Goodbye to travels :-(

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We spent the last two weeks of our travels in Miami, Florida Keys, Orlando, Niagara Falls and NYC. First we flew into Miami and stayed at an art deco hotel called The Tropics on Collins Ave, just behind the famous Ocean Drive, South Beach. The first thing we realised about Florida was it was extremely humid. We hadn't had heat like that since leaving Bangkok. The sweating started there and then!!! The second thing we noticed was the unbelievable amount of gorgeous people, tanned, svelte and sexy walking around with their designer pooch, dressed in matching clothes and accessories, wow! Being near the end of our travels and we were looking more and more scruffy. Well in Miami we stood out like sore thumbs! We went for a walk down Lincoln and all the beautiful people were having dinner at one of the 100's of pavement cafes. We decided to hide in the cinema and watch Da Vinci Code... The next day we avoided the thong clad chicks at the beach and take a tour of the Art deco buildings on Ocean driver. (They were so cute with all the pastel shades and neon lights; I got a bit snap happy - Sarah). Then we retreated to the safety of our hostel pool and sunbathed ourselves silly. Miami is a great city though. ( I hope to come back with the girls one day, when I have some money - Sarah).

The next day we picked up our hire car and drove to the Florida Keys. We started off in the most Southerly point, Key West. Which is actually closer to Cuba (90 miles away) than mainland USA. To get there we drove the length of the Keys, which is a long chain of islands. It was a gorgeous drive and at times we were on two lane bridges flanked by a gentle blue ocean on both sides. It's a very calm and beautiful place. We arrived in Key West and put up our tent, next to a kind of swamp thing and a large Iguana, which was sleeping in a bush! The swamp had a lot of Mosquitoes and Stu took the brunt of their attack. (He managed 140 bites and these things were vicious; he got bitten through his clothes! I honestly thought he had measles, he was that covered in bites!!! I" only got 5 on one knee though, hee hee… - Sarah).
We took the bus into Key West and Sarah was immediately in love with the place. All the buildings are two story wooden buildings. Key West was once one of the richest places in USA, because lots of ships wrecked on its coral reef and the inhabitants would rescue the ship’s goods and crew. For a fee of course!!! We went to the wreckers’ museum and also sampled some Key Lime Pie, which is like lemon merang but with… limes. Damn that stuff was good! We also spent the day at a very posh hotel pool, which had uninterrupted views of the Gulf of Mexico. It was off-season for them so we just paid 5 dollars for a padded lounger by the pool, supped free ice tea and dreamed we weren't travellers for a day! Damn now we’re not!!

The drive to Orlando was interesting; we paid $20 in tolls on the way there! Then we got there and bought tickets to Disney, Seaworld and WetnWild - 350 dollars, oh my god!!!!!! We couldn't believe how expensive it was! Fortunately we had saved some over the rest of our trip for this and booked a lush hotel for $40 a night; cheaper than a hostel! The first day we went to Disney and we were welcomed in by Mickey himself at the opening ceremony. (The kids thought they had died and gone to heaven) We got on all the big rides. (My favourite was 'Stitches Great Escape'. It was a special effects ride and we got fake snot blown on us and a pretend chilli dog burp in our faces… - Sarah). We also got our pictures taken with Mickey (I have to say is just a big old flirt!!!) We had a lovely day, apart from being roughed up by parents with bad pram driving skills and also being surrounded by brats, hee hee. We did kinda feel like the Disney magic has faded a bit since we were both there last, but it was still cool!
The next day we went to Seaworld and what a fun day we had! We started off by going on the new Atlantis water ride and then three goes on the monstrous Kraken roller coaster ride which did so many loop the loops that we were almost wearing our buffet breakfast! (I opened my eyes on the last go, honest!!! Stu might need surgery on his eardrums though - Sarah) We fed dolphins, saw Shamu the killer whale, dolphins and the sea lion and otter show. Well worth every penny!
On the last day we went to the WetnWild water park. It is packed full of amazing water rides. Some terrifying ones. (I am either I'm getting to be more of a wimp in my old age or the rides are getting much scarier - Sarah). They had one of those kamikaze type rides, where you go straight down. You start this one in a rocket shaped tube, then the floor drops away and you shoot to the bottom. (Sarah wimped it, but I didn't and regretted the monstrous force on my shorts - Stu). We also had a go at Wake boarding, where you kneel on a board and dragged around by a metal pulley cable over the water, simulating a speedboat. Everyone was wiping out loads (including me) but Sarah managed beat all the over-confident teenagers and to go all the way around the lake!!! (My arms still hurt two weeks later!!! - Sarah).

So then we got a plane to Niagara Falls for a two-day flying visit. We had been warned the USA side of the falls was a bit of a dump, but it wasn't too bad. (It was - the actual town on the US side looked very run down, sorry to say - Stu). The state park had loads of cool things to do like the obligatory Maid of the Mist boat tour, which takes you close to the base of the falls - very wet - and we donned special Niagra Falls, yellow ponchos and yellow and green sandals to stand under one of the falls. The falls were spectacular, but the view of the main Horseshoe Falls was better from the Canadian side, so we walked over the bridge to Canada one day for breakfast. We went to Canada for a grand total of two hours and we have a stamp in our passports to prove it too. It was actually far more impressive than the US side. At night the falls become part of a light show. Coloured lights are beamed onto the falls and the falls light up different colours. It was well worth the effort to go, despite it being very touristy.

Our last five days were spent in New York. So what do you do in New York if the main reason for going i.e. SHOPPING (shopping - I never wanted to do any shopping - Stu) is not an option. Well we found out and despite Sarah having been to New York three times before we found loads to do that she had never had the time to do before. We whizzed around on the subway, all over Manhattan. We bought a City Pass attraction pass and visited the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Empire state building (which has got a cool audio tour now, so you can actually tell what your looking at from up there), went on a fab city-line cruise around the harbour taking in Brooklyn Bridge/statue of liberty/Ellis island - it was really great! Not to mention the seeing beautiful Grand Central station, the Chrysler building etc etc.. We also met up with Stu's friend from home, Tom, who's at Drama school in New York. We spent an afternoon strolling around central park and eating pizza with him. We met up with him again for drinks in Greenwich village (which is just the coolest place to go for dinner and drinks). We accidentally ended up in a dyke bar (The bar called it that not me!!), but hey beer was only $2 so we stayed for a long time! We had a lovely meal at a Spanish restaurant on our last night as our grand farewell to travelling. Blew the budget a bit with Stu having lobster and Sarah having the biggest paella ever! All washed down with a jug of sangria!!! We're gonna miss New York, but not the weather, it's been rained constantly.

So that's it from us, our travelling tales are over for now.... boo hoo

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Photos

Lounging...
Sarah relaxes around the pool in Key West...

Immigrant...
Sarah on the border between the US and Canada...

Light Show!
Spot lights from the Canadian side light up the falls.

Cuddly...
Tom and Sarah play in a New York toy shop.

Silver lining
Cruising under the Brooklyn bridge...

Night time in New York
Looking down at New York and the Crysler building from the Empire State Building.

Goodbye and Goodluck!
Sarah and Stu on our last night!