After much contemplating over the cost of spending two nights in Orlando and taking a bus trip out to the Kennedy Space Center ($90) I went for it. And I'm very glad I did.

I arrived in Orlando in the evening and, after checking in, I went out to explore for some dinner. I was amazed by International Drive (the main strip with hotels on it) - it reminded me somewhat of the Las Vegas Strip with lots of coloured lights and restaurants. And it was so warm still that it was pleasant walking about.

The following day was an early start, being picked up at 7:30am. The coach stopped at about a dozen hotels en route and got to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) an hour after the last of them so it was a quite long trip. But the driver was very entertaining and pointed out alligators in the small river alongside the road near KSC.

Once through the tight security I did the bus tour first. It takes you out to three places within the space complex. The first is the LC-39 observation gantry where there was a video and some exhibits, but the real highlight for me was being able to see, in the distance, the space shuttle Discovery on the pad ready for its launch on May 31st. There is a retractable cover around most of it but the top of one of the boosters is visible (check out my photos).

The second stop was the Apollo/Saturn V Complex where there were some more videos and exhibits - the best of which was an entire Saturn V rocket hanging from the roof. It is truly enormous and amazed me: that enormous thing was underneath all the Apollo astronauts as they took off in their tiny capsule. I had lunch at the cafe underneath it. There was the opportunity to talk to a retired NASA engineer but I couldn't think of any questions that weren't really lame so I left the poor guy alone to be bugged by the kids.

The third stop was the only area accesible to visitors that is in active use, which is the International Space Station Center. There, aside from the exhibits like life-size replicas of some of the ISS components, we got the opportunity to overlook the huge workarea where engineers and technicians test ISS components from all the countries and package them up ready for launching into space.

A bus dropped me back at the Visitors Complex and there were fun things to do there too including a 3D IMAX film about the moon, narrated by Tom Hanks. It was good but it was packed with schoolkids on field trips so for the first minute every time a 3D effect was used they all screamed. I touched a piece of rock from Mars in one exhibit area and, for the adrenaline kick, I took the Shuttle Launch Simulator. It is supposed to be a very true-to-life simulation of being in the launch of a space shuttle. I really enjoyed it but I wasn't convinced that it was that easy because, apart from a bit of shaking and G-forces, it wasn't very tough. They may have tamed it down so as not to kill the tourists.

There were a few other things to see too, including the Apollo 14 capsule but, since I've seen the Apollo 11 one in Washington DC, I wasn't as excited by number 14.

One less touristy but more interesting thing I saw was a launch briefing by a NASA person about the upcoming launches. He covered the next shuttle launch on May 31st which is taking up parts for the ISS, and the next two rocket launches later on this year to begin the process of returning people to the moon and onwards to Mars.

I came away with a renewed excitement about space travel. I felt like an excited child again. I would strongly recommend going for anyone with an interest in space.

A strange thing happened to me in Orlando. As I went out for dinner the first accent I heard was English, and then more and more of them. And I realised I'd be seen by the staff as 'just' another British vacationer. My status as an 'independent traveller' - earned over the preceding six weeks - had been wiped out in one blow. On the other hand, while I was at KSC, I enjoyed just doing something touristy for a day.

Next stop Miami Beach. I just hope the weather doesn't prove too stormy. At Orlando there were heavy downpours both nights with some thunder and lightning. Back in Savannah, when I was watching TV it got interrupted with a heavy thunderstorm warning a few times. That made me go on the internet and look up which county Savannah was in so I knew the changes of getting blown or washed away. It only rained slightly hard in the end. I've had enough of being rained on heavily!