America Day 14 - Orlando

Oh my god, today was the most fun I have ever had at a theme park. I'm am so glad that I decided to go to Universal and not Disney World. The people who went to Disney World today said that it was really good and they had fun but they didn't go on any rides and all the line ups were like over an hour.


We actually went to two theme parks today. We went to Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Island of Adventure. We started at Islands of Adventure and went of the scariest Roller coaster first. It was 'The Hulk'. It was so fast and wild but really fun. Made the rest of rides really easy. After a couple of other little rides we went onto the water ones. You don't just get wet in these rides you get absolutely SOAKED!!

After the first water ride... it only got worse after the next two!

I was so wet that my underwear was wet, my feet felt like they were in a puddle because my shoes were wet, my hair was dripping... just everything was wet! Guess you kind of get that I was wet. I worse thing is this was at like 10am and we still had to do the rest of the day... wet!!!! I don't think I dried until around 3 that afternoon and my shoes never dried! I had so much fun though that I barely even noticed!

Next we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. If after this world one of the rides I was on crashed then I would die the happiest person in the world. I was literally in awe the whole time I was in Harry Potter World. I cannot describe how much I loved it.

Bridget, Me, Jenny and Carly in Hogsmede (in Harry Potter World)

I know most of the people that will read this blog won't be massive Harry Potter fans but I cannot control my excitement. For those of you who are... We went past Ollivander's, I bought Every Flavoured Beans and a Chocolate Frog from Honeydukes, we went to Zonko's joke shop, saw the Hogwarts express, rode the best Roller coaster that I have been on in my like through Hogwarts and then we stopped for lunch at the three broomsticks. By the way best lunch on tour so far and only $10. Was so nice. Then the best part of all... Butterbeer! Oh my god... it tastes just like the book describes it. It's sweet and warms you up! I wish you could get Butterbeer everywhere.

My yummy yummy yummy Butterbeer

Just so you know dad, Butterbeer is not alcoholic. It tastes kind of like creaming soda but sweeter without being as sugary and it's somehow frothy! It is amazing! Indescribable how amazing it was!

Okay, with regret we had to leave Harry Potter world so we could go to the next theme park, Universal Studios!

Yay, Universal, way better choice then Disney World!

Universal was really fun too. We went on so many more rides. My favourites were definitely the Mummy ride which is a full on crazy roller coaster all inside a dark room and one called the Rock it where you get to pick a song you want to ride to and which looks something like this...

The photo does not even do this ride justice... that first drop leaves you breathless for a long time and then it just keeps going and going and going... AMAZING

It was then after a huge day of rides and a spinning head we left to meet the bus and head back to our hotel room. I am absolutely wrecked and still feel funny in my tummy from all the spinning rides. In total I went on 7 roller coasters! I loved every minute of them!

Just had a quite night in tonight. I went across the road to the Nike outlet store and bought some really cool purple runners and then did my washing and wrote some post cards. Now just updating my blog and about to go to sleep.

Tomorrow we have to drive from Orlando to Tallahassee. It is like over a 5 hour drive. I am not looking forward to it one bit! So, I am pretty sure that I probably won't update the blog tomorrow because it will just be about driving. Saying that though I don't know where we are stopping on the way and what exciting things will happen!

America Day 10 11 12 & 13 - Kennedy Space Station, Miami, Everglades and Orlando

DAY 10

Wow… didn’t really have time to write in Miami cause it was so full on! BUT before I reached Miami we stopped at the Kennedy Space Station.

This is kinda cool... and I don't even like space stuff!

I have to admit that I was not too excited about this because I didn’t know how into rocket ships I was. It turns out I had an awesome time though. It was amazing actually! It was kind of like a theme park. There were shows and presentations on all different Apollo missions and there was a shuttle launch simulator. That was my favorite part although it made me a little sick! Don’t think I could be an astronaut.

Space man!

From the Space Station it was onto Cocoa Beach. It was thanksgiving so we went to the pub and got a Thanksgiving plate. It was really good food which was nice cause we either haven’t been eating or have eaten junk!

Happy Thanksgiving! I give thanks to the good food and cheap drinks on the night!

We then had a few drinks at the local pub. It was hilarious when we got there this old leather looking lady with fake boobs and peroxide hair was like “It’s my birthday” and I was like “Me too” and she was like “We must be nearly the same age?” and I was like “Yeah maybe” and she was like “So you are nearly 48” and I was like “No I’m 23” then she was like “I’m only 2 and a bit times your age” and I was like “I’m going to the bathroom” JUST SAYIN’

Anyway, it was free alcohol for girls after 10… I only made it until 9 then went back to the hotel to sleep. I know it was a weak effort but I had to save myself for MIAMI!!!

Day 11 and 12

Miami is my new favorite place in the world! It is so unbelievably pretty! Really though it just reminds me of a bigger more busy version of Surfers Paradise. Still amazing though.

Ahhhh.... Welcome to Miami

The first night we got to Miami we were on a cruise boat with a free open bar. Most fun ever! I’ve learnt that American’s do not promote responsible drinking. The bar tenders kept making everyone do tequila shots! I did one and thank god I had the right frame of mind to say no to the rest! Party Boat was the best time ever though. It was only our Contiki group on the boat so we had a ball.

PARTY BOAT!!!

Just so you know dad, this is Carly, my room mate

We then went to South Beach Miami which is the trendy tourist area of Miami. We went to this club that we had arranged VIP entry into earlier and I have to admit it was pretty cool. I went and bought a drink though and it cost me $16! One girl we were with bought a bottle of water and they charged her $7. Needless to say, we did not stay in that club very long.

We went to an Irish pub down the road and bought drinks for a half reasonable price!

Just some fun from the Irish pub

I have to say that I don’t think I will have a better night out on tour as I did that night! So much fun! I paid for it the next morning though. We were supposed to go on a bike ride around Miami at 9am the next morning. Of all things I wanted to do the next day, a bike ride was the last.

I went back to bed for the whole day! It was awesome not only to catch up on sleep but to get over my hangover in one day. I did get up later that day I went to dinner in South Beach. No more drinking that night though. Just the thought of it made me gag. Did lots of SLOW WALKING that day!

After dinner we went shopping until like 11pm. Shops in America always seem to be open. It is cool. Like a K-Mart trip but it’s not JUST K-Mart. I had to buy another small carry on suitcase because I have bought too much stuff. I stupidly bought it before we had finished shopping though and had to walk around South Beach with a suitcase. Not my proudest moment.

When we decided to go home there was five of us and we all jumped in the one cab. They don’t seem to care about road rules much in places like New York and Miami! It was good though because the cab ride only cost us $5 each! WHICH is awesome too because we were like 45 minutes from South Beach! That would cost an absolute fortune if we were in Canberra.

Day 13

All rested up and recovered from Miami we were up at like 7am and had the biggest sexiest buffet in the world! The food was awesome! Then we were on the road again and off the Everglades.

Again, this is something I didn’t think I would enjoy that much. I have decided two things though, 1. Not to presume things will be boring and 2. To read through my contiki documentation because there are a lot of things included that I have idea were! Like the Everglades tour and I found out we get a limo ride with free champagne in Vegas. So excited!

Me, Keri and Renee on the Everglades tour bus

Well, the Everglades were pretty amazing. I have never seen so many Alligators in my life. They were so cool. Also I have never been so close to wild gators… I was under the impression though that they weren’t too aggressive.

LOOK... A big friendly gator!

No zoom... this is how close I was to the gator!

It was only after this photo was taken that the tour guide was telling us the stories of the alligator attacks and how a gator can leap the length of it’s body and can run up to speeds of 35 miles per hour short distance. Don’t think I would get that close to a gator in the wild again! It was a BIG gator too!

Everglades were beautiful though and it was really amazing looking out at how big it is!

Everglades are ever beautiful!

We also saw lots of birds and turtles too! They just weren’t as exciting as the gators.

After the Everglades we were back on the bus AGAIN and off the Orlando! The place we are staying in Orlando is called Old Town. It is literally like we are staying in a theme park. We walked around tonight and it is like a carnival came to town and never left. It was pretty cool and hopefully has me all ready for tomorrow!

At the Fun Spot in Old Town Orlando!

I have now encountered the hardest part of my trip yet... the biggest decision EVER! Universal Studios (which has Harry Potter World) or Disney World!? It was such a hard choice but I have settled on Universal Studios. I figured that if I am still dying to Disney it up I can go to Disneyland when I get to LA. Anyway, better get to bed! Lots of roller coasters to ride tomorrow!

America Day 9 - Savannah and St Augustine

Woke up in Savannah! It is such a beautiful place. It really reminds me of what a little country town in America should be like. We walked all over the many many squares of Savannah. The main thing I wanted to do was go to the square where Forest Gump sat and told the story of his life. The stupid thing though is that they removed the bench! WHY!!!??? We still pretended to sit there though.

Where Forest Gump sat to tell the story of his life while waiting on the bus the Jenny's

We then walked around the water and had some lunch. We also found the funniest shops ever...

Because everyone wants to go to the shops, 'Bob's your uncle' and 'Fannie's your aunt'

After that it was back on our bus! We drove all the way to St Augustine with a short little stop in Jacksonville. So we have finally reached Florida. We went on a ghost boat tour tonight which was fun. St Augustine is supposed to be the most haunted city in America. 

Scary ghost boat cruise

After the boat cruise me and Kerry went and checked out the old fort which is supposed to be haunted and managed to freak ourselves out. It was pretty creepy! We then went for a little walk through the town which is riddled with haunted places and a haunted cemetery!

Ahhh... scary haunted house!

But St Augustine really is a beautiful city! It is the eve of Thanksgiving and the city is like one big Christmas tree! Really beautiful.

This tree is a little bigger then the one at home!

Beautiful St Augustine!

I did see a ghost though. I'm not one to believe in ghosts but me and Keri were looking at the house and she jumped, grabbed me and told me to look at the top attic window of the house. We both saw that same thing. It was a face but definitely not an alive human face. It was kind of green and white glowy! Really weird! We started running cause we were so scared then realised we were being stupid and went back... but it was gone! Now I have been trying so hard to think of what it might be but I cannot think of anything reasonable... not that believing it was really a ghost is reasonable. There isn't any other explanation though! It's just creepy!

After that we just had a few drinks at the pub next to the hotel and came back. I have done my washing so happy I have nice clean clothes now and ready for some more travelling! Yay!

Next stop tomorrow is Cocoa Beach via Kennedy Space Station. Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving here in America so that will be kind of cool.

Talk soon

xxx

America Day 7 & 8 - Arlington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charleston and Savannah

Before I update you on my 7th and 8th day of my American holiday, I have to fill you guys in on the night of my 6th day.

On the way to dinner, we stopped at the Marine Core Memorial. It was really beautiful! In Washington they light up all the memorials really lovely at night! The Contiki tour manager is also really knowledgeable and tells you stories of the themes and everything behind the memorials. He is amazing! 

Marine Core Memorial

We then headed to dinner at the Four Courts of Island. It was a cute irish pub. After dinner we stayed for drinks and karaoke! Sober I swore that I would not sing... after a few beers it was another story! I agreed that I would sing a song once the football was over and chose the song. Little did I know that my lovely friends on Contiki put my name up for me. Next thing I know my name was called and I had to go sing cause NO ONE backs out.

Bonus was... I picked the song 'The Gambler' by Kenny Rogers... a real crowd pleaser! Oh, if only Ducky was with me to sing. It was definitely his kind of thing to do! However, being that it was in an American bar, the crowd was VERY supportive. They love it. Quite clearly 'The Gambler' was the best picked song of the night. Everyone got up and danced and sung back up from the crowd. Literally the whole pub was involved. It made me feel better when I got off stage. The rest of the night I was known as 'The Gambler' girl by the locals. It was hilarious!

We then had loads more to drink, although beer is lower strength over here so I was pretty good and didn't get too drunk. Karaoke ended that night with an American singing 'I come from a land down under' by Men at Work which was dedicated to all us Aussie's that were there. That made my night!

ALSO... Just for Barry, Shell and Ducky's interest... I taught people the Gecko game (by the way you better of just threw yourselves against the wall). My friend Kerri then taught me a similar game called Shark. The concept is that when someone says the word Shark, the last person to get off the floor loses. Could be fun in certain areas with no furniture to get off the floor on! And, I got everyone addicted to saying, 'JUST SAYIN'!! haha

DAY 7

Anyway, back to touristy stuff. The next morning we left Washington, went across the bridge to the state of Virginia and visited Arlington National Cemetery. I thought it was a little weird going to visit a cemetery but it was actually really interesting. People who have served in the US military (in the past also their direct family members too) are eligible to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. There are almost 300,000 graves there. Also, they don't have to have died in service. There is almost 100 graveside services a week! I thought that was amazing. They also fire guns at the funerals. While we were there, about all of an hour and a half, there was 3 services!

Graves at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery is also home to the graves of John F Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Robert Kennedy.

Final resting place of Robert E Lee

The Cemetery actually began because this was the property of Robert E Lee and his house was here during the civil war. Robert E Lee was the leader of the Southern military. The Northern forces began burying the dead on his property after it was ceased. This was to remind him constantly the cost of the war! I thought that was really amazing. Robert E Lee's house is still there... it is beautiful too of cause!

Arlington House - House of Robert E Lee

There was so much to see at this cemetery! As well as all the above, the cemetery also is where the tomb of the unknown soldiers are! The tomb has three unknown American soldiers. One from each, World War 1, World War 2 and the Korean War, They are their to remind America of the ultimate sacrifice of the American Soldiers for their freedom. The tomb is guarded 24/7 all 365 days of the year. It is amazing. Every hour of the hour they conduct a changing of the guard ceremony. I just can't imagine this happening at like 2am! It is full on!

Part of the 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony - done every hour!

We then left the cemetery and headed to Raleigh, North Carolina. On the way we stopped at Richmond for lunch. Really nothing to say about Richmond. 

We didn't get to Raleigh until after 5pm. It was like a full day of driving. Don't ask me much about Raleigh... I've been there and still couldn't tell you anything about it. That night we went to a big buffet dinner. IT WAS HUGE! After stuffing ourselves with food we all walked out with buffet babies and went back to the hotel. I booked accommodation with another girl to share in LA for the night we finish the tour. I also got to speak to Ducky which was nice cause it was so familiar. I booked a flight from LA to Monterey for 17th so I can go see my beautiful one and only, Duck-face!! Then I went to sleep so I was ready for a big driving day.

DAY 8

This morning we were up, clothed, feed and on the road by 7.45 on our way to Savannah! Sorry, if you don't understand what I am about to write (more for Barry, Shell and Ducky)! Funniest moment on tour for me so far was this morning when I stood up to get something out of my bag which was in the overhead lockers on the bus. I looked to the back of the bus and one of the guys was doing the birdman at me! Apparently I explained the concept of the game the night of karaoke. I now think the guy regrets starting the game cause I told him there is no way out and I have got him a few good times already!

On the bus ride, we watched the movie 'The Patriot'. I thought it was weird that Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger were the two main characters in a movie about the American revolution. They did well though. I spent the morning balling my eyes out over that movie. So so sad!

For lunch we stopped at Charleston. This is were a lot of the movie 'The Patriot' was filmed. Hence the reason we watched the movie that morning. The tour manager is really good like that. He themes the movies we watch and the music we listen to with where we are visiting.

At Charleston!!!

Charleston is beautiful. It was the place the Civil War started. It's like a little old Australian country town but it is coastal and has palm trees! It is so pretty though. My favourite spot in Charleston was a emblem in a balcony of Charlestown visitors centre. It made me miss my friends back home...

ohhhhhhh.....

We then drove HEAPS further and finally got to Savannah. This little town is famous for the square where Forest Gump sat on a bench and told strangers his life story while waiting for the bus to Jenny's house. Also, just for you dad, 'The Legend of Bagger Vance' was also filmed here. During the Civil War, the Northern Military captured the city of Savannah and gave it to President Lincoln as his Christmas Present. So it is now know as American's Christmas Present.

Since we got into Savannah so late, we won't be seeing all the city has to offer until tomorrow. Although me and Keri did go to get some dinner and saw what we believe will be the highlight of Savannah...

Christmas/Disco/Sparkle/Weird Car

Also went past one of the streets named after me...

Actually this is located in the 'Ghetto' section of Savannah... me and Keri have now learnt not to walk more then 20 minutes for food in a small town like Savannah... you turn out to be the only fair coloured skinned people... don't ask the full story!

Off to get some Southern Sleep now. Not sure how different that kind of sleep is to regular sleep.

To all my beautiful family and friends reading this.... WHY!!!??? haha.... miss you guys!

America Day 6 - Washington

So today was not the most exciting day. I could not stand another museum so me, Keri and another girl who is Keri's room mate (her name is Jennifer and she is from Germany... doesn't speak much English either) went to Georgetown.


Georgetown is a small neighbourhood in Washington DC. It is really beautiful! Lots of little boutique shops. We walked from one end of George town to the other. We stopped at a little shop called Georgetown cupcakes which we had to line up outside the shop to get into.


They were also filming a TV show while we were there called DC Cupcakes. So that was pretty cool, although I don't think we made any scenes.

Keri & Me with our Georgetown Cupcakes

Then we kept walking until we reached a bridge. We thought "what the hell" and decided to see what was across the bridge. Little did we know we had walked ourselves all the way to Virginia!

Jennifer, Me & Keri when we made it to Virginia

There wasn't much to do in that part of Virginia so we headed back to the subway and then back to the hotel. Tonight we are off to the 'Four Corners of Island' for dinner and drinks... AND apparently it is a Karaoke bar! Should be a fun fun night.


Two things I would like to share that I have realised about America so far:


1. They have a lot of squirrels here and while I thought they would be cute, they are quite a lot like rats! They are still kind of cute but run around everywhere and eat random food... just like rats!

A cute little squirrel 

2. I have also learnt that Starbucks is the unofficial toilet of America! There are so many Starbucks and every one has a toilet. We walked the street of Georgetown today... it wasn't THAT long... maybe like 3km's and there was 4 Starbucks. One of them was even in a hospital!!!  It's very convenient though if you need the bathroom.

America Day 3 4 & 5 - New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis and Washington

I've been so busy and tired! I think I have slowly adapted to the time difference though... maybe??

DAY 3

Anyway... back to my last day in New York which was Day 3 of my holiday. I woke up early and got on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour. The tour guide was lovely. He was very smart and informative! I stayed on the bus from Times Square all the way to Battery Park where you catch the ferry out to Liberty Island. We went past streets and restaurants where Sex and the City was filmed, ground zero, tiles for America (it was really cool, anyone who had lost a family member in 9/11 was allowed to hang a tile. They will be used in the memorial that is being built), the wall street bull and other little cool places.

Some of the beautiful tiles hung for the people lost in 9/11

Battery park itself was pretty cool. There were lots of street vendors and atmosphere! There was also a big statue that was crushed when the twin towers collapsed. It was kind of cool to. 

So I caught the ferry out to Liberty Island which didn't take to long. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was quite breath taking! It was another hit... wow, I'm actually in America. I thought it would be much bigger then it was though. 

Me visiting the Statue of Liberty

After that Statue of Liberty I caught to ferry back to battery park (I didn't stop at Ellis Island). I got back on the hop-on/hop-off tour bus and caught it to the Rockefeller Centre (the one from Home Alone). It was pretty. The ice rink was really beautiful! I did a tour of the NBC studios in the Rockefeller centre. it was very American but was cool. I just didn't know many of the studios we visited because they were all American news programs or talk shows. Still fun though.

Outside the NBC studios

After this I was absolutely BUGGERED!!! I tried to go to the post office to send heaps of stuff but apparently they close at 3 in New York! I think that is the only business in New York that closes at all let alone that early!! So instead I went how and had a nap. I was supposed to make it to an introduction meeting at 7pm that night for my tour. When my alarm went off to get up and go the meeting I just couldn't move, so I just went back to sleep. Turns out that it wasn't that important anyway! 

DAY 4

Day 4 began for me that morning at 4am... because I slept so much that day/night before, I couldn't sleep anymore after 4am so I got up and organised. I was at the Contiki meeting place (Skyline Hotel New York) at 6am and I didn't really have to be there until 7am. It was good though because another girl, named Keri got there early too and we got talking and she became my first friend! She is from England and we get along pretty well!

Then we got on the bus and drove to Philadelphia. Our first stop was the Rocky steps... the ones from the movie that he runs to the top of. So I ran to the top of the stairs. When I got to the top I jumped around like Rocky did in the movie. It was really cool!

Me in front of the Rocky Statue

Then we went to down town Philadelphia. A questions I still have got answered though is does Philadelphia cheese come from Philadelphia?? Well, we got told to go eat a famous Philly Cheese Steak! This kinda sounds grose right? I thought it would be a steak covered in Philly cheese. This is what we got:

A Philly Cheese Steak!

It was so American. It reminded me of what a sloppy joe would be like. A what is the deal with a steak not really being a steak?? Weird!

Anyway.... then it was off the the small seaside town of Annapolis. We have decided it was named after a famous Polish lady named Anna Polis. It was actually quite a beautiful little town. A few people on tour did a walking tour of the Naval Base but me and Keri just walked around the town. It was so beautiful to look at the houses. A really cute authentic American town.

Beautiful seaside town of Annapolis

From Annapolis we went to our hotel and dropped our bags off, went to dinner and straight back on the bus for a night tour of Washington DC. I was so tired but I am so glad I went on the tour. It was beautiful. We firstly went to Capitol Building, Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt  Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. They were all very lit up at night and it was quite beautiful!

Capitol Building

Outside Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Statue

Part of the Roosevelt Memorial

Outside Lincoln Memorial

The place Martin Luther King Jr stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his 'I have a dream...' speech

President Abraham Lincoln

After all this site seeing it was 10.30. I had been up since 4am! I was so exhausted!!! We went back to the hotel and I went straight to sleep!

DAY 5

Day five began with breakfast at the hotel and catching the bus in DC at 9am. This was our first of 2 free days in DC.

Firstly, we went and visited the National Air and Space Museum. There are 19 Smithsonian museums in DC. I got bored after the first one. There was some interactive parts that made it more exciting but I all in all it was pretty American and boring! I did find out though that I wouldn't live up to the needs of the first female flight attendants... I think I am too short... just a little

Qualities of a Stewardess

Then we walked to the White House... it was quite out of the way but when we started to see the massive amounts of police and security, we knew we found it! It really wasn't as spectacular as you think it would be. It was cool, don't get me wrong, we were standing out front of the house of all the famous American Presidents! It was just a lot smaller then I thought it would. Guess it was still HUGE for a house.

Oh look... its the White House!

Now I am back at the hotel after a short subway ride and a REALLY long wait for the hotel shuttle to pick us up from the subway station. Five days down and I already feel like I have seen soooooo much! It has been amazing so far!

Looking forward to relaxing with another day in Washington tomorrow and then off to Raleigh.

So far... BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!