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Although there is a lot of bad press about entering the US right now, we had zero problems.  We flew through Pearson airport in Toronto, where there is a border entry station right in the airport.  They asked the usual questions that we would get while driving through a land crossing in the past – things like Where are you going?  How long are you staying?  And then the one we hadn’t had before – How much cash are you bringing with you?  At that point I actually started laughing, since our answer was $17.  These days with credit cards being accepted everywhere, we didn’t see the need to bring much cash with us. 

Technically, when crossing into the USA, they expect you to have enough money to provide you with what you need for the length of your full stay.  And you are supposed to be able to prove that.  But for an 8 day stay, apparently that isn’t strictly necessary.  They could have asked me about the credit limit on my card.  But they didn’t.

I recently read an article about a New Zealand young couple who were travelling for vacation, with their first stop being Hawaii, and after that they were planning on heading to Costa Rica, and beyond.  But they were very much a "play it by ear" couple, and they didn’t have their plans locked down by reservations or details like tickets for their planned 2 month stay, etc.  The US immigration department was not impressed, and denied them entry.  Apparently their ages were also an issue, and they were considered high risk (likely to stay and not move on to their next stop.)

So, being old is in our benefit!  And not just for scoring the early bird dinner specials.

Getting through security and immigration was easy and fairly fast.  What time were we heading through?  About 4:30 AM on a Friday!  The downside – the lounges weren’t opened until 5:30 AM, so we ended up with a 45 minute wait to be able to get in.  By the time we were in the queue for the lounge, there were soooo many people lined up, it was hard to find 2 seats together with a table top for breakfast.  And when we did, we felt pressure to hurry up and move on, so someone else could have our seats! 

Our flight was a Westjet smaller plane.  It was loaded up quite quickly, and was taxiing out to the runway, and then next thing was taxiing back to the airport…  The pilot came on the comm system to let us know there was a coolant warning light on, and it needed to be fixed before we could go, and normally that was a quick fix to the sensor.  So we waited.  And waited.  Then the pilot came back on to report the sensor was fixed, but he had opened his big mouth about wanting the comm system fixed so the staff at the front of the plane could speak to the staff at the back of the plane, and unfortunately that would take a bit more time.  So we waited again.  Staff with reflective vests were in and out of the plane.  FINALLY, we were given the OK to go.  But then we had to wait for our turn to use the runway.  All in, it was about 2 hours and 15 minutes delay.

When do they have to compensate passengers for a flight delay?  At 3 hours!  So what did we get?  Water.  And a nap.  And a higher parking charge, since we rented a car at our destination through Turo, which is basically like Airbnb for cars.  The one we selected would deliver the car to the airport, so we picked it for the convenience factor.  The extra cost – about $14 US at the long term parking lot at the Orlando airport.

We headed down to Davenport, where we were staying.  Traffic was insane!  So strange – it was the middle of a weekday.  But we were driving towards Disney, so maybe that was it. Or because everyone who lives there is a senior.

 

The home and neighborhood

We were staying in a gated community for 55-and-up residents, centered around a golf course.  We had to go through the lane for visitors at the gatehouse, where they recorded our photo ID, checked it against their list of permitted visitors, and they issued us a big red sign to allow us to go in and out without being stopped for our stay.  The bar lifts were being actively used, and so were the very large iron gates.  It was definitely secure!

Inside the gates there were nice wide roads, planned for both cars and golf carts, and people walking.  We saw large ponds everywhere, with cranes and egrets making themselves at home there.  At least one person was out fishing.  Our home owner let us know that yes, there were some baby alligators in some of them!  I did manage to spot a small snout and eyes swimming across the surface of one of the ponds.

There were many many bungalows in the section we were staying in.  Palm trees, Southern Magnolia trees blooming their creamy white blossoms, and behind our home, large trees trailing Spanish moss from their branches.  We saw gardens filled with Amaryllis in bloom.  The best part – our homeowner had a large section of her front garden filled with a beautiful variety of orchids, and a large siberian iris in the back.

 

Inside the home

The house we were staying at was beautifully arranged, with a very large newly renovated kitchen (sooo much empty counter space, the polar opposite of the stay we had in England!), two eating areas, two sitting areas, and a screen room at the back big enough for a dozen chairs (including a hammock chair on its stand) plus a little dining table.  

 

For anyone who took a look at the house sit we did in England, you will notice this one is very different!

The home backed onto a green space, so we are listening to birds, the breeze in the trees, and occasional skittering of lizards or squirrels or something else.  On one of our last days, for some reason the geckos were literally climbing the walls of the screen room everywhere!  They were only about 3 to 4 inches long, so not at all scary...  But Bam Bam was going nuts, wanting to chase them.

 

There is a bird feeder by the BBQ, which we could refill if it got low.  We were talking about what comes to the bird feeder, and the homeowners were saying they were having some issues with something getting into it at night, and were cursing the raccoons.  When they heard some sounds, he went out with a flashlight, and instead of seeing raccoons, he saw it was a bear!  They showed us photos from their game camera, which featured a very large bear standing on its back feet, with his front legs up hugging the bird feeder to his chest!  (Note to self, don’t plan any walks around the neighborhood after dark, especially if I smelled like the dinner I was cooking …)

The weather was pretty wonderful, with the forecast ranging from 27 to 30 degrees every day for our stay, and no rain.  The downside was that at night the temperatures were dropping to 12 degrees!  So having breakfast out in the screenroom was not going to happen.  Brrr.

Mornings were great for going for walks through the neighbourhoods though.  I am thankful we ordered sim cards with lots of data for the trip, as I had to check online to see where I was a couple of times to make sure I knew the way home!  I was enjoying some of the garden plants and decorations on my walk, and then realized that the bird figurines in one garden were actually moving!  I was within 4 feet of them.  A pair of cranes were just strolling around, like they owned the place.  

They basically walked me back home, although when they cut through the back yards (there are NO FENCES here) I went around the front, and I thought we had parted ways.  But when I was in the screen room I could see them right behind the house!  Very cool.