Mainland Florida

Hullo kids, I know you've all been hanging off my every posting on here so I am very sorry not to have kept it updated more often. So lets catch up shall we?

My trip in Florida was colorful to say the least! Universal Studios was great fun; what we were told was going to be two buses turned into 5 but we got there in the end! Our hotel was in a pretty crappy part of town and we were pretty far away from everything. But we still had a blast at Universal; some of the rides are insanely designed. My favorite was the Spiderman ride. You hear 3d glasses and sit in a roller coaster ride. The visuals are timed with the movement of the rollercoaster so it feels like you its all real. It looks like Spiderman jumps on the front of the car, throws you around with his web etc. All this is combined with high powered fans, intense heaters and water spray to make all of it seem real. I was well impressed. After our theme parking was taken care of we met up with a friend of Vic's and partied with them for a couple of nights in a row. Good times.

From there we rented a car and drove down to Fort Lauderdale, fuelling ourselves with an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) breakfast along the way. I have been meaning to try that place out ever since Jessalyn recommended it to me in Houston, TX. Once we arrived we checked into the Ramada Plaza; again not the best spot for a hotel... would have been much better off staying at the cheaper, more sociable, on the beach hostel.

That night we took a $60 cab down to the beach front and had some quality American cuisine from Cheeburger. Not too bad at all - in case you hadn't guessed; burgers etc have been my staple diet here in the US due to accessibility and cost factors. From there we bought a couple of beers and strolled down to a place we heard was pretty happening - Los Olas. On the way we passed some pretty impressive properties. A network of canals and bridges linked these houses; most of which had various sized yachts parked out the front. One was in the vicinity of 30metres long. Personally I couldn't figure out how the drove it in there in the first place. But apparently they did. We got down to Los Olas and it was wild. I mean wild. Drinking everywhere, about 10-12 bars and clubs all on 2 blocks with people spilling out everywhere. It was incredible. After a few hours (we got there pretty late) and took a $25 taxi home. (notice any indiscretions in the pricing??)

The next morning we got up and headed to our 'free breakfast' that turned out to be some croissants and orange juice followed by a two and a half hour timeshare presentation; fun! The best part was when they were harassing us to buy, not quite understanding that as a perpetually traveling, poverty stricken, barred from working at the largest resort in North America snowboard instructor... I am not exactly in a position to be spending $48,000 on a time share
investment. No matter how appealing dealing with the same people who managed to rope me into this in the first place and then lumping me with all kinds of hidden costs and charges, presentations and crappy situations might seem.

A little shaken, we headed back to the hotel to hit the pool. I fell asleep in the sun and absolutely barbecued myself, painfully so. It now looks like I am a red man wearing white shorts; the tan line is quite pronounced to say the least.

That night we headed down to the Hard Rock Casino - we played some pool and had a few beers (noticing a pattern here?) but as it was a Sunday it wasn't exactly a cranking atmosphere, besides... a Casino with no Blackjack?? I don't think so.

And that's my time in mainland Florida. Not quite what I had expected/hoped for but I definitely had a laugh or two along the way. I would quite like to do Florida again without the package deal. A word to the wise for you travelers out there. Never get a packaged deal; pave your own way.