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Published: January 9th 2011
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As I start this blog we are getting ready to leave for the Amtrak station in Kissimmee, it's about a 50 minute bus ride from where we are staying - the Hampton Inn near Florida Mall. I don't get too far with it as we want to get to the train station ahead of schedule, that will give us plenty of time to check in our bags and look around Kissimmee. I finish it in Fort Lauderdale where we are now.
I had a relaxing last day in New Jersey, after I updated the Travelblog and transferred some video onto a USB stick I went for a long walk around the neighborhood of River Edge, I walked to the train station and back passing a few schools, churches and shops, it was a nice day for a walk. That night Millet and Raymond took us out to dinner to a local Italian restaurant, the food was very good. Eleanor and I shared an Italian seafood paella that had little lobster tails, prawns, mussels, calamari and more. Millet and Raymond wouldn't let us pay for anything, they are very generous.
We were up early the next morning for our flight to
Orlando, again Raymond got up early to drive us to the airport. The flight was on time, so far all our flights have been either on time or ahead of schedule, it was uneventful which is how I like it. After we collected our bags we took the Lynx 111 bus to the Hampton Inn then walked to the Florida Mall. It was Eleanor's birthday so we had a nice lunch of ribs at Ruby Tuesday's restaurant, the servings are big so we shared a full rack with sides of coleslaw with blue cheese dressing and broccoli. We then looked around the mall, couldn't find a UFC shirt for Chief though, maybe in LA.
Friday was our Disney day, after due consideration we decided on EpCot - 'Discover the Wonder'. This theme park has a very strong environmental and technology focus, it still has rides such as 'Test Track' and 'Mission Space' but also includes things like ' Universe of Energy' and a World Showcase featuring eleven countries, the Chinese acrobats were a highlight. It was a big day, we got there at 10am and left after the fireworks at 9.20pm.
We were up at around 8am for breakfast
the following day,it was buffet style but not much in the way of hot food, the fruit salad was good and there was muffins, pastries etc, it was included in the room rate. After beginning this blog we checked out of the hotel and waited for the Lynx 4 bus to Kissimmee, it was on time and we arrived well before our train was due. This bus trip was about 40 minutes, opposite us on the bus was a guy in a wheel chair, he had a multitude of bags and other things strapped to the chair, I don't know how he could have got that thing on and off the bus. He was definitely a bit strange, he had milk in a baby bottle that he was drinking on the bus, sucking the teat just like a big baby.
As we had a bit of time before the train arrived we had a look around Kissimmee, there was lot's of antique shops there that Eleanor had a good look through. I decided to have a beer so went to a hotel near the station, I tried a Belgium wheat beer called "Shock Top" that was on tap, it
wasn't bad. I also ordered a plate of buffalo wings with a nice dipping sauce.
The train for Fort Lauderdale left around 1.30pm and arrived at 6pm. It was a good trip, the train was very comfortable with lot's of leg room and big seats. It was interesting passing the small towns, they looked similar to small towns in Australia.
When we arrived at Fort Lauderdale we called Jorge, he manages the hotel we are staying at - The Bridge at Cordova. Jorge picked us up and took us to the hotel, he's an interesting guy with lot's of ideas, his latest plan is to start a complete wedding service called "Weddings at Cost". The "Bridge" is really a back packer style place that caters to those who don't want to pay $200 plus a night for accommodation near the pier where the ships depart. It's great value at $65 a night including pick-up from the station (cab would probably cost $25), breakfast and internet access. The room we are in, though dated, is newly painted and clean. They have lot's of cats here and at least one dog. A kitten ran into our room last night so I
had to entice it out by carrying the pizza I bought for dinner outside. Actually the pizza was very good and the bottle of red I bought was also quite good.
This afternoon at 2pm we check-in for our cruise on "Allure of the Seas". The whole trip was planned around this cruise so it will be interesting to see if it turns out to be the high light. We've had a great time so far and the weather has been good, today it's another sunny day that will warm up to the early 20's (if my temp conversion is right). That's all for now, I'll do an update after the cruise.
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