Hidden Florida - Final thoughts

Mijas Costa, Spain

Friday 13 March 9pm

This morning I wake up at 0915, after over nine hours sleep. I feel remarkably normal, despite having left Miami less than 24 hours ago.

I was genuinely sad having to leave the Desoto Oceanview Inn in Hollywood.

It was far from being the most salubrious of my accommodations, but my living area was scrupulously clean, extremely comfortable, equipped with everything I could possibly need, it was delightfully peaceful and Steve was the most perfect and welcoming host.

The transit from Hollywood to Miami airport was remarkably stress-free. The Highway was very busy, the Hertz drop-off was speedy and easy, AnneMarie at BA’s fast bag drop was lovely, the security staff were really chatty, friendly and courteous and Miami Airport was not at all the dreadful place it is purported to be. Having said that, the local advice is to choose Fort Lauderdale, if you can.

The only slight hiccup was that there’d been a crash on the Interstate and, while the passengers were all at the airport, the crew wasn’t! We boarded an hour late and I joked about it with Bruce Harris, the Cabin Services Director. His quip that‘they couldn’t leave their hotel until the end of the Manchester United game’, had a bit of a ring of truth to it. Methinks the crew had maybe left their timings just a bit tight.

I’d managed to get the same seat back as my outward leg, 61A on the 747 upper deck. The crew were rather more polite about opening and closing the privacy screen between myself and my next door neighbour than on the way out. But I do not like the layout of BA’s much vaunted Club World and I would HATE to be the person on the outer seat, over which all the drinks and food has to be passed to the person travelling in the opposite direction at the window. (They alternate the seating forward and rear-facing, in case you are confused!)

Dinner was unremarkable, but I very much enjoyed ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, although it’s a pretty gritty film in parts. After a pretty solid three hours sleep, I managed ‘Quantum of Solace’ before an interminable hold over Heathrow and arrival just after 7am.

Having been impressed with Terminal Five outbound, I discovered absolute lunacy on my return. As a transiting passenger, connecting to another international flight, I had to join throngs of completely unscreened folk flying on domestic routes to go through security again. It’s completely balmy. One BA staff member told me it was because the BAA security requirements were stricter than that in the US. I simply do not believe it.

Getting through it was a nightmare, folk were missing their flights to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester and who knows where, while, in fast track, one Asian gentleman with an impressive beard was taking an age to hand search every single passenger. One Edinburgh-bound man was so angry he demanded to see the supervisor who did precisely nothing. There were too many passengers and not enough security staff. (They obviously don’t realise that 0730 in the morning is one of the busiest times of the day). Why, oh why, transit passengers are not kept airside just beggars belief. It’s barking, completely barking, BAA.

All I wanted was a shower and, once I got there, the Terraces facility was adequate without being nearly as lavish as many others I have seen around the world. There was no wireless internet working in either the north or south lounges and, as I was there for nearly five hours, it was a pretty poor show that somebody couldn’t be found to re-set the router in all that time. Many folk were asking, but BA is pretty slow about that sort of thing. I am sure anyone with a home wireless internet set up could have sorted it in five minutes! The south lounge was a lot quieter than its’ northern equivalent, so I’ll know the next time to head there straight away.

The flight to Malaga was delayed for nearly an hour while an engineer could be found to provide a written authorisation to fly with a bit of the aircraft not working. As this was a pre-existing problem, it was not a hugely impressive performance. The Airbus seating was not properly configured for Club Europe, with the normal rear cabin 3 x 3 seats throughout, with an empty one in between for the business cabin. Why? Because they save money and time by not changing the seats to the ones they advertise. Breach of contract? They’ll have something in the small print for sure.

I didn’t want to sleep, so I chatted to the Cabin Crew before take off and was just about to get wired into a crew cup of tea when the engineer arrived with the much-delayed piece of paper. But Cathleen, a delightfully smiley and chirpy hostie, told me I could go back to my seat with it while they prepared the cabin for take off. Judging by the number of other off-duty BA staff on the aircraft who were also chatting to the crew, I wonder how the revenue management graph looked?

In Club Europe, a really tasty beef casserole was served, in proper china dishes and real cutlery. But I do think the decanting into the dish from the microwaveable container should have been done in the galley and not the aisle. When later I found Cathy sitting behind her curtain tucking into the chicken alternative, I told her that the beef had actually been better than the food on the Miami London flight. ‘Yes’, she said, ‘I wanted to try that, but there was none left.’

The Alps were spectacularly bathed in sunshine and snow and we got to Malaga, where the massive new terminal is nearing completion, an hour late. No further apology for the delay from the flight deck, who’d been remarkably uncommunicative throughout the flight.

So, what of ‘Hidden Florida’?

For sure, I found some lovely spots, met some wonderful people and have a wealth of material and photographs on which to work over the next few weeks. As Denise Arencibia, the director of Latin America for Visit Florida, said to me in a final email ‘You have been to parts of the State that many Floridians haven’t been’.

I think the single biggest ‘discovery’ is the network of State and County Parks, many of whom I visited and some of which offered the most impressive beaches and scenery of any place I went to see. Fort de Soto and Caladesi in St. Pete’s/Clearwater, Historic Spanish Point in Osprey and the Randell Research Centre in Pine Island especially worked for me.

Apalachicola was very special indeed and I was reminded of it only this morning as I spread some of their very special Tupelo Honey, a gift from Chamber Director Anita Grove, on my first Spanish breakfast toast in a month. I also have Susan’s ‘Lemon Love’ from Key West to enjoy – but I am keeping that only for Sundays!

Key West was not at all what I expected. I am told it’s calmed down a lot since the wild days of the 70’s and 80’s, but there IS still a perception that it’s all drag queens and gay orgies and it’s not at all like that. (Well, maybe if you go to certain parts, it might still be). I was especially lucky in that I met some very lovely folk who turned my planned itinerary on its head and made it work for me. Just as well, the official itinerary had been planned, it appeared, by committee and was not very well co-ordinated.

Some of the accommodation was truly wonderful and the mix from small inns and motels to exclusive apartments and wonderful villas proves that there really is something in Florida to suit every taste and budget. It’s impossible to select a favourite, but the Coombes House Inn in Apalachicola, the Moorings Village in Islamorada, the Inn on Fifth in Naples, the Pasa Tiempo in St. Pete’s, The Sun and Moon Inn in Matlacha and the Desoto OceanView Inn in Hollywood are among the ones to which I would, one day, want to return? Why? Because they each had an individual personality and an ethos of their staff trying to do their very best to make their guests feel especially welcome. I am sure there were others in that bracket and I apologise if I have left somebody out.

My favourite places to go? Away from the State and County Parks which were universally outstanding, the Ringling Circus Museum in Sarasota, the Edison and Ford Winter homes complex in Fort Myers and the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola were among my favourites. Interestingly, as I review this month-long trip, I realise that the vast majority of the places I have ‘mentioned in despatches’, did not appear on the official itinerary.

Despite a large circulation and wide readership of this blog, the very first page of which was designed to give a very clear brief to everyone involved in the planning of the trip, I was surprised and very disappointed at the three or four Tourist Offices which were completely off message and could not deliver anything other than their standard package.

If they don’t have the budget or resources, why do they accept a journalist with a very clear brief, if they haven’t a chance to deliver the required story?

Undoubtedly Florida is blessed with the most wonderful climate, outstanding beaches and stunning (if rather flat!) scenery. The bits I’ll remember the most were the very special, almost secret, tips given to me by local people.

There IS a Hidden Florida, eons away from the hype and the hassle of the major attractions. But it takes some finding and the locals are, by far, the best people to tell you where to go.

Having met just seven in the whole month, just don’t expect them to be native Floridians!