February 2025: A Central Florida Winter Vacation: Day 9, The End

Day 9: Sunday, March 2, 2025

UGH. It’s time to go home.

After lying in bed as long as we could justify we got up and packed. Eventually we headed over to the deli/coffee shop and got breakfast. Nick got some sort of breakfast sandwich made with French toast I think. I just got a pastry. We brought that back to the room and scarfed it, before starting the dishwasher and hauling luggage down to the car.

Once the car was loaded up, we drove over to the hospitality building where we checked out, and programmed the GPS to TPA, by way of a gas station. We got on the road just about 10 am.

Including the fuel stop, the drive to TPA took about an hour and 45 minutes. We were in slow moving traffic for the overwhelming majority of the drive. It was a Plant City Strawberry Festival Day, and based on traffic patterns I saw, I think that heavily influenced that day’s traffic. We didn’t pass any accidents. I had done extensive research to find fuel within the requisite few miles of the airport, and so we filled up at a WalMart that’s really just a couple miles from the TPA rental car facility. This worked out well, and from here, the GPS directed us to TPA using a route that wasn’t the highway for the last few minutes of the trip.

Our return to TPA was easy enough. There was a little traffic as people figured out which level of the rental car garage to go to, but overall, it was easy to deal with. There was a LONG line of cars that had been returned to Alamo ahead of us, but they had a small army of staff scanning cars back in, so we were all set before we even had everything out of the car.

From here, we rode escalators and a train back to the main airport terminal, and then we rode some more escalators. Check in with Southwest was easy enough, and just after noon our bags were checked, and we were headed for the next escalator and train series.

In Tampa, you scan your boarding pass to get access to the train to the gates. You then take the train to the gates and then go through security. As a result, security here was just as (maybe more) civilized than it is in Manchester. We had like two people ahead of us in line, and the TSOs were all talking in normal, civilized voices. It was a relatively calm experience. And somehow both of us made it through with no extra screening.

After clearing security, Nick was like “this airport is a lot like Manchester; I like it”. I like it too, but let’s not get too crazy here. This one terminal is twice the size of all of MHT! But yes, it’s definitely a less chaotic experience than MCO. No question about that.

We found our gate, then Nick found himself some candy and soda and I set off in search of actual food. I ended up getting a pack of slider sandwiches…turkey and cheese on Hawaiian slider rolls, and brought those (and water) back to the gate. Nick and I split the sliders, I talked with mom on the phone, and soon enough, we were boarding our nonstop ontime flight to MHT.

Our flight was fully boarded and pushed back a couple minutes early, with promises of a nice short (by Florida to NH standards) flight time. We got all the way to the end of the runway and we stopped. After sitting for a few minutes, they made an announcement that we would be holding here for about 20-25 minutes, due to an effort to spread out aircraft in the mid-Atlantic and northeast.

We sat for about 20 minutes and then it was full speed ahead into the air. The flight was uneventful, and we landed just a few minutes late, despite the late departure. It was in the 30s when we landed, and they let us know that they’d opened the door to the aircraft by announcing “Welcome to Antarctica”. Gee thanks.

That air sneaking around the edges of the jetbridge was definitely COLD. We made the short walk down to baggage claim, and luggage started being “presented” within a few minutes of our arrival. Our luggage was solidly in the middle of the pack. As soon as we had that in hand, we headed for the parking garage, where we found our car exactly where we had left it. Leaving the garage was easy enough, and parking was half the price that I have prepaid for our April vacation parking at Logan Airport, because Manchester rocks.

We drove back to my in-laws (and got there just 40 minutes after touch down, because…Manchester) where the dogs all but burst through the door when they saw us coming. We chatted for a few minutes then loaded the dogs in the car and made the drive home. At home, we found a nice plow speed bump at the end of the driveway and the mailbox that we don’t actually use anymore had been knocked off its post by the plow guy over the course of the week. Welcome home!

Final thoughts:

I’m so grateful we still got to take this trip, but…it was hard! And…getting home 15 hours before I hit the road north for 3 days of funeral services, then going back to work the day after burial was…a lot.

I’m glad this was a trip that was laid back yet still kept me on the go. It was the right balance for this particular trip.

Busch Gardens Tampa is definitely not on our repeat list. We still like Sea World.

Buy Sea World Tickets on Undercover Tourist during a sale. If you can get in on a Black Friday deal, that’s really best, but…just hit a good sale. Don’t pay gate prices for their tickets.

Special Events definitely elevate Universal. Universal on its own is fine. Universal with special events is much better.

I would stay at Hilton Grand Vacation Club Tuscany Village again in a heartbeat (for a trip like we just did…not a full Disney trip). Every staff member we encountered was so friendly and helpful. The resort was so clean. Location was solid. We were there on timeshare points, but their cash rates are usually pretty good too.

Getting to see the manatees at Blue Spring was an absolute highlight for both of us.

I might be planning a trip to FL for next year that involves zero theme parks AND zero cruises. Stay tuned!