I Just Read About That…

[TRAVELED: November 1-November 8, 2014] Airlines & Chain food

Our Florida trip ended a week ago, so it seemed time to mention a few things  that were pretty great which were not related to theme parks at all.

The first was our flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport.

I used to love flying.  I remember flying on Eastern as a kid and getting free wing pins.  I even got invited to see the cockpit of the plane (but I thought I would have to fly up there without my parents so I turned them down–my parents were probably bummed that they didn’t get to check out the cockpit themselves).  I even have a few good memories of flying.  My best memory was flying on Dec 31, 1999 to Vancouver and, because it was the eve of Y2K, getting nearly an entire airplane to myself (chickens!) and being served champagne as a toast to the new year (in coach, mind you).

Since 9/11, flying has been an ordeal and I swore I’d never do it again.  We usually fly out of Newark, which I always assumed was a normal, busy airport, not the best but certainly not the worst.  But after flying out of ABE, I hope to never et foot in Newark again.

When we were planning this trip, we waited too long to get any normal flights out of Newark, so we had to find other options, and that’s when I discovered the Lehigh Valley Airport.  It flies one flight a day to the Sanford Airport outside of Orlando.

Lehigh Valley (ABE) is under an hour from our house (which is about how far Newark is).  So we decided to book it.  ABE has made me love flying again.  The airport is so small that we actually drove past the entrance.  The parking lot is so small that I have regularly parked further away from the main doors in a Wegman’s parking lot.  The TSA line (which in Newark can be over a 45 minute wait with very unhappy agents and customers) was two people.  The agents were friendly and kind and even nice to our kids.  Later, when I realized that I screwed up about our checked bags and had to go back through the TSA line, there were 5 people in front of me.  I got randomly pulled out for an inspection, and the guy was so friendly about it (he even made a joke) that it was more of a novel experience than an invasion of privacy.

ABE even has free Wi-Fi and charging stations.

My only problem with the airport is that it doesn’t fly to many other places, so unless we go to Florida (or Detroit!) I won’t have all that much use for it.  Incidentally, the Sanford Airport (SFB) in Florida is also about 45 minutes from Disney.  I don’t really recall the main Orlando airport, although I know it is huge (and there is a cool monorail). The Sanford airport was tiny.  So small that our luggage was waiting for us when we landed.  We had a similar nice experience with the TSA there (the line was a bit longer but the agent who talked to our kids was so friendly).  And the food was good as we grabbed pastries for breakfast.

And since parking was only $80 for the week at ABE, it was painless from start to finish.

We flew via Allegiant Air. I’d never heard of them before, so of course I was a little wary.  Especially when I saw that the flights were cheap but that they tried to get you to upgrade various things (and charged per bag and charged extra for leg room seats).  We were certainly trying to find a cheap flight, so we opted to go totally no frills and to check just two bags ($35 ea).  We used one free carry on for each of us.  This actually allowed us to fly much lighter than we probably would have, and that proved to be a great thing too.

For a no frills airline, the flight was excellent. It was on time, the attendants were super nice and best of all the in-flight announcements were all done with a sense of humor.  During the safety announcement: “Now that you already buckled your seat belts, we’ll show you how you did it.”  When we arrived, she simply muttered, “We’re here.”  Which made everyone laugh.  And when we were taxiing, she said, “You may resume smoking…never.”

Sure, you had to pay for everything, including water or snacks, but the water ($2) was actually cheaper on the plane than in the airport, and for a 2 hour flight, you don’t really need to buy any snacks anyhow.  We had a great flight in both directions, and I would absolutely fly them again.

Dining, Florida style

We knew that Disney and Universal would be expensive choices for eating, so our plan was to eat outside of the parks as often as possible.

We pretty much never eat fast food.  I don’t really like any food chains at all (even “nice” ones like Applebees or whatever), I’d prefer to find a fun local place than go where the food is the same everywhere.  The one exception is when I’m traveling.  I really like to go to regional chains whenever I travel (unless I’m in some place where I know that the local places will have great food).  The first time I had a Sonic on a vacation was a wild experience (of course, now that there’s one relatively close to us, I never go there).

So anyhow, this trip allowed us to go to familiar and unfamiliar chains that we don’t have nearby.

Steak n Shake (closest to us: 45 miles)
Sarah loved Steak and Shake when she lived in Indiana and I’d only ever been to one in Florida a decade ago.  So that was a fun treat.  The burgers were fine and the shakes were quite yummy.  Sarah of course realized her error that she paid an extra 29 cents for salt and peppered fries since there was salt and pepper on the table, but that’s okay.

Waffle House (closest to us: 31 miles)
I love Waffle House.  The first time I went there was on a trip through the South and there was something so fun and homey about the place.  I would probably not go there if there was one closer to us, but seeing one on a trip is always an exciting thing.  Since my kids love waffles, they were also excited too.  I love how they serve from behind the counter, I love how friendly they all are, and I love their waffles (they are not the best I’ve ever had but you can get them with pecans…yum!).  Just don’t get the orange juice (what gives having such lousy OJ in Florida?).  On our morning venture there this time, there was an adult guy dressed in a Spiderman full body onesie.  That was a great way to start our trip.

Red Robin (closest to us 15 miles)
I had no idea there was one of these so close to us.  In fact I’d only heard of it when I was at a Baseball game in Scranton.  We were planning on going to a Brazilian restaurant that night (there are dozens around the area and I’ve never been to one), but when we got to the one that was well reviewed, we realized it was waaaay to fancy for us (especially since we were coming from a day at Disney and were pretty grungy).  So as we drove away, there was the Red Robin.  Aside from it being way too cold (it was cold that night and the a/c didn’t help) we had a delightful meal.  Our poor server was being harassed for something by an unhappy customer.  But she was super nice to us and our food was all very good.  She even gave us a discount on a special which we were supposed to mention.  We didn’t but she gave it to us anyway, I have to assume because we were nice.  The food was ample and none of us finished anything.  I would certainly consider eating there once in a while if it were closer.

Cici’s Pizza (Closest to us 19 miles)
I had never heard of Cici’s pizza until I saw it in the Orlando brochure.  And I had no idea there was one (or more) in New Jersey.  I’m a pizza snob, so we never eat any chain pizza (perish the thought).  But I was intrigued by this place which is a pizza buffet. We had a coupon for a free adult (although the overall dinner proved to be quite a bit more than we expected).  The kids love buffets so we figured we’d try it out.  The pizza was ok (the diverse topping were a nice surprise–even a bad pizza can be redeemed with the right toppings).  The salad bar was dreadful, but the garlic bread was outstanding.  We enjoyed the experience and the people watching and it filled us up–which is what we wanted.  I’ll not be going back to a Cici’s though–especially in New Jersey.

We also went to a Thai place which was not a chain as far as I know.  Thai Thani has delightfully over the top decorations.  It’s magnificent.  The food was a little pricey (we got take out), but it was still good.

We also really like the Publix grocery store that’s near the hotel where we stay. We always stock up on food stuffs for the room there.  They have a good selection of groceries and a crazy huge souvenir section.  For the first time this year we also went to the IGA up the road and wow, that place is a pit, I’m so glad we found the Publix first.