Enough with the pancakes already!
Our last day in Florida dawned bright and sunny and happily, the night had involved no cockroach intrusions. That we knew of anyway.
I hunted high and low for the room's hairdryer but to no avail. Dare I go to the front desk and pester that grumpy chap for one? Hell yeah!
I was almost disappointed when I found him not on duty. Instead there was an actual 'nice guy'. After a long discussion on the contents of every cupboard and their total lack of hairdryer-type items (so you've definitely checked under the sink then?), he checked behind the scenes for a spare one. Alas a golden fleece/ticket/hairdryer could not be found. I was promised one would be sent over forthwith via the maintenance man. Nice as the new 'nice guy' was, I didn't hold out much hope.
For once I was wrong so with beautifully coiffed hair, we waved goodbye to the cockroaches wherever they may be and pushed off back to Miami. As usual though, our trip included a few detours on the way.
The first one was to Sugarloaf Key for a last ditch attempt at that damn cuckoo. My new theory is that they don't actually exist other than in dark recesses of Mr F's mind. We did see some raccoons however and solved the mystery of why there were so many squashed cats on the roads. Answer: they weren't squashed cats with stripy tails.
After racking up the best shop name of the trip (Bone Island liquors - ice, beer & booty), we stopped for lunch at the Wooden Spoon diner. Famed for it's breakfasts, I was rather pleased to see pancakes still on the menu at this late hour - 1.50pm. Mr F fell for their philly cheesesteak sub whilst I gave in to the banana choc chip pancakes with sausages. I know, I know, you don't need to say it!
The last stop before the airport was the Travelodge again - I'd left my USB charger behind. Hats off again to them as the maid had already found it and 5 minutes later we were back on our way acec charger.
All that was left to do was purchase some Floridian tat at the airport to adorn my office desk. I made the fatal error of leaving it until we were through the gates. The pre-immigration tat was of a much higher standard so I had to make do with what I could get: a giant green gator fridge magnet with pink crystal eyes. Far too sophisticated for my tastes.
Not long after, we were settled in our seats and on our way back to reality. As we sipped our sparkling wine, I wondered just how much extra weight we'd accumulated on this trip - and I didn't mean in souvenirs. Bye bye pancakes with sausages and hello Ryvitas.