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Published: July 29th 2010
Our excitement (well, my excitement) was palpable as we drove along Interstate 4 and into the magical city of Orlando last Tuesday afternoon. There were signs everywhere for Universal Studios, DisneyWorld, Animal Kingdom and Sea World, and just before we left the main highway, I glimpsed the promised land, the turrets of Hogwarts!
We actually arrived in Orlando a day earlier than when our hotel reservation began so using our trusty book of vouchers we checked into a lovely La Quinta Inn and decamped to the pool for a late afternoon swim and sunbathing/reading session.
Rachel has brought one bikini with her. It's black and fits her great. It's lovely. But in that lovely way hat only a woman can manage, it's not right. She needs another one. Or maybe two. You see, it doesn't go right with her Sarong/Dress that she wants to throw over the top when we leave the pool or beach side. Its the wrong colour and it ties up wrong at the back. Therefore Wednesday afternoon took on a mind of its own as we descended on the packed Florida Mall to find the perfect bikini (or two) as well as a couple of
other bits (Rachel needed tops, I needed a t-shirt or two and some basketball shorts for my brother. The t-shirts and basketball shorts were snapped up in no time, as well as Teriakyi Chicken for lunch and a lovely colourful shirt for my good self. The bikini however was certainly proving to be more elusive! The ones that fitted had the wrong fastenings, the ones that fastened right were too small or too expensive, the ones that were the right price and size were the wrong colour! We tried everywhere.... JC Penney, Sears, Victoria's Secret, Macys, BikiniWorld, BikiniLand, BikiniTastic, Bikinis R Us, Marks & Bikinis etc etc, all to no avail. I eventually slumped off to the car, laden down with the bags from the other purchases whilst Rachel had a final desperate hunt through the racks before she returned, scowling, to the car. The Shops 1 The Cains 0.
We checked into the Buena Vista Suites and after dinner in the hotel restaurant we got our heads down because Thursday was Harry Potter Day! In order to get the bargain price we did for the 3 nights at the hotel and a week pass to Universal Studios and
Islands of Adventures, we had to go to a hotel down the road on Thursday morning for a timeshare sales pitch/presentation. After four and half hours of listening to the salesman tell us how good Sheraton were and how much we would spend on holidays in our lifetime and the benefits of timeshare etc etc, we were asked to sign up and buy one there and then. No thank you very much but I will have my free tickets to Universal Studios thank you! They duly obliged after some more sales tactics including bringing out the "manager" to give us a one off special price.
Ticket voucher in hand, we left the salesman behind (no doubt cursing us damn British newlyweds) and hurried to Universal Studios. It was now 3pm and the park should hopefully have quietened down (wrong) and the heat should be starting to die down (wrong again!). We decided that we would do the main Universal park first before Islands of Adventure and Harry Potter later. We first went on the Men in Black ride, where Rachel thrashed everybody and got the best score by shooting the most aliens. We were thankful that the queue was
mostly indoors as we were both sweating buckets after the trek to the back of the park where this ride was. Next up, we were almost eaten alive by a very big and very fake looking shark in Amityville Harbour on the Jaws boat ride.
We chose the "Disaster The Movie" attraction because the queue was small, I wish we hadn't! The attraction was based round the premise that "Disaster Movies" were shooting a film about a big disaster, clever eh?! They needed to cast some new actors and extras because all of the originals were now in rehab. An overly camp "Assistant Director" started asking for volunteers for various roles including: a granny, three evil CEOs, a small boy, a frightened man and a good looking hunk. Now, when he asked for the good looking hunk Rachel decided to point at me, to which I waved her arms away. Camp man at the front says "Yes, you in the white." As I frantically looked round for someone in white, anyone in white, please someone near me be in white, there was no one. I had been chosen. Yes, me. I hate being up in front of loads of
people I don't know. Especially when having to act as hunk. Not that acting hunky is tricky for someone like me, but I don't like to make a big deal of it. So after being asked to show off my "guns", we were all moved through to the studio. I was hidden from view and asked to put on an orange jump suit which would have been too big for King Kong and then sat on a stool on a green wheel (look at the picture). When they said "Action" I had to sit on the stool and pretend I was falling from a great height, in slow motion, looking terrified. For 2 whole minutes. Try doing that in front of 100 strangers and trying not too laugh! I was glad to be out of that one! They showed us the finished film at the end, and my two minutes had been cut down to around 2 seconds. I need to get my agent to get me better roles in future!
After another couple of rides, it was time to make our way to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Now, any of you that couldn't give Scabbers ass
about Harry Potter might as well jump on a couple of paragraphs. And those of you with good taste and young at heart who have read the books or watched the films.... it was incredible! From the moment you step under the arch into Hogsmeade, you are transported to the pages of the JK Rowling books (plus a few thousand Yanks!). We were greeted by a full size Hogwarts Express ready to pull out from Platform Nine and Three Quarters, steam billowing from its red and black body. Passing the train, we were on a snow swept (but hot and sweaty) Hogsmeade street with Zonkos and Honeydukes to our left and The Three Broomsticks and Ollivanders ahead of us. We fought through the crowds towards the other end of the street and past Dervish and Banges to where the school choir (which contained large toads) were just finishing up and towards the towering and imposing Hogwarts castle. We joined the queue for the ride inside - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The queue was 90 minutes long and after around an hour outside, we finally entered the castle. That hour was dull but for the "rural" (for rural read
redneck) in front of us who took umbrage at the two lesbians holding hands and sharing a kiss near the front of the queue. Only a "Please don't start Dad" from one of his young daughters spared us his vitriol about same sex relationships. He did however let us know that Disney have "special days for people like them". Maybe "people like them" is "homosexuals" in redneckish!
Inside, the castle was just as spectacular as what had gone before, the corridors were lined with statues and paintings (which moved of course!) and we were soon in Dumbledore's office, where a hologram of the great man himself informed us we would be passing through the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom and the Gryffindor Common Room before the ride began. As we left his office, we were greeted by moving and talking paintings of the four founders of Hogwarts arguing about who was going to win today's Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor. The classroom we passed through whilst queueing featured three holograms of Ron, Harry and Hermione telling us that they would help us escape the castle and watch the Quidditch match and to meet them in the common
room. We were soon in the 'Common Room' and on the ride, not before passing a life size and fully functional Sorting Hat, and were ready for our Forbidden Journey. The ride itself was great, very different to what we had been on before, a hybrid of rollercoaster and 4D movie which left us feeling very queasy afterwards. It featured a quidditch match, flying through the castle and grounds, Dementors that made the air go cold and huge spiders that spat posion at us. All in all, great fun!
Our next stop was to spend some time in all the shops (one of which had a queue of 40 minutes, the others were shorter at
only 20 minutes!), Filch's Emporium for a photo, Dervish and Banges for replica wands and robes, Honeydukes for a Chocolate Frog and Zonkos for some of the Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes! We also had a pint of Butterbeer, which is possibly the sweetest and strangest drink I have ever tasted. A mixture of Cream Soda, Coca Cola and Root Beer with a melted marshmallow froth! Magical! After spending all our travelling money on gifts for brothers, sisters and other relatives (Ok, and me!) we made
our way back to the car (it was after closing time now!) with tired legs and happy faces.
Friday was a bit of a non event after the highs of the day before, but Rachel decided to go to the "Swimwear Outlet Mall" to continue her qeust for the bikini. I couldn't face another day of tie backs, clasps and halter necks so she went alone. Three hours later she returned, empty handed and frowning! The Shops 2 The Cains 0! Apparently, it wasnt three hours of shopping, as Rachel got caught up in horrendous traffic (rush hour on a Friday afternoon seems just as bad wherever in the world you are) but I still think it was a resounding victory for the shops which seemed determined to thwart my poor wife!
We waved goodbye to Mickey, Minnie and Harry on Saturday and drove West towards the coast and eventually stopped in a place just south of Clearwater on the Gulf Coast called Treasure Island and it was a real hidden treasure! A small strip of land away from the coast with beautiful white beaches and lovely warm water. We managed to snag the last ocean view room
in a beachfront motel which afforded great views and was a welcome respite after the hubbub of Orlando. We decided that we had seen enough of our Chevy Cobalt car and after 6000 miles in five weeks, it was time to hand back the keys and relax! We spent that evening trying to move our flight to Jamaica forward and luckily the airline changed it for us and no cost. We arrived in Jamaica yesterday, six days early, which meant we had from Sunday until Tuesday to get to Miami and say our goodbyes to the US of A.
On Saturday evening, we saw the most amazing sunset on the beach. To the right the sun was setting amidst a swathe of beautiful colours. There were oranges, pinks, reds, purples and blues and the reflection was twinkling off the calm ocean. To the left, a storm was brewing with dark clouds and threatening rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. We went photo crazy and got some really good shots before we dashed inside to beat the rain.
Sunday involved lots of laziness on the beach and by the pool, including a very enjoyable game of catch with
a child I befriended and a nice meal on the boardwalk. As we returned from the meal to our room, we could hear the distant thump of what sounded like techno music from the beach. We looked out of the window to see flashing lights and lots of people near the sea. It was dark by now so we thought there must be some form of rave going on and went to investigate. As we drew near it turned out to be lots of people banging different types of drums and cymbals as well as whistles and tambourines being played! There were a lot of people of all ages in their swimwear dancing around too, and to complete the surreal scene, a huge thunderstorm was raging out at sea, with forked lightning lighting up the scene a couple of times a minute. It was like some form of ritual that had everyone, including us transfixed. Pelting rain soon forced most of us to run back to the hotel, where we found out that we had been watching a "drum circle" which happens every Sunday evening! Much to Rachel's dismay who had invented a story that it was in actual fact
a religious cult and they were summoning the storm!
We arrived in Miami on Monday evening and had a lovely drive in South Beach and along Ocean Drive. (I managed to resist inflicting my version of the song by Lighthouse Family on the people of Miami). It was a lovely afternoon and Miami seems to be a great city with a good buzz about it and a lot of Mediterranean influence. The cafes and kerbside hotels and restaurants had the feel of Cannes about them and again it didn't seem like we were in urban USA as we crawled up and down the palm fringed streets. Rach & I have both agreed we would like to come back to Miami for a proper visit, although next time we would have a proper suitcase with more suitable clothes than our travelling attire which doesn't suit trendy bars in Downtown Miami!
Before we knew it we were at the airport and on the short flight to Montego Bay. We have three weeks in what I can only describe as our own personal paradise. As I write this, I can hear the waves of the Carribean Sea crashing against the rocks
yards from us mixing with the sounds that birds and insects make at nightfall. The stars are so big and clear against the dark navy sky, and there is so many of them. Its heaven.
We were on the road for 36 days during our road trip and racked up a total of 5960 miles! We passed through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida- 11 states in all (as well as the 6 we visited before Las Vegas). We do have one more to visit and that is Hawaii, and I need to hope that I can collect the missing 11 state quarters I did not manage to get yet.
We had a wonderful time in the States but I think we had done all we wanted to and were ready for a change. We saw so many great and different things: the Grand Canyon; Mississippi River; Atlantic Ocean; Indian tribes; famous skyscrapers; theme parks and national parks, all in the space of five weeks. We have so many memories to bring back with us along with the 3000 odd photos and we can't wait for the next chapter of this
amazing trip. Just let us relax first!!
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greg
non-member comment
USA
....and its all over too quickly isn't it?..so glad you made connections with SO many ICONIC landmarks both natural and man-made......the USA is truly awe-inspiring.........