Feb 10
Leaving early this morning for my companies annual Symposium in Orlando, which is nowhere near as much fun as it used to be when it was in South Beach, Miami. But, with only Mickey as a distraction, it’s also nowhere near as alcohol infused.
It is however a whirlwind of non-stop half hour meetings, break-out sessions, key note speakers, panel discussions, one of which I’m presenting and moderating and early starts and late finishes.
I gave a little punch of the air yesterday as I queued for Doctor Doom’s Fearful at Universal’s Islands of Adventure when the final whistle blew at The Valley.
Back to winning ways to start the new year and into 5th.
Sounded as in the first half we were awesome, many describing it as our best football of the season with the team playing with confidence and finesse as Walsall chased shadows. Of course scoring two goals in the first 10 minutes will help that.
My daughter has been in a swim training camp since Thursday in Clermont, which is near Orlando in Florida. It’s pretty full on, but so is she, and the weather has been kind, mostly in the late 20’s °C, which is in direct comparison to Bermuda where the pool deck is freezing. Both the competitive pools here are outside, and winter whilst not properly cold can be very windy and wet.
The second of my belated 2017 Top Five’s is Hotels. I stayed in 26 different hotels last year, but after much back and forth I’ve chosen five, so please join me to test the bouncyness of the bed, the 500 thread sheets and copious amount of pillows that usually end up on the floor as I guide you through My 2017 Top Five Favourite Hotel’s:
I got a little waylaid with these, well actually I forgot. But selfishly I wanted to post them, so close your eyes if you’re not interested in a little narcissism.
I going to post my final three 2017 Top Five’s in quick succcesion starting with Restaurants. Picking five wasn’t easy but I’ve had a crack so these were my Top Five Favourite Restaurants of 2017:
I stared at the Arrivals board at Miami airport today to see which carousel my bag was going to end up at and for the life of me I could not remember where I had just flown in from. It was San Francisco and last week was every part of fun and successful, but the time difference was a killer for me this time as well as carrying around a stinking cold.
Vegas was low key, we could feel the numbness and it was quieter than I remember it from other times. Los Angeles was hot, and hectic. Burbank we saw one of our largest clients and home to the ‘happiest place on earth.’ The San Francisco days were long and exhausting mostly stuck in a room, and when we went outside it was chilly.
I’m in Orlando for our annual work Symposium, a regular bazaar of back to back meetings, break out sessions, early mornings and late night’s. We moved the whole shebang from Miami Beach to Orlando last year and it went so well we are back. Shame, because nothing beats a ‘work conference’ in South Beach but as my boss says less people got hurt and we didn’t lose anyone. So Orlando it is, in a different hotel a little bit nearer to the wonderful world(s) of Disney.
I arrived in Orlando today, a city that for us recently has been all about Mickey and friends, but I am here for work this week as it is this year’s venue for our annual Symposium. We outgrew the hotel we have used for the past few years in South Beach, which has been a bitter pill to swallow as the extra curricular activities of Miami were always a nice distraction to days spent in large conference rooms with no windows and the air-con jacked up to the highest setting.
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After a fantastic week in Belize and Guatemala we are now in Orlando, kicking ourselves that we didn’t do this part of the holiday first as suddenly my daughter has forgotten all about riding horses, Mayan temples, tubing on lakes, feeding tapirs, watching toucans, being licked by a jaguar and listening to howler monkeys and is now all wrapped up in Mickey and Minnie!
The difference between reality and fantasy at her age is hard to dispel, but attempting to instill an appreciation of a broad range of experiences is something we are both keen, and mostly lucky to be able, to do.
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We leave for our summer holidays tomorrow beginning in one of our favourite weekend spots of Miami, before flying two hours to Belize on Monday morning for a week. We then return to Florida and will head to Orlando for our second week, but plan also to spend a bit of time out on the Gulf Coast while we are in the sunshine state.
Living in Bermuda allows pretty quick access to Central America via Miami and we have already had some great holidays in Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama whilst living here. Belize has been on my list since when I was dying to drive down from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to see it’s incredible barrier reef, but scorching hot weather and a young baby made us the see the error of our ways.
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With Charlton dominating an eventful January and already early February on my Blog, and rightly so, My 2014 Top 5’s have got pushed out, but I’m going to finish with one more, a subject close to my heart, hotels.
Future Grandchildren – when I am old put me in a plush hotel not an expensive nursing home, and I’ll let you visit.
Here are My 2014 Top 5 Favourite Hotels:
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Bermuda’s winter is finally looking like it’s arrived. Rain is lashing sideways at the kitchen window as I look outside and the ocean is full of large frothy white capped waves like a sea of cups of cappuccino.
A Bermuda winter normally consists of a lot of driving rain, with intermittent drizzle and dampness accompanied by strong winds during the months of January and February, with March changeable. I can see a number of your hearts bleeding, so I will tell you that despite the rain today the temperature is still to 66°F!
Last week’s work event in Miami Beach – it rained every day like it always does when we are there – was bloody exhausting. Early starts, long days, late nights. I actually love it but I was glad to get home.
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Up until 2 years ago I used to join a collection of mates from both sides of the Atlantic for Superbowl weekend in a chosen city, but then baby came along and some of the finer things in my life had to be ended or put on hold.
Fortunately the Superbowl weekend was only on a temporary hold and tomorrow morning I fly to Orlando to meet up with some of the lads to play, explore downtown Orlando (I’ve been before and there’s not much to see, unless it is a mouse called Mickey) and then spend the whole of Sunday in a pub somewhere watching men in tight pants run into each other while chasing after an oval ball on a gigantic television screen whilst drinking a few lagers.
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Chicago Addick 