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Welcome back friends and family! So here we are again sat at a computer screen on a Friday night when we should be out partying... But of course we put your needs first and decided it was essential that we blog. You're welcome.
Here goes...
Day #14: We got up bright and early and went down for our included morning breakfast. The first thing we noticed was a dish that we were not familiar with and we can only describe as sausage meat in white sauce. We asked a local who replied simply; "It's biscuits and gravy. You don't have that in England?!" WEIRD. But it tasted really good and it filled us up for the day along with boiled eggs and bagels! Yum. Onto being kids... We bought our three-park passes (Universal, Islands of Adventure and Wet&Wild) and off we ventured on the free shuttle to Universal Studios! The weather was BOILING making up for the previous day's thunder storm and we could barely breathe. But we didn't care because it was all so magical so we hit the attractions. Our first ride was 'Twister' where we experienced our own little tornado. Inside a studio, fire blared, rain poured and the set and buildings collapsed down around us - Sarah banged her shin because she jumped too hard when the ceiling caved. Other rides we went on included Shrek 4D, The Mummy, The E.T. adventure, The Simpsons ride, Disaster, Men in Black and we saw the Blues Brothers in a street show! Two other attractions to mention in particular would be the Beetlejuice show and the RockIt rollercoaster. Firstly, we waited outside to be seated for the show and were approached by an elderly man in an electric buggy who was the attendant for the show. He simply stated that he will get us in fast-track and to go straight to him when they were seating. "We're VIP!" We waltz up to our man who lets us in first to find seats in the arena and we choose ones right at the back… Typical. After 5 minutes of the show we looked at each other wanting to leave as it is that awful and cringe worthy but we were stuck feeling loyal to our man. Maybe he let us in early to make sure we stayed. Hmm. Secondly, the rollercoaster. We got to choose our own song to play during the ride and it filmed us the whole way. Laureen chose 'Rock Star' by N.E.R.D and Sarah chose 'Keep Rollin' by Limp Bizkit which she felt was very apt when he was shouting at her to 'Put your hands up' and 'Keep Rolling' as we went upside down. So much fun! We made it through our packed lunches during the day and had smoothies and burgers in the 50's diner towards the end of the day. When evening reached and the sun had gone down, all the street lights dimmed in the park and we sat and watched the 'Movie Spectacular' over the river, celebrating 100 years of film. It was incredibly moving watching the reels projecting on the water; it was so magical and made such a lovely end to a dream-like day. We headed back on the shuttle to crash in our comfy beds.
Day #15: We made another early start for our breakfast before heading to the Magic Kingdom as an additional treat! We were greeted with a sign saying 'Let the Memories Begin' and we wonder in time to music into the wonderful Main Street U.S.A. We stopped to take our photo with the statue of Walt Disney and Minnie and headed on down towards Cinderella's castle in the distance - beautiful. We'll try not to bore you with too many details but throughout the day we visited many attractions including the Swiss Family Tree House, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight and Space Mountain! We finished the day with ice creams before heading back to Main Street U.S.A for the evening parade! We saw Mickey and the gang/co./mates/geezers and pushed all the children to the floor to ensure we got a good view. We ended another lovely day by watching an incredible firework display over the castle, whilst the castle itself changed colours and patterns! We watched the sky light up as Tinkerbell made her way across the crowd and Jiminy Cricket sang; 'When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true'. Sarah almost cried.
Day #16: We started the day still at the Magic Kingdom as we missed our shuttle bus home!! Boo. Taxis were too expensive to our resort and regardless of being warned not to, we went for the budget option and decided to walk back! We barely made it out of the parks premises before flashing lights pulled up behind us in a big car marked 'Security'. "You're going to walk 15 miles along a highway where alligators and snakes may live?!" We then found ourselves in the back of the security guards car whilst we were driven back to the park and escorted back to the bus ticket booth. The man was very helpful but we couldn't hold back our laughter at the situation - we'd been children all day long… After two buses, of course we missed our stop and headed about 4 miles north of the stop we needed. Stocking up on red bulls, hot dogs and crisps, we walked through the early hours with our rucksacks until we made it back to our hotel at around 3AM. Naughty us. We slept in the next morning and decided to skip breakfast. In the afternoon we headed to 'Wet&Wild', one of Orlando's famous water parks. We spent the afternoon eating pizza, sunbathing and relaxing by the pool. We say relaxing… that was until the familiar voice came over the speakers; 'DUDE, Here come the waves!' We attempted the deep end once wondering why no one was in there and can admit that it was more dangerous than our walk home the previous evening! Thank God we made our way to the sides after swallowing water, before being told that we were at an emergency exit and we had to make our way back up to the shallow end. We were the only two not in life jackets. After getting a tad sun-burnt we headed back to the hotel to sleep once again.
Day #17: We heard that the weather was going to be gorgeous again so we decided to spend a second day at the water park (we had a 2-week ticket) to go on all the slides. Our favourites included a straight drop down from a ridiculous height, a 60's disco inside a tunnel and the 'spinning bowl with a hole' (as we have just named it). We got even redder despite the cream but had a real blast all round! We headed back to the hotel and got 'take-out' from the famous 'Wendy's'. Lovely jubbly.
Day #18: Biscuits and gravy breakfast and we were up, up and away for the day - Islands of Adventure! We took the shuttle bus to the park and started our day on the Incredible Hulk rollercoaster. Laureen loved it but Sarah banged her head a little too much. We made our way around the park through the five main areas; Super-heros, Comics, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and Dr. Seuss. We experienced many films throughout the day (Walking down Diagon Alley and going through Jurassic Park - literally) and it was so much fun! There was a little mis-hap in the day when we queued for an hour in the heat and had to leave 5 minutes before the ride because Sarah got really light-headed and thought she was going to faint. This had never happened to her before so it was all a little strange but Laureen took her outside and we sat down with water and ice-cream (sugar and cold) until she was feeling better again. Aw - how kind of Laureen! Luckily, the queue was only 5 minutes long at the end of the day and so we still made it to the ride with no extra queuing, but unfortunately it meant we got absolutely drenched and our see-through clothes weren't drying quickly after the sun had gone down! Throughout the day we scanned dinosaur eggs, heard Hogwarts students singing with toads and saw countless 'Thing 1' and 'Thing 2's'! Our favourite ride was the new interactive rollercoaster in Harry Potter where you fly on a broomstick away from all the dementors around you. It was Laureen this time who hurt herself when she jumped at a skeleton and bruised her spine! We still loved it though and we looked terrified in our picture. We exited the park at the end of the day truly exhausted from our week and stopped to watch a little Florida music and dancing by the bars before collapsing on the shuttle to go back.
Day #19: We got up early and went to the local shop to buy all our postcards! (Which we've sent by the way, has anyone got them?!) We then took a taxi to Amtrak train station and made our way down to Miami on the 6-hour journey. We arrived in Miami late and lugged Wesley and Jimmy all the way to our hostel on a bus. We say all the way - please note there was around a 2 mile journey from the bus stop to the hostel where we had to carry our bags past glamorous people in the fancy bars. (This was Lincoln Road which is quite famous for its nightlife). We arrived at the hostel just before midnight and checked into our 8-bed dorm. All of the beds were taken but the receptionist came up and made one woman leave and moved another woman's belongings for us! Fair but awkward. We then tried to settle in as much as we could before getting some shut-eye.
Day #20: Laureen was woken up by one of our room-mates asking if she had moved her things. Laureen explained the situation to the cold woman (Laureen: "witch, she's a witch") and went back to sleep. We didn't think much of it until Laureen's wash bag and bikini went missing from her bag the next day! Laureen had to replace all her things and we were careful to use our lockers with as much as we could. Really mean L We assume it was the witch. We used the rest of the day to be productive. We posted our postcards, backed up our photos and skyped some beautiful people! (Sarah's parents, Sarah's gran/Bernard, Gemma and Charlie!) It was lovely to see familiar faces and voices after almost everyone in the hostel spoke Spanish or French! We headed out for dinner and stopped at a tavern on the lively strip for the 'pizza and beer' deal. But with coke unfortunately. We returned to the hostel and made a few friends throughout the evening. First up; Sarah's number 1 fan! (A middle-aged man from Peru wearing a Bob Marley vest and long hair in a ponytail.) He confessed his love and said he would call and leave his girlfriend and stared and stalked Sarah the whole night. It was very funny and flattering but a little creepy! (When he sobered up, he was the shyest guy and avoided our eye contact for the rest of the week!!) Laureen also had an admirer that evening, but maybe a more suitable match! 25 year old Marco; Italian by blood, but raised in Spain. Not bad! We dipped in the hot tub before going to sleep fairly early.
Day #21: We're off to the beach, beach. South Beach, Miami. We walked down from the hostel which took half an hour or so and settled on the glorious sand which looked like a desert. We spent the day reading, tanning and dipping in the sea and it was lovely! Although needless to say, we burned again, of course. Sarah tried to make a towel hut for shade and so we decided this meant it was probably time to leave. We walked past the local taverns on Ocean Drive where we found Marco working in a bar! We stopped for ice cream and were overly excited when we got served beers! It was happy hour so they came in giant boots and were the equivalent of 2-3 pints! We were more than pleased throughout the duration of the drinks, until we got the bill… Yes it was 2 for the 1, but we didn't ask how much 1 was in the first place. $20 friggin dollars each. Ah well, we had to brush it off! Vacation. We headed back to the hostel where we got back in the hot tub with a beer each, a bottle of rose and a pot of Pringles to share! We spent the evening with Marco, Toto (Frenchie) and their Italian/Spanish friends. We could barely communicate with our languages but shisha got us through this difficult time. During our stay, we also met a couple of Australians, Germans and a Danish man! We stayed up until 4 in the morning and agreed to meet the boys at 12 the next day to head to the beach. We snuck to bed.
Day #22: 12.30pm woopsie. Sarah is up and dressed and had to face the boys alone as Laureen was still tucked up asleep. She headed down to find them all waiting for us with their towels tapping their wrists in universal amusement. She had to break the news to them that we would be meeting them later and they walked off in a slight huff but reasonably okay! Two hours later, we had ran our errands and walked down to meet the guys. We met them half way as they were walking back and it was SO awkward. They were all throwing strops and not talking to us and we didn't know whether to walk on or try and make conversation… Marco spoke briefly with Laureen but we eventually carried on to the beach. They live in Miami so maybe they took our plans more seriously than we did but we felt like we had been naughty school children told off by our teachers! On the way to the beach, we got distracted by a tavern. We sat down, (both next to each other on a double table as we both wanted the comfy chair - goons!) and ordered grilled chicken with mash potatoes and seasonal vegetables. We can safely say that it was the nicest meal we have had so far and probably the healthiest too! Our mouths are watering as we sit here typing! We spent most the day sitting in the shade at the restaurant before we made our way back to the hostel. We freshened up and headed back out to the local cinema - The Dark Knight Rises!!! Sarah ordered the biggest bucket of popcorn because she got overly excited and Laureen got a small one - they come with hot butter sauce! Amazing. We watched the film in the evening and were completely buzzing afterwards - such a good film and SUCH a good ending! We wandered the streets for a little while and headed back to the hostel to sleep.
Day #23: We didn't do anything overly exciting in the day and stayed at the hostel chilling. Towards the evening, we then got to skype with a couple of our babies! (Lauren & then Bex!!) They had bits and bobs to tell us and it was comforting to see their faces. That evening we got some beers in and spent another evening with the others in the hostel and met some Spanish girls and an Australian girl. Sarah challenged some Germans to table football and lost 10-9 on her last match! (She's a sore loser so the beers helped).
Day #24: Productive day. Sarah's rucksack broke and Laureen needed new foundation so we headed to the shops to stock up. And the heaven's opened. We ran to the nearest restaurant (Sarah losing both flips flops on the way) and we sat and ate carbonara with roast potatoes and vegetables whilst we waited for the thunder storm to stop. Later on, we took our washing to the local launderette and spent our Friday night sat on the tumble dryers with our books. We then sat outside the hostel and skyped Kirst!! Which, again, was lovely. We then bumped into the boys with Marco who told us that they had been kicked out!! Uh oh. Apparently one of the Spanish girls was being naughty with one of the guys in the common area. Scandalous! We walked to the shop to get ice-cream and then went back to book our New Orleans accommodation. Laureen said her good-byes to Marco L "jaja".
Day #25: We got up early, packed our suitcases and headed out to catch our train. We lugged the bags for 2 miles to the bus stop and we were dripping with sweat by the time we got there - not pleasant! We waited 40 minutes or so for the bus and arrived at the Amtrak station at 11:56AM. Our train left at 11:49AM and there wasn't another one with our rail passes until two days later. Are you kidding. We moped around feeling sorry for ourselves for a while whilst we ate our Pringles and then got to action. We managed to cancel our New Orleans accommodation using $20 credit! Ouch. We rebooked our tickets and found a cheap motel nearby. We waited over an hour for a taxi and finally got to our beds to settle. We spent the afternoon reading and got talking to the guy who was staying in the room next door. He's originally from Cuba and wants to get into acting. He took Laureen's $20 and headed to the store to get us some beers. We asked for 6 Corona's and he came back with 18 own-branded lites as it was cheaper per bottle?! We got hardly any change and were not best pleased. He stayed and drank with us and took 4/5 beers which would be fine if we wanted to buy that many in the first place. As it was a Saturday night, we decided to head out. We got dressed in tight tops and shorts and were practically laughed at by Jay saying that we looked like we were from the 90's. May we point out that he was wearing a polo black top and baggy trousers with spikey hair like he was from N-Sync. (You may have noticed from our tone that we are not best pleased with Jay). We changed into dresses and Jay drove us to a local club "to show us the real Miami nightlife". We arrived in a lit-up mall and walked into a latin bar with tissue all over the floor - weird atmosphere! We looked very English and felt out of place. We paid Jay for the petrol and then gave him money for our drinks. He came back with $10 missing and said that our drinks were more expensive than the bar lady had quoted and that he also tipped her. We were really stroppy at this point! We lightened up a little and attempted to dance like the other Latinos and had a very quiet car journey home before 3 hours sleep. We learnt our lesson.
Day #26: Onwards and upwards. We made an early start around 8am and headed to a bus stop mid-town. We got onto our pre-booked tour bus (to make up the two extra days) and headed to the Everglades! The first thing we did was hop on an airboat that took us down the swaps. We spotted an Alligator nesting in the water and a couple of turtles! We sped along really fast and it was such a nice wake-up call! We then watched a wildlife show which included Alligator Wrestling, a Toad, a Scorpion and a Skunk! We then got to hold Larry, the baby gator and have pictures with him! He was adorable and felt scaly. Laureen then chased the peacock and got to hold Neil the chicken! When we returned, we headed over to Bayside for a spot of lunch. We then watched some live dancing before sitting by the sea to take in our surroundings. We were soon approached by a man who asked to sit with us and before we knew it, we had a new friend! He was homeless by choice, explaining that he preferred to sleep outside with the nature and be at one with the world (he had gone through a bottle of rum by this point and he soon went on to talk about his beliefs in spaceships from other worlds). None the less, he was a lovely, interesting man who was very insightful and creative (he made his own hippy bag which was very cool). We left in the early evening and headed back to bed.
Day #27: Rise and Shine - We were up by 5.30am! We were pushing it fine for time and so caught a taxi into the city to catch another tour bus. Down to Key West on a four hour journey! When we arrived, it was pouring it down in another thunderstorm. One thing we have noticed about America is that they don't have street drains and so puddles soon rise when it rains and we therefore found ourselves shin-deep in water in the middle of the roads - flood! We dragged our legs through the water to the shops and attractions and saw a lot of cool buildings and bars. During the day, we saw the oldest house in the Key West, the southernmost point in the U.S.A (crazy!) and the beautiful ocean. The day was miserable but at least we stayed away from the beach and got to soak in the culture around the town.
Day #28: Time to leave Florida. We caught a taxi to the Amtrak station and managed to board our train! Hurrah. We travelled overnight trying to get as much sleep as possible.
Day #29: We're still on the train! After 26 hours, we arrived in Washington. We waited 3 hours or so before boarding our next train down to New Orleans. Not much to say other than we read, slept and ate. Our colouring books were nearby too in case of emergencies.
Day #30: After 25 hours, we arrived in a new time zone in the City of New Orleans!! We got a taxi to the hotel and got given our room. However, there was a leak in the ceiling and we soon got moved to another room! The beds are lovely and we're so grateful to be back somewhere clean and spacious.
Day #31: We got up early for our included breakfast - no biscuits and gravy L and then went down for a quick dip in the hotel pool to begin our morning. Lovely! We then took the train and tram into the French Quarter where we firstly headed down Bourbon Street. The bars were lit up and blaring music early on in the day and it was such a cool sight. We headed into various shops where we tried on masks for Martigras and looked at the countless beads and voodoo dolls/accessories. We carried onto the French Market, the Jackson Square and wandered inside a famous Cathedral which was beautiful. We had chips at a local famous café and booked our tours for this weekend! On our way back, we came across a large, street jazz band that were performing wonderfully! It was such a laid back and fun atmosphere. We took the tram back and cooked tinned beef and rice for dinner which we had with a beer! We are going on our tours tomorrow and plan to venture out tomorrow night to catch some of the blues and jazz. We can't wait!
Anyway, well done once again for making it through all of this! We will try to blog more regularly so it is a little more spaced out for you (and us! - we're very tired now). Just so you know, we are now 6 hours behind and from Wednesday, the time zone will change again. Let us know if you want to Skype and we hope you are well and keep safe. Lots of love and hugs. Thinking of you all xxx
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Jane Lewis Lovely to read all your newsy news, look forward to the next blog x