Orlando Day 9

Today we got up reallly early to drive the 2 hours to Clearwater on the advice of a waitress in Ponderosa who said that it was the best beach- it's on the gulf of mexico so it's always really sunny with nice clear waters etc etc

We made 3 very silly mistakes:
1) Stopping 30 minutes into the drive to get breakfast at a denny's off the highway- the queue was insane becuse it was full of families trying to get to Disney world for 10am. Thanfully we were going away from Disney world so the traffic wasn't totally crazy for that section of the journey
2) Forgetting that "spring break" started on Monday and everyone who was too old for dinsey world would be hitting a beach. The traffic into clearwater was awful.
3) applying suncream at 8am and not reapplying it. I have the most amazing moustache and monobrow of sunburn.. I guess I didn't apply sunblock to those areas then...

The beach was amazing-the water  was very clear and the sand was very white like you see in travel catalogues.
it was also roasting hot!
We sunbathed and had a paddle in the sea, thn traff ad I walked the length of the beach to walk out on the pier- and we saw pelicans! Loads of them roosting on all the buoys and signs. the views were impressive too- Florida is an odd looking place!

Once we were all sunburned to hell, we drove back to Orlando, packed all our stuff up and tride to placate our sunburn a bit.

We went back to chuys for our last meal- the food there really is lush!

Orlando Day 8

We had planned to go to the beach, but as the boys had a late night (So late that I slept in Ray and John's room with Ray leaving Traff and John to share the other room- We knew they would snore!) We didn't think they'd be up very early so we turned off our alarm- Traff woke us up at 8:30- he had a dream about a motorbike and the sound effects were provided by John's snoring.

We got up and headed out for breakfast- we were out so early that we were able to get a table at the Ihop. They serve the biggest waffles I've ever seen!

After breakfast w got to wet n wild just after they opened, so we went on the rides we missed out on last time.
they even have a disco ride! I really enjoyed wet n wild, The trick is to get there as it opens and leave about midday when it starts to get crazy busy.
We had our last filled pretzels of the holidays for lunch and then went to the arcade- We managed to get 1020 tickets between us on the arcade games, and Traff wet on the dance machines and beat me!
We gave the tickets to a kid in the arcade and he was really chuffed.

Spend the afternoon in the pool at the hotel, then went to Chuys for diner.
Best. Dinner. Yet!
:D

Orlando Day 7

Happy Easter! It doesn't feel very eastery because its super hot here- ad I haven't eaten any chocolate yet.
However, I did eat a massive blondie and ice cream for my dinner.
:D

Today we had planned to go to the beach, but the sky was grey and the forecasts said it was going to rain (Although, it didn't go through with the rain in the end, it was windy and not very nice). We regrouped and had a look online for things that were open.

We ended up going to the Kennedy Space Centre and it was ace! there were life size models of the rockets that they've used to send people into space, prototypes of mars rovers and other rovers, Space suits, interactive games which showed you how to control a space craft, there was a lecture, and a very cool presentation on Atlantis shuttle- and the the REAL atlantis shuttle on display.

I don;t know what I was expecting but it wasn't something that awesome or engaging.

we ended up having lunch there in the canteeny bit- they use an argos style ordering and collection system- I love that because it always makes me feel like I've won! They also did a black bean vegi burger without cheese. Poor traff, he's had cheese and eggs for every meal since we landed.
The food was really good- and compared to the prices in the shop- Surprisingly reasonable- it was about £6 ($8) for a really nice burger and fries.

On the way back from the space centre we had to fill the car up with "Gas". This in itself was not an issue, except that when we checked the paperwork to see what kind of fuel to put in the car it just said "8" and the device for unlocking the petrol cap was in the stow box behind the handbrake (Of course, What an obvious place for a button!).
That sorted in the space centre car park we drove to the nearest gas station and hoped to god that inside the cap it told us which fuel to use- thankfully it did.
Then we realised that you had to pay before you could pump. We nominated Ray to go into the shop and negotiate. Prior to this it might have been handy to find out how much the gas cost.

The exchange as something like this (Ray can't tell this without wetting herself laughing)
BP man "How much gas would you like sweetie?"
Ray "$50 please" (Still thinking english money for 1/2 a tank
BP man *looking shocked ad then looking out of the window* "Really, which one is yours?"
Ray "The VW"
at this point BP man was clearly looking past out car for a VW camper or a lorry or a bus or something huge
BP man "Which one?"
Ray "In pump 6"
BP man "Is it totally empty?"
Ray "No, we need half a tank"
BP Man "And you really want to buy $50 of gas?! you'll be pumping gas all over the forecourt!" By this point he's just decided that she's either totally weird or a bit simple
Ray finally clocked that she hadn't explained that this wasn't our car and we'd never put any fuel in it before.
BP man "you'll need $20 of gas, there's no way you'll need more"
Ray "Thank you"
BP man "Hey, it's just my job to know this stuff!"

He was exactly right. it was $20 worth of gas. Bless him. I bet he went home and told everyone about the idiots who tried to fill their car almost 3 times over.

When we got back we parked the car and headed out for a beer- We went to twin peaks for pudding and cocktails and then on to a bar called "Tin roof" which had really good live music and cool fairy lights!
:)

The boys went out for some extra drinkies after Ray and I called it a night. :S

Orlando Day 6

Today we had a bit of a lazy day we went to The Poderosa steak house for an "All you care to eat breakfast".It was an interesting experience. On the plus side we got to eat pancakes and ice cream with cool whip for breakfast on the down side the service was really awful!

After breakfast we mooched by the pool and had another go with the waterproof camera. Today is the 1st official day of spring break so we avoided wet n wild- we thought it might be a bit crazy!

In the evening we went to Sleuths Murder mystery dinner- Which was really good fun.
:)

Orlando Day 5

Today we went to see a MLS game between Orlando City and DC united (As in Washington DC). this got off to a bit of a shaky sart as we thought the game was on Saturday night- When we were in a bar earlier in the day the owner asked us what w were doing whilst i Orlando and we said "Tomorrow we're going to se the MLS" and he was like "Don't you mean tonight?"
ARghh
Then another customer in the bar was like "Be careful the area round the stadium is al Ghetto".

Ray dropped us off at the stadium (The Citrus bowl) and it was crazy- Traffic everywhere and soooooo many police and closed roads etc. I the end we just jumped out whilst she was stuck in traffic and walked towards the stadium. we got there for about 4pm and it was mad- cooler parties and people with BBQ in ther rucks, and DJs and bouncy castles and a live band al the way from New orleans. I eve got to sit on a police motorbike. Ad burnt my leg. on the exhaust. Despite all Jay's warnings.
 we mooched around outside until 6pm- we only went in really in search of some shade.

The game kicked off at 7 so we watched the players warm up- Some were old UK premer/ league 1 players, some had played in lower league UK football, there were some international players all finishing off their careers before they retire. There were also lots of america players.
MLS is weird:
1) It's mixed seating
2) everyone is super polite because it's a family sport- you can boo the opposition, but that is about it. the guy beihind us was shouting at the players and was like "You're being Lazy!" the standrd UK chant for a bad player is "You're shit, and you know you are" to the tune of "Go west" by the pet shop boys.
3) you can drink beer in the stadium but it's $11 per can
4) Everyoe wears team colours! We both wore black Tshirts hoping to be innocuous but DC play in black. oops.
5) Everyone stands and sings the national anthem.

The football was interesting, it was a fu experience but it's very slow and not very skillful. you can see what will happen looonnggg before it happens- not like watching premier league football.

We had booked a taxi for just before the end of the match, so we went outside to wait for it- and it didn't show up! Fuck you Diamond Cabs Orlando! A really lovely steward let us borrow his phone to call them ad they wouldn't pick up. We walked dow the road a bit incase there were any taxis and eventually asked a police officer- who could not have been more helpful- He rand us a new taxi from his phone ad told us to it would be about 15 minutes and would pick us up from the carpark of Church chicken.
Church chicken was very interesting. Traff had had a few beers so was yammering on quite loudly. I was trying to get him to shut up because we were clearly not local. During this exchange we ran into a crackhead and his missus. the guy just pointed at Traff ad was like "Man, I love your hair" whilst he was talking we could see that he had all metal teeth, so Traff's response was "Man, I love your teeth!" Thankfully the bloke and his missus thought this was funny as we were stood in a bush.
They asked us what we were doing in the chicken shop- adn I was starting to as myself the same question- We said we were waiting for a cab from the game and were getting some chicken. He said he'd like some chicken. We said we'd get him some. It seemed like the best solution.

We went into the shop and everyone stared at us. then some enormous bcak bloke wearing dungarees and with o front teeth was like "You need to eat more fried chicken if you both want to be big and strong- it's the best kind of diet- Don't end up like me though" And rubbed his belly.
We agreed it was an excellent kind of diet. he though we were australian and we explained we were from the UK and had just bee to the football- so they asked about that and who won.. Everyone was really nice and friendly.

Then the "Guy with teeth" came and knocked on the chicken shop door ad was like "Your taxi's here!" so we gave him some money to get some chicken and got in the cab.
The driver looked rather nervous but cheered up when he realised we were just foreign. I think the guy with the teeth had bee trying to chat with the taxi driver.

The drive home was uneentful, It turned out the driver was from California and had moved to Orlando because it was not so hot. he gave us a bit of a tour and talked about his day.
All good.

we got back but 10pm and went for a drink in the hotel bar with John- Ray was already in her PJs. After our exciting evening I felt that rum was in order.

Orlando Day 4

Paddle boarding day!
I've been so excited about this- I was my one thing that I wanted to do whilst we were away!

I'd found the go paddle boarding website online before we came out- the proviso was that John wanted to go sea fishing, whilst we went paddle boarding.
http://dolph94.wix.com/paddlecocoabeach

We drove from the hotel to Cocoa- the views were pretty ace- I cannot get over how much bigger everything is here- even their rivers are insane!
We found the place pretty easily- It's essentially a blue painted shed in the middle of a field with a massive plastic grisley bear outside. After we'd paid and sorted everything out we went and had some lunch at a nautical themed bar nearby.
After lunch we went and got changed i the car- and we saw real free live alligators roaming around the car park.
not the most reassuring thing to see when you're about to get into the water!
eek

Tbe paddle boards were really wide- maybe 1/3 wider than the ones we usually use- which makes them far more stable- I'm glad I brought my paddle boarding shoes from home because the boards weren't very grippy- I did look crazy as mine come up past the ankle as in the UK when mounting the paddle board you have to wade ankle deep into the water and it's bloody cold!

We paddled down a canal which lead out to the sea- they showed us severy different kinds of crab including baby spider crabs and horseshoe crabs, we saw trout egg sacks and some jumping trout and other fish, massive dragon flies and the sides of the canal were lined with mangrove trees- I'd always wondered what  they looked like!
We saw the place where the manatees go to have their calves - no luck though- the month before it was full of them as thats when they have their young but now they're out in deeper water teaching them to feed. We saw some million dollar boats and just took our time paddle out on the water.
It was really good.

After paddling we went back to the nautical bar and drank several punts of water- at home we use smaller boards which are designed for racing. The bigger boards have a space for water and backpacs- even for you to strap a tent- so we could have brought a bottled drink. That is the only thing I would have changed! 2 hours out in the baking sun- I thought I'd have turned into a raisin.

post partial sunstroke recovery (Although the factor 110 held up well- still no burns!) we drove back to the hotel for a shower and a change of clothes- I managed to get mud on everything including my bag which was nowhere near the water!

We went to BJs for dinner- as it sounds rude and is Traff's initials- I realy wanted Macaroni and cheese and they made it for me- It was supposed to be a starter but the doubled it up as a main
:)
Traff had an enormous pizza (I've learnt my lesson about pizzas now- they're a sharing food out here only) Ray and John had BBQ sandwiches. Ad we had cookie dough and ice cream for afters! It was really good. Sickly sweet but amazing- Thats the first pudding I've eaten out here- I've been eating Fro-yo from Wallgreens and I've developed an addiction to Arizona iced tea (26 fl Oz cans- thats like 2 and a bit normal sized coke cans on top of each other- It's complete madness- I feel like a borrower drinking from such a massive can!)

Orlando Day 3

We went to Wet n wild in the morning- We had planed to get there for when the park opened, but we got distracted by breakfast.

We got there just before 11 and it was HOT.

As far as we can figure out, this is still the "off" season with spring break starting on the 10th April, so everything is really quiet still.

We didn't have to queue for more than 5 minutes for ay of the slides- We went on almost everything- It got a bit buisier about 2pm so we decided to call it a day- the passes are valid for 14 days so we can go back whenever we like for as long as we like, We'll get plenty of time to go on the disco slide.

After Wet n Wild we went to the CSI experience- which strictly prohibits photography- unlike wen n wild where you can take as many photos as you like of what/who ever you please- We sloved all th crimes and had our CSI certificates emailed to us!

:D

It was really good.

Traff loved it- he was very thorough when looking for clues at the crime scene but a bit rubbish at finding the right evidence to evaluate... We almost had some very strange crimes to solve.

After our outings, we headed to Wallgreens to get some picnic bits for dinner and then had a dip in the pool.

I tested out my Over Board camera case. I have to be honest, putting Traff's very expesive camera into a ziploc bag and taking it into the pool did feel incredibly risky- however, all was good and it worked really well!

:)

Happy Days!

Although, our underwater photography needs some work- lots of crotch shots and one or two of nothing at all and some we couldn't determine what they were. I have far more respect now for ayone who manages to take photos when scuba diving.

After swimming I went back to Walgreens to get some fro-yo. it's amazing! $3 and you can have any flavours or toppings you like!

I can live with this! 

Orlando Day 2

Not so much to report today- Traff git a marketing cal on his phone at 5am (10am UK time) So it was another early start for us!
We were up, dressed and out by 8am and we went in search of breakfast and aspirin for our cocktail induced headaches from the night before (Geekeasy make a cake flavoured cocktail).

We went to Wallgreens (The staff are superfrendly whenever you see a staff member they ask you how you're doing ad welcome you to the supermarket, this is very difficult to negotiate when hungover) I was really shocked by the things you can buy in the pharamacy section- Obviously you get your normal stuff, but in huge boxes- They also sell Valium, Tramadol and Broad spectrum antibiotics just off the shelf.
Mental.
After the supermarket we walked in the direction of Ripleys "Beleive it or not" and looked for something to eat.
No dice. Too early.

We went back to the hotel and woke ray and John up by hammering on their door, by the time they too were washed, dressed and ready to go most of the shops and cafes were open.
We tried a new diner for breakfast- Perkins- I had potato pancakes and they came with a call of what looked like icecream- Rather too loudly I was like "Is that ice cream?!" and the waitress almost wet herself laughing and had to explain it was butter.
No-one has let me live it down yet, but it really did look like butter.

Ripleys beleive it or not was ace- I've learned to make a shrunken head so I personally feel it was money well spent.

After Ripleys we went back to the hotel. I slept off my hangover for a few house whilst Ray, Joh and Traff went swimming.
I think I made the better choice as I am the only person who isn't bright red all over and radiating heat.
Winner!

We had a Balcony picnic for dinner- We went back to Wallgreens and got a cool box, cheese, bread, crisps, beef jerky, beers, and loads of american "candy" to try!
I also got some factor 110 suncream and an enormous can of ice tea! I'm not sure which I was happier with!

After dinner we had a swim, it was weird for it to be getting dark ad for it still be hot enough for outdoor swimming. Very nice.