return back at base, Andrew got himself ready to go out and we had our dinner before Elton went to bed, one very tired and exhausted young lad.

 Friday 3rd April 2026

Good Friday today, though Easter isn’t the big “thing” here: Elton is off school of course but not on Monday, no Easter holiday around here in the US.

As yesterday we planned to chill out, but first we had one very important task to undertake.   Woodfield CC has organised a  “day camp” for all the children and Andrew had left instructions on what to gather for the “day-camp”: certain clothes, shoes and swimmers etc., and deliver him at the tennis club after breakfast,  by 0850hrs-sharp!!!!

Task completed on time though the “sharp” was a little miss-leading as they were still “piling” in long after, and they had laid breakfast on for the children!!! At least it isn’t raining today and we are sure they will all have a great time.

Back home we lazed around until after lunch when we headed back out to the pool area for another bit of sun bathing and a swim.

Andrew was back in time to collect Elton after a fun-packed day and joined us in the pool.

Tonight we had fresh “burgers” and by Jove they were nice ones; chunky, meaty and very tasty, nothing like the frozen ones we seem get in the U.K.!!!   Elton was very tired so went down straight away and we watched a film before heading off.

As I said yesterday I looked into Florida’s history, so at the risk of being boring, I’ve added it to this post.

According to Archaeologists this region was inhabited over 14,000 years ago by Paleo Indians (note 1).  Later history is documented; it was discovered by “Juan Ponce León” in 1513 who claimed the territory “El Florida” for Spain (note 3).   The territory swapped to the British and back before the US took possession (note 5) in 1821and became the 27th state in 

Note 1:-    Paleo-Indians were the first people to inhabit the Americas, arriving from Asia via Beringia (note 2) roughly 12,000-14,000 years ago. These nomadic hunter-gatherers lived in small bands, hunting megafauna like mammoths and mastodons and creating distinctive stone tools like Clovis points. As the climate warmed, up they adapted by diversifying their diet to include smaller game and plants

Note 2:-   Beringia was a vast, unglaciated land and maritime area connecting Siberia and Alaska during the ice ages, formed by lower sea levels that exposed the Bering Strait’s continental shelf.  This “mammoth steppe” (a steppe is a dry, temperate grassland characterised by treeless plains, short grasses, and low rainfall, 10-20 inches annually)  supported large herds of animals like mammoths and bison, and served as a land bridge for the migration of plants, animals, and the first humans into the Americas, who followed the herds. Today, only the Diomede Islands and Pribilof Islands remain as remnants of this ancient landmass.  

Note 3:-   Juan Ponce de León (1474-1521) was a Spanish Conquistador who led expeditions from Puerto Rico to the coast of Florida, giving the region its current name. He also served as the first governor of Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream. He died following a skirmish with indigenous peoples on a second voyage of exploration to Florida in 1521.

Note 4:-   Great Britain controlled Florida from 1763 to 1783 having acquired it from Spain in exchange for Havana, (Cuba), after the Seven Years’ War. The British divided it into two colonies, East and West Florida, but returned the territory to Spain via the 1783 Treaty of Paris after the American Revolutionary War.

Note 5:–    Midday on Mon, 3 Mar 1845, Florida is admitted into the United States as the 27th state After centuries of Spanish rule, 20 years of British control, and almost 25 years as a U.S. territory, Florida was finally voted in as a state. President John Tyler signed the admission bill. Floridians had voted in a referendum in favor of statehood in 1838 and a state constitution was approved in 1839, but it was not until the U.S. Congress approved the act in 1845 admitting both Florida and Iowa that it became official. After admission the State Legislative Council began in haste to organize its first state election, which occurred in May of 1845, to elect a governor, a member of the U.S. Congress, 17 state senators and 41 state representatives. The total population of Florida in 1845 was approximately 66,000.   Today the population is 23.4 Million!