Travel Day - will we make it to the roof top bar by sunset?
I got off to sleep pretty quickly in the airport hotel room but then woke up at 2.45am, I went to the toilet and then had a little look at the incoming Tampa flight on flight radar. Good news it was on time. Then I had a look in both the lyft and uber apps and joined their membership 1 month free trials, lyft pink and uber one. This apparently unlocked things like faster pick up and 5 to 10% off and could be cancelled after the month.
I dosed for a little while and then at 5am Kate woke up and said she couldn't get back to sleep so I went to her bed for a cuddle, which helped me! As I fell asleep straight away 
It was brilliant I had another couple of hours sleep and then woke up at 7am.
Kate said she hadn't been able to get back to sleep after I got in bed with her, which is a shame.
We managed to get ready for 8am and went down to breakfast.
Breakfast is served from 4am to 9am, it's continental only until 7am when the hot food is brought out. There was a waffle making station, it looked great, but it was very popular so we decided not to bother with waiting in line.
It was quite busy and Kate was feeling icky, so we sat in the bar area.
Dave made us all a coffee and I brought 2 OJs and a water to the table.
We managed to tempt Kate with a bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes and a plain croissant and blueberry muffin. She actually enjoyed it!
Dave and I both had sausage, egg, hash browns, and tomatoes.
I also had an English muffin with mine that I toasted.
We enjoyed a second coffee and some fruit. Dave had his with yoghurt, Kate and I shared some melon and both Dave and Kate had a banana.
We headed back to the room, packed everything up and headed down the walkway at 9am. There was a train in the station and we jumped on over to the south terminal.
I tried to get our boarding passes from a machine but it said it couldn't print 
. So we moved to another machine which wouldn't scan the passports 
. So, I suggested we join the normal check in line as it didn't look too busy 
.
Despite the look of this queue it did only take about 30 minutes.
As we walked over a young woman asked me where she needed to go to check in her carry on case. I asked if she wanted to take it on the plane and she said yes. I asked if she already had her boarding pass and she said yes, so I said she could go through security. She asked where that was so I pointed it out. Dave and Kate said that it's no wonder she asked me for help as I looked like I knew what I was doing 
.
We were through security very speedily, Kate had to go through the body scanner but fortunately she was all clear and by 10am we were sitting in the departure lounge.
Dave went to fill our water bottles but both the upstairs ones were out of order, so he went downstairs.
I updated the dibb with our breakfast and then Kate saw the young woman who I had given directions too, so we knew she had got to where she needed to be 
!
Kate picked up a meal deal from Smiths and I had a wander around the duty free. We picked up a bottle of gin and a bottle of spiced rum for the room 😉
It wasn't long before the gate was announced, and we made our way to gate 33.
Stupidly, we didn't fill our water bottles before going to the gate. I asked one of the ground staff where we could fill the bottles and he said there was a refill station but it wasn't plumbed in . He said if I asked the people at Pret they would fill the bottles. Well, they were the most unhelpful staff ever they said they had no running water, which of course is a lie . I said what's that then pointing to the tap which had a sign saying drinking water . She said its not working we only have hot water and I'm sure she did it on purpose, we threw the water away...
We didn't have long to wait and by 11.50am we were boarding. The lady in front was told that she had a free upgrade to premium economy, lucky thing, she was very pleased 
.
We were sat in seats 23 A, B, and C. Time for a quick plane selfie.
We settled down and started flicking through the films. Kate took her travel calm tablet and the crew told us we would be pushing back shortly. Yahoo! Very smooth travel morning so far. Tale off was at 12.50pm, only about 25 minutes late which we knew we would make up in the flight .
I decided to watch The Lady in the Van about Alan Bennett and the old lady who lived in a van on his driveway.
Kate ate her crisps and her cajun chicken wrap before the drinks service had started.
The man in the seat in front of Dave reclined. He's the only person on the plane to have a recliner! We both hoped he'd sit back up when the meal was served.
He did put his seat up during lunch.
We were told that the main meals were a cottage Pie or veggie Thai green curry. Both sounded good to me and Dave.
Kate said she wasn't thirsty or hungry, but I asked her to get a diet co*ke and water for me, she was given 2 diet co*kes and of course the yummy pretzels which she ate.
I asked for G&T and was asked if I wanted 2 so I said I won't say no 😉 Plus I had water.
Dave had red wine and was also given 2.
We enjoyed our drinks and the movies we'd selected. Lunch was served just after 2pm and I was feeling hungry.
Both Dave and I had the cottage Pie. It was very tasty and we both enjoyed it. Slightly more tomatoey than we would make it but it tasted good.
Kate didn't want anything but we got the curry just in case. She didn't eat it, but Dave did and he enjoyed it.
Kate had been given 2 desserts so both Dave and I had seconds for dessert. This was a strawberry cheesecake and again we enjoyed it.
Neither of us bothered with our rolls but we both had the cheese and crackers.
I was sitting in front of a small child who did a lot of kicking, so neither of us did well on this flight. Ah well. Can't be helped.
For my 2nd movie I watched the Bob Marley film. It was pretty good.
The lights were turned down and the seat belt signs turned on so I figure the crew wanted a bit of a break!
We started on the pringles and after the movie I had a quick look at the map and saw we were over half way.
I decided I wanted to watch In the Heights next.
I didn't fancy watching another movie so I played some Who wants to be a millionaire and Trivial Pursuit.
The snack of a hot pastry was brought round, but Kate didn't like the smell. It was a hot chicken and pepper pastry or a vegetable pastry. Dave and I both had the chicken, Kate had nothing. It was ok, filled a hole that's all.
Just under an hour to landing.
Kate and I played some cards and then Dave joined us. She won every game!
It was soon time to stow the table away as we were preparing for landing.
MPC was a breeze, we took the photos in a corridor, little bit self conscious, but then we avoided a huge long line and there was only 1 person in front of us.
As we approached the desk The officer told off a guy who she saw queue jumping behind us. I had to have my finger prints taken as it's a new passport, but the other 2 were just waved through as she looked at their photo on the screen.
As we waited for the luggage Kate said she saw the people who were sitting in front of us come through passport control. So, I'm not sure we saved time as we were pretty close to the front of the plane. But, it was a nicer experience as we could all go to the toilet and get water while waiting for the luggage and it was far better waiting there than getting frustrated waiting in a queue.
We didn't have to wait long for the luggage. We walked out to the terminal building and saw the big flamingo.
The signs for ride share uber/lyft were very easy to follow.
I compared prices and uber was cheaper, so that's what I selected.
It didn't take long for the car to arrive and we were soon on our way to the beach. Our first time visiting the Gulf Coast and we all were eagerly looking out the window at the view along the way.
I was really pleased with our speedy arrival as I had hoped we might be able to see the sunet and were at out hotel Pierhouse 60 for 6.20pm. What a great result! Our room was on the 10th floor and we have a sea view.
It was a massive window, with a great view, very cool
The room was huge, two big beds and really spacious.
There was a little kitchen-ette, with a breakfast bar.
And the bathroom had a lovely shower.
Both Kate and I had a quick change out of our travel clothes and we headed to Jimmy's the rooftop bar! Yay 
we made it before sunset.
Kate had a co*ke and chicken tenders. I ordered a Jamaican Me Crazy co*cktail, with spiced and coconut rums and pineapple juice with a splash of grenadine. Dave had an IPA as he fancied a local beer.
I took a few photos of the beach
And the harbour
Dave convinced Kate to take a photo of us 
Kate's tenders were good.
I ordered fish tacos, which were very fresh. I ate 1 and Kate ate the other, we all shared the tortilla chips.
Dave ordered chicken sandwich. He was pleased it was a plain chicken breast, not breaded and he said it was one of the nicest chicken burgers he's had in a long time!
Kate was tired and went back to the hotel room to get ready for bed and lie down.
Both Dave and I had a 2nd drink. The same for me and another IPA for Dave.
As sunset approaches all the customers are given rum punch shots to celebrate .
There was a countdown for the moment of sunset but the cloud cover meant we didn't see the sun go down.
However Dave said it was just good to be here and he's right. It is fab to be back in Florida and knowing the whole trip is ahead of us is a great feeling 
We were both tired as well so headed back to the room about 8.45pm and did a little bit of unpacking of our toiletries and our carry on cases which had all our beach stuff and the bits and pieces we wanted to wear in Clearwater. The big case was left untouched.
We were tucked up in bed by 9.30pm. It had been a great travel day. We've not been to Tampa airport before, or used the MPC, both were great, no issues and it was a very smooth process. The uber to the hotel was as easy as it is in Orlando and we were very pleased with our hotel, the fab room, the glorious view, and it felt perfect that we were located on the 10th floor right next to the bar 
Steps - 8,867
Next up, we explore a little of Clearwater, enjoy the beach and sea, have some very tasty fish and drink some delicious co*cktails
