The Trip to Floggolopia

It was the year 2015 and Earth was exploring outer space when they discovered a new planet. The planet was very similar to Earth, the air was breathable, it had clear and clean running rivers and streams, the seas and oceans were crystal clear where you could see right down to the bed where the sand was a beautiful white colour and had beautiful brightly coloured fish and other life swimming all around. They met people that lived on the planet and they were very much like humans from looking like them right down to eating like them.The planet and Earth took the next few years learning about each other, their languages, cultures to the way of everyday life and became really close friends; one of the first things learned was the name of the planet which was called Floggolopia. In the year 2020 the two planets were able to visit each other and started to build state of the art holiday resorts for each other to stay in, with the floggolopians running the hotels on Floggolopia and humans running the hotels on Earth which gave all visitors more of an insight to each other's planets.

Thirteen years on in the year 2033 there was the Lisbon family in the Isle of White.Daniel the father who was 46 and owned a highly established multi-planeterial technology company selling their goods to Floggolopia as well as Earth, Brenda the mother who was 48 and stayed at home as a housewife, their two sons, Patrick who was 19 and went to university to study Technology ready for when he took over his dads business as the other children were not interested in it, James who was 16 and went to college to study Art as he wants to become an Art teacher and their daughter Rachel who was 13 years old and went to secondary school but wasn't doing too well as she never listened and was always getting in trouble.The Lisbon's were going on holiday for fifteen days to Floggolopia over Christmas and it was time to pack their things for the holiday. An old family friend called Michael was round the house, he was there to take care of the animals while they went on holiday and had to speak to Daniel about the company as he was also running it for Daniel while he was away. Daniel met Michael in 2019 when he moved over from Australia, he worked for Daniel as the Senior Manager of the Accounts Department, and they were close just like family.The family were all downstairs except Rachel.

Brenda shouted upstairs to her "Are you ready yet Rachel? Can you speed it up a bit please? " Rachel shouted back "Keep your hair on, I won't be long" Brenda shouted back up to her again "You better not be long, we need to leave" Suddenly there was a lot of banging around and Rachel came storming down the stairs and slammed her suitcase down in the passage.Daniel took all the cases to the car, they all jumped in and Daniel drove to the ferry port so that they could get the ferry over to Portsmouth, from there they had to drive to the Spinnaker Shuttle Station which was on the site of the old Spinnaker Tower by the old shopping complex Gunwharf Quays. They got there and had to go straight to the shuttle. They went up the travelator leading to the door of the shuttle and walked inside, it was nothing like they had ever seen before.

It was about four times the size of an aeroplane; the seats were large leather reclining chairs with plenty of leg space in front of them so they could stretch out and relax on their 58 hour flight, there was a bar on board that sold drinks from Earth and Floggolopia, large screens about the size a cinema screen where they played the many in-flight movies that were being shown. As Brenda sat in her seat she gave a relaxing sigh and said to the others "Well, this is it guys, are we all ready for the off? " "Yep, looking forward to it" said the boysDaniel said whilst shrugging his shoulders "I'm actually a bit nervous" Rachel laughed "Hey dad, what's the worst that can happen? Maybe the shuttle might blow up? " Daniel turned and gave Rachel an evil look "Shut up Rachel, don't make me feel worse! " Brenda looked at Daniel "Don't be silly dear, it's going to be fine, and we are going to have the best holiday ever" All of a sudden a message came out over the speakers "Can all passengers please make sure that they are sitting comfortably with their seat belts fastened securely as we are about to launch"With that everybody on the shuttle gave off a big cheer. Suddenly a huge roar came from the engines as they began to lift up in the air. Brenda, Patrick, James and Rachel were all excited but Daniel was sitting there with a real panicked look upon his face, clutching the arms of his seat and sweating so much as he was really nervous. The shuttle kept rising and soon the shuttle was surrounded in darkness and in the distance was earth getting farther and farther away.

They watched a couple of films and one by one the family fell to sleep.Daniel woke up and 7 hours had gone by, the others were all still fast asleep so he decided to get up and go to the bar and get a drink. He looked at the drinks menu and decided to try out a floggolopians drink which was called Blue Waffle, it was like a cocktail type drink, he took a little sip, with a surprised look on his face he said to the bar tender "This is actually really nice, I know what I'm going to be drinking when we get there" The bar tender smiled "Glad you like it sir" Daniel started to drink some more when he felt a tap on his shoulders, it was Patrick and Rachel.Rachel said "Buy me a drink dad" Patrick said "Don't worry, I'll get these, what you drinking old man? And what do you want Rachel? " Daniel replied "It's a Blue Waffle, it's really nice, and you should try one son" Patrick said "Why not? " With a smile on her face Rachel said "Me too please" At the same time Daniel and Patrick both looked at her "No! " they said and Patrick handed her a glass of Coca Cola. Rachel just gave a tut and they all sat down at the bar and drank their drinks.

About an hour later Brenda and James came over.Brenda said "So this is where you three are then, hope you haven't got yourself too drunk? " Rachel said "I'm not, they wouldn't let me have a proper drink, I think they might be a bit drunk though, they've had quite a few drinks" Daniel and Patrick are just sitting there looking at her and laughing, Daniel said slurring his words "Of course we are not drunk my dear" Brenda said with a look of disgust on her face "The pair of you go and sleep it off now" So Daniel and Patrick went off to their seats and passed out straight away as soon as their heads hit the back of their seats.Back at the bar Brenda asked James and Rachel "Do you two fancy something to eat? " James said "Yes please mum, I'm absolutely starving" Rachel said "Why not, I am a bit peckish" So the three of them went over to a dining table to sit down, they had a look at the food menu and all decided to go for the same meal of Scampi and Chips because they was not sure on trying out the floggolopians food yet. Time went on and they finally arrived at Floggolopia.

Really excited Brenda with a huge smile on her face screamed for joy. As the shuttle door opened the smell of the fresh clean air came in. hey walked out the shuttle door and looked around, it was like they hadn't gone anywhere, it all looked the same as the Spinnaker Shuttle Station.Daniel turned to the shuttle attendant at the door and said "Did we not go anywhere after all? It all looks the same" The shuttle attendant grinned and said "Yes sir we did, the idea was to make the shuttle station here look the same as the one back home, so it makes you feel like you were at home here" Daniel looked at her and smiled "oh right, ok then, I'm just glad I got here in one piece"They walked down the travelator and into the station and saw a sign pointing to the car rental part, so they went over to rent a car for their time there in Floggolopia. Daniel knew all about the cars as it was his company that developed the technology for them, the cars were fully automatic and all they had to do was type in their destination and the car would just take them there. They arrived at The Starlight palace Hotel, it looked so amazing and luxurious, the Starlight was the first hotel to be built in Floggolopia, and it was being updated each year as new technology came out.

Daniel was in his element as most of the technology used in the hotel was his own that he had designed, he was happy he finally got to see for himself how it worked on a different planet. They were escorted up to the room they were staying in; it was like a house, with a lounge, four bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen with a fridge and an oven. In the lounge was a huge 60 inch 3D television and in each bedroom there was a 30 inch television. The first thing the kids done were run to the bedrooms to decide which room they want.Daniel and Brenda found the master bedroom and started unpacking all their clothes and putting them in the wardrobes.

Rachel managed to get the biggest of the other bedroom, she had just gone in and dumped her cases on the floor and collapsed on the bed, James had got stuck in the with the smallest room, but he wasn't worried about it as he was just glad to be there, he laid on the bed and turned the television on and started flicking through the channels, Patrick was in his bedroom unpacking his stuff and putting it away. Once he put his stuff away he went out into the kitchen to get himself a drink.