Movies to go

Monday

I have made it to Frankfurt where I have a 6 1/2 hour wait.

I have a sad loss to report. I thought I'd taken off my jewellery, put it on the bedside table, had a shower and put it on again. However I do not have my pendant. I had walked back up to the party room (the last people were just leaving at 4.45) walked through the room to the balcony, to see if any one was still there and then back out again. Didn't sit down or really do anything. I then went to reception to see if anyone was waiting then back to my room, at which time I notice it was missing. I can't really be sure whether I didn't have it to take off, didn't put it on or lost it. I could not find it anywhere in my room or when I retraced my steps. There is a slim chance it may be in my suitcase and I'll find it later.

There were 6 of us waiting for the shuttle and we left pretty much right on 5:30. I later met one of the US delegates who said that 2 of them were left behind. Igor, the Croatian chair, drove them in his car which would have been 30 minutes each way. This after being up all night hosting the party.

I had 3 seats to myself so as soon as we were up, I lay down and had 1 1/2 hours sleep.

Later

The flight to Orlando was  over 10 hours and the time goes back 6 hours.  I had a couple of decent naps and watched 3 movies on the flight - The Setup, Brave and Snow White and the Huntsman. I am pretty much movied out.

My sleep habits have been right royally screwed up, but I'm hoping that if I can get a decent night's sleep I'll be ok again.

Being in Business class I was in the first group off the plane and there was a relatively short queue at passport control with 6 booths for visitors. A man was directing each of us in turn to a particular booth.  Unfortunately he sent me to booth 20 where a man in a wheel chair and wife were being processed. This took a while because even though he said he could walk short distances he was in the chair in the narrow lane by the booth and it got quite messy to stand up for finger printing. when they finally finished the officer disappeared with them. I was then moved to another queue and the guy in front of me also took ages. In fact the booth 20 officer returned before I got my turn. All the time I watching others get assigned to booths and  get processed.

When I did get through, there was a massive queue behind me so I wasn't the worst off. My golf bag and suitcase were already out, so no waiting there.  I was straight through the green gate but there was quite a walk to go. WE then came to a stairway with a conveyor belt for our bags. We took a shuttle train to another terminal, so there was another 10 or 15 minutes wait for the bags to catch up. The rental car wasn't too far from there but by the time it was all sorted and my stuff was in the car it was 1 1/2 hours from our landing time.

I have a Chevy Cruze, no doubt very similar to the Holden car of the same name.  It is more than big enough despite the upselling attempts by the agent. Even though the car was part of the package, the extras such as insurance added another $200 plus to the bill.

I have my own GPS which has an outdated US| map loaded. It was up to date enough to find the hotel and I'm glad I had it as it was dark by the time I got under way. I used the toll road ($1.25) and it wasn't too hard to get here. I'm sure it was a lot shorter than it seemed as I was concentrating on staying the the correct lane as well as working out where to go and what the speed limit was.

My room at the Marriott Courtyard is quite large and has all the requirements. It was much cheaper than staying at a resort so the bulk of the package costs is for the golf rather than the room. There is a laundromat so I put the week's washing through and it is now in the dryer. Fortunately I had about $30 in US from last trip so I have been able to pay the toll, the laundromat and a drink from that without needing an ATM.

My game is at :930 tomorrow and my drying will be out by 11:15. I hope I can get to sleep before midnight and stay asleep till 7.

Nothing much to photograph today other than airports and planes so I haven't bothered. Lots of golf course pics coming up though. Stay tuned.