Oh good heavens! Is it really time to get up?? We don’t want to miss our free breakfast so we drag ourselves out of bed and go down to the lobby. For me, it is totally worth it because there are packages of instant grits. Yum!! (In case you are wondering, or are horrified, my family is from the South and I love grits (and ‘fatback’ but we won’t go there)).
After breakfast we go back to our room, and I call reception to ask for a late checkout – 1pm? Perfect. We go back to sleep. Seriously. Next thing we know it’s 12:30 and we’re getting ready to head out.
We have a timeshare in Kissimmee for the week. Oh, was that a gasp I heard? Are you wondering how two super frugal people got sucked into a timeshare? We didn’t; we purchased a foreclosed upon timeshare many years ago for probably less than you spend on groceries in a month.
We’ve only stayed in our unit (on Daytona Beach) once and use the timeshare for trading – to take advantage of getting a condo while on vacation. We’ve traded for a great place in San Diego, a castle in England, a ginormous lodge in Big Sky, Montana and most recently two weeks in Hawaii. Having these apartments is nicer, and less impact on the wallet, than hotel accommodations. With the timeshare we’ll have a full kitchen, washer/dryer, basically a good sized condo. We’ll cook 90% of our meals and will pack simple lunches for the days’ adventures. Because we pack so lightly having the washer/dryer will be more convenient than our usual routine of hand washing our socks and such in the sink.
Having (almost) figured out how to sync the car’s Bluetooth to my phone, we drive the 30 minutes to Kissimmee. First stop? WalMart. Flowers for the condo, salmon to grill, fresh broccoli, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots and 2 potatoes. Bagels, tortillas and hummus -> we’re going to make yummy wraps for our portable lunches. Vegan baloney and soy yogurt (for me); ‘normal’ yogurt, Swiss cheese and sliced turkey for Jeff, almond milk, granola, beer, wine and finally, a little box of Milk Duds for Jeff and a small bag of 72% cacao chocolates for me.
The condo complex is nice and we’re pleased with our unit. It doesn’t take long to unpack. We sit, have a cup of coffee and chat, planning our week.
Here’s a tip for you timeshare novices, do what we do and you’ll have a nice relaxing stay. The minute you get to your condo, unplug the phones!! Otherwise you’ll be getting calls from the timeshare people inviting you to a free breakfast or lunch to learn all about the joys of timeshare ownership.
Eventually we take a nice long walk – it’s humid here! The complex has pots of plants around – herbs! We surreptitiously pick several rosemary sprigs and a chive onion, pop some fresh parsley in our mouths and head back home.
We dice the rosemary and chives, mix them with a little olive oil spread and rub that mixture onto the salmon.
Our grilled salmon, with its fancy and fresh herb butter, along with steamed broccoli and brown rice made for a delicious dinner.
After dinner we diced a little tomato and cucumber, washed some lettuce, bagged up a bunch of carrots, spooned hummus into a ziplock bag (messy!), basically got all of our lunch ready for tomorrow.
Looking forward to seeing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
But now it’s late and time for bed…