If you've searched through the options, made the flight and car bookings for your Orlando vacation, trawled through all of the Florida vacation homes on offer and finally settled on the Orlando home or hotel that you want, one more thing to plan ahead is how to get from the airport to your accommodation. And if you're flying in from the UK, you have two main possibilities.

Whichever UK airport you are traveling from as part of your Orlando vacation package, be it Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick or any of the other airports, you will land at either Orlando International airport or Orlando Sanford International airport. If you fly with either British Airways or Virgin Atlantic you will fly directly to Orlando International, while most of the tour operators like Thomas Cook, Thompson and Monarch fly to Orlando Sanford International. So if you have never visited America before you may need some information on how things work once you disembark.

On arriving at Orlando International Airport you will leave the plane and make your way to Immigration so have your passport, visa waiver forms or other paperwork ready. You will find that the Immigration section is totally different from those in UK airports as you go through passport control and Customs in the same area. The queue to get through Immigration can be quite long at times as all passports, visas and customs forms are checked carefully for each passenger in your party. Be patient, while you are waiting to have your paperwork checked your luggage will be off loaded from the plane so you may not have a long wait at the carousel.

From the Immigration Officer, you will then go to collect your luggage and head for the Customs point. Here a Customs Officer reviews and retains your form and generally asks a couple more questions before nominating an unlucky few to put their luggage though the X-ray machine. This reflects increased security concerns since 9/11 and doesn't take long.

From Customs you move to a shuttle train, having handed back your luggage for separate transfer to the main airport building (the airport's designers apparently believed that this odd system was more efficient). Transfer from the Terminal is only a couple of minutes, after which you head for Baggage Claim A or B as already directed by cabin crew on the plane and as repeated in airport announcements.

After collecting your bags for a second time, follow directions to the car hire desks, taxis or hotel shuttle buses. Signage is simple to understand but airport staff are quite used to helping tired and confused tourists.

In comparison, Orlando Sanford International Airport is often quicker to get through because lines can be shorter, although that all depends on when your flight arrives and how many have beaten you to it! The need to make sure your paperwork is available and in order is just as important as at Orlando International, though, because errors could still cost you time while they are remedied.

Once through Customs, a short walk out of the terminal into the beautiful Florida sunshine will take you to the Welcome Center where they will direct you to your car hire, hotel transport or taxi for your onward journey.

One drawback to using Sanford is it's location. It is north of Orlando but Disney World and most of the tourist accommodation (hotels/motels and Florida vacation homes) is south of the city - so travel times from airport to hotel or Orlando home can take a while at busy times of the day. However, the higher volume of business at Orlando International Airport can result in delays getting though Immigration and Customs as well as longer lines for car hire and other transportation.

Whichever airport you fly hopefully it will prove the gateway to a magical Orlando vacation.