Day 24 - Orlando to Miami

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Orlando to Miami - 34°c

After yesterday’s very long day at the Magic Kingdom, I woke up this morning with a very sore throat and a bit of a cold. - Perhaps a tell tale sign that I’m getting run down from the early mornings, long days and late nights. I guess when there’s so much to see in such a short space of time, there’s very little time for rest in between stops. Anyway, I “sucked it up”, (as many of Aussies on our bus say) kept smiling and kept going for as long as I could, as best I could.

We left our Kissimmee hotel at 7:30am and begun our journey down to the Everglades. I managed to fall asleep for the majority of the journey, so don’t have much to say about that journey! But once we arrived at the Everglades we separated into two groups, those paying the fee to do the Everglades swamp tour and those of us not.

I wasn’t that keen on seeing the Everglades swamp and hadn’t signed up for it, so hung around the visitor center area for a couple of hours and sat in and out of the sun with James, Kate, Joey and Steve who all hadn’t signed up for the tour either. One of the park rangers did a presentation for us based on the differences between crocodiles and alligators, and also how they and other wildlife live and survive out in the Everglades.

Since we were outside for a couple of hours whilst the others were on their tour, we alternated between laying out in the sun and laying under the trees for shade and keeping hydrated with our water. It was so quiet and peaceful and it was great to relax and chat to everyone for a while without any other distractions (aside from the odd cough and sneeze coming from me!).

After the trams returned with everyone else, we all got back on the coach and continued our journey down to Miami. It wasn’t too long before we got there, however our hotel was located right near Miami airport rather than Downtown or South Beach, which means there’s a fair distance between the hotel and where all the action is.
However the hotel was beautiful with marble floors and walls in the lobby and restaurant, and my room itself is decorated very classily. - Definitely the best hotel we’ve stayed in so far.

Once up in my room and feeling my cold and throat symptoms worsening, I decided to have a night in at the hotel to get an early night, some rest, and relax whilst the majority of the group headed out for the first night in Miami.

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