Dragonflies and Zombie Beavers (29th and 30th July)

Hello, again, 

Wednesday 29th: 

Wednesday was a crazy day. It was an eat doughnuts for breakfast and rip the shower curtain off the wall kind of day. Yes. Both those things happened... We had leftover doughnuts for breakfast and then I wrote some of my blog. Meg and I took the dogs for a walk round the block and found ourselves a dead dragonfly. This is a weird day to write... It was really cool though. It was huge and blue. We left it by a tree and retrieved it on our way back to the house. 

We showed everyone and then put it outside to it's final resting place. Meg was very reluctant to say goodbye (she's a bit of a biology nerd!).

And to the shower rail issue! It somehow came unstuck while Lizzie was showering, thank God she doesn't have a shower rail dent in her head! It's fine though, Dad managed to sucker it back up so we can shower with a curtain and rail still. 

We also went to the pool. We spent a lot of time taking photos of each other jumping in. I've been using my underwater Kitvision camera and it's sometimes quite difficult to actually take the photo as the button is in the underwater case; it usually takes multiple jumps to get a successful photo.

In the evening I wrote some more of my blog and watched some of the 'Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' as Liv put it on in our room. It's a summer tradition for Liv and I, we watch it in our room in bed together every summer here. 

Wednesday was definitely a 'chill day'. 

Thursday 30th was spent at Universal again. Dad dropped us off and made arrangements for when he would pick us up. 

First of all we went to Hogsmeade to do the Harry Potter rides. The 'Forbidden Journey' simulator ride in the castle was already at a 20 minute wait half an hour before the park opened!! They let some guests staying at the Universal hotels into the park early. When we got to the ride the wait was at 60 minutes, but we went Single Riders and got straight on, it was great. I think the wait time is always crazy because the ride is inside the castle and people think they're going to be going all round the castle, but that's not really the case. It's a really good ride though and it is still cool inside, you see the Sorting Hat talking for example.

We then went on Dragon Challenge. There are two roller coasters, a red and blue one. Dad, Liv and I usually do them a few times because the wait times are usually really low because the queue moves quickly with two roller coasters. The four of us did the blue one and then Liv and Lizzie did the red one too whilst Meg and I shared a frozen butterbeer. They're delicious (I probably said the exact same thing about the last one I had!). 

Lizzie and Meg did the Jurassic Park River Adventure, it's a water ride so they got ponchoed up and did that while Liv and I waited for them. We all did the Hulk ride next. We went as Single Riders but I somehow got lucky and they put me in the front row! Usually you only go in the front row if you've queued normally and even then it's another separate line, you have to be committed to queuing if you want to go front row. 

We did a few more rides and then made our way to Universal Studios (from Islands of Adventure). We went on The Mummy and this time Liv was lucky enough to be put in the front row. We then went to a 50's style diner for lunch and I shared some onion rings and fries with Liv. I'm definitely going to try and go back to that diner for lunch, it was cute and the onion rings were very tasty. 

The next ride we did was 'M.I.B' (Men In Black). This is the ride where you're given a laser gun and have to shoot the aliens for points. Last time we did it we went as Single Riders but we wanted to go together this time, the wait wasn't too bad. I still can't believe Liv managed to get the bonus 100,000 points by pressing the red button first! She always beat me, I don't know how she always gets such a high score!

We walked to Diagon Alley and had a butterbeer ice cream from 'Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour'.

Lizzie's Butterbeer Ice-Cream

After our ice creams we went to the 3:00pm show of Beetlejuice's Graveyard Mash. It was the worst show I've ever seen. It was embarrassing when people started walking out in the middle of the show. It was 8-10 people all singing and dancing at the same time, but mainly doing different things, it was very busy. It definitely wasn't the best use of a half hour, but ah well!

Lizzie then went on 'Disaster' whilst Meg, Liv and I enjoyed people watching- one of the best past times in my opinion. 

We took the Hogwarts Express back across to Islands of Adventure.

The Hogwarts Express

On our way back to the meeting point to be picked up we stopped off at Ripsaw Falls, not to ride ourselves, but to soak other people. There's a bridge that you can stand on to watch the people that come down on the ride, they go underneath the bridge and when they come out the other side, you can use water jets to soak the poor, unsuspecting riders. I think I spent about $3 or $4 in quarters just shooting people.

At one point when we were feeling particularly mean, the four of us loaded up blasters 1-4 and as the people came round we each blasted them as they went past our corresponding jet. It was hilarious! They were absolutely drenched. 

On the way back to the car to be picked up, we managed to get absolutely soaked. I guess you could call that karma... Within minutes the craziest downpour had begun, my socks and shoes were completely soaked. I hate wet shoes.

We went to Wendy's on the way home and in the evening we watched 'Zombeavers'. It's as weird as it seems. There are zombified beavers that go around attacking people. I had to watch it with a cushion in my hands, I'm not good with 'scary' movies...

And that brings me to the end of Thursday 30th July.

The Big Wide World has taught me: $4 dollars spent soaking other humans on water rides is not $4 wasted. It's $4 well spent :D.

Hope you enjoyed the last day of July,

L
xxx

Aquatica and Seaworld (27th and 28th July)

Hello, 

On Monday 27th we went to Aquatica, Seaworld's water park. We were there nice and early so got on our first rides in good time. 

We did the Dolphin Plunge, in which you're supposed to be able to see dolphins through the transparent slide, but at such a speed it's pretty impossible, nice marketing though Aquatica ;). We did various other rides, 'Omaka Rocka' being one to mention, I guess I liked it because it was like 'Brain Wash' from Wet'n Wild. It was fast with funnels along it so you could slide up the sides. 'Walhalla Wave' was another ride of note, it was a multi-person one in a big round tube. 

Lizzie was the only one brave enough to do 'Ihu's Breakaway Falls'. It's a vertical drop, the floor of the slide drops away so you fall vertically down. It sounds horrendous to me. As my dad says, "it's like being flushed down a toilet," then before anyone could question how he knew what this feels like he did add, "I imagine..." I don't think he ever had his head flushed down the loo at school but I don't know for sure! 

The rapids at Aquatica need a special mention, they are brilliant, the best I've ever been in. You can take a buoyancy jacket so you can just float and let the rapids take you along. They're really strong so you go really fast. I'm looking forward to going back and going in there again. I think I could float along in there for several hours without getting bored. 

By lunchtime the daily storm had arrived and so we decided to go home for lunch. 

When we were home and had finished lunch and all retreated back to our rooms for our internet fix, we were met with a terrifying situation. The WiFi was down *GASP*. It made me realise how dependent I am on the web and access to it when it took me about five minutes of sitting on my bed thinking of something to do. Eventually I found 'Ratuki', a card game and so the four of us decided to play that. I think we finally had the right rules by the end of the game... We kept on re-reading the rules and realising we were playing wrong, but oh well, it killed half an hour or so. After a terrible start I did win in the end. After Ratuki, Meg and I decided to play Sims 3. Any Sims players will know just how incredibly 'twisted' you can be on that game... Enough said. 

We had tea and then watched the first of a documentary series someone had recommended to Debbie. It was about single parent animals and was very cute! There were so many cute baby animals, the polar bears and otters were particularly adorable. 

The Big Wide World has taught me: To try and be less dependent on internet access! I must admit I don't think I've learnt not to be... I know I should be less dependent on it but in this day and age it's very difficult, especially as a teenager. My go to thing is to scroll down Facebook and check the news, I feel naked without my phone and access to the web. I feel like this is turning in to me trying to justify myself so I'm going to stop. Basically, take some time out occasionally, sometimes taking time to play a card game with friends is underrated. I suppose the main thing I'm trying to say is, 'time spent with the people you care about is never wasted time, lives can change in an instant'.

I'm going to go straight into Tuesday 28th. What a day. After lunch we walked to one of dad's colleague's house to walk her dog- Nikki. She's very sweet. Dad then picked us up and took us to Seaworld. He just dropped us off and said he'd pick us up about six when he finished work.

The first thing we did was go to the Shamu show, we were there pretty early so had good seats. We were a safe distance from the 'Splash Zone' where the wiling go to be drenched with freezing salt Whale water. Liv and I sat there once years ago, we were young and it was socially acceptable to sit there in our bikinis. Definitely wouldn't sit there now- sense is something I realise comes with age! 

Mum and Baby

Just as the Shamu show was ending the rain started coming down... By the time the show had finished and we got out it had become torrential and there was the usual 'inclement weather coming, take shelter' warning playing out on the tanoys. We put our rain ponchos on and looked like we were walking around in clear bin bags. We took shelter by the Shark Encounter but realised we couldn't stay there all day. We had a wander round and made it to the Dolphin Viewing where you can take shelter, we were there without about 50+ other people. 

After a lot more wandering to try and find a place empty enough to go and buy fries we found somewhere. I bought a plate of fries and chicken tenders to share. This was followed by yet more wandering around until we came across the Arctic helicopter simulator. We queued for this and after a couple of minutes we were on. I had done it before but not for a while, I'd forgotten how violent the simulator was. It was quite rough, but I like them so it was fine. We then had Dippin Dots, I was hoping for the banana ones but they didn't have them so I had to have the mint chocolate ones. It had mini chocolate Shamu tails in it. It was good, but I think the banana ones are still the best. 

Since the weather had calmed we made our way to 'Kracken' to see if it was running. It's one of the roller coasters they have there. Unfortunately, just as we got there they closed the ride... We had a brief sit down and came up with a game called 'Heaven or Hell'. Then it was time to go and meet Dad where we'd agreed. Although it was a very rainy day, we made the most of what we could.

In the evening we just chilled on the sofas, I wrote some more blog entries and then Dad went out to the shop, Liv decided to go with him. When they returned they had bought Dunkin' Donuts, it was a heavenly moment to see them walk through the door with a big box of doughnuts. 

And that brings me to a sugary ending. 

Until next time, 

L
xxx

Two Thirds Beach (24th, 25th and 26th July)

Hello, once again I'm going for the mash of several days to bulk up a post. I'm going to write about Friday, Saturday and Sunday in this one. 

On Friday 24th we took a trip down to the Gulf Coast. We went to John's Pass Village. It's about 2 hours away and it rained pretty much the WHOLE way... We didn't turn around though, we took the chance that it would stop raining by the time we got there, but it didn't... We found ourselves sitting in the car eating our picnic while it stormed all around us. It was quite exciting as we saw the lightening and heard the thunder roll around us. 

After lunch and the rain still not relenting, we drove across the street (which had flooded so much a boy was standing in the water up to his ankles), there were small souvenir type shops and we found an arcade where I wasted about $6. But as I say, you can't go to a seaside town in the rain and not go to an arcade. There was one particular shop that had the weirdest collection of things, there were the usual shells and postcards, but then there were weird dolls heads on sticks, which I couldn't really see the appeal of...

We got some ice cream and then headed back to the car. The journey home was longer than the way up as we had to take multiple diversions. We stopped at a Target on the way back and picked up a roast chicken to have with some tater tots, salad and veg later. 

Lizzie's ice cream

Even though it rained all day and we didn't make it to the beach other than to look at it, it was still good fun. I would definitely like to go back on a sunny day sometime, it's just annoying that it's two hours away.

On Saturday 25th we went to Cocoa Beach. It was a beachy couple of days. Cocoa is the closest beach to us. It's near where our friends Mark and Marie live so we drop off the dogs with them and usually head down to the beach at Patrick. Unfortunately we lasted less than half an hour before the rain started chucking it down. Luckily we had only taken our towels and lunch, we hadn't bothered taking boogie boards and the beach tent so we could run nice and fast back to the car. 

Unfortunately the deckchairs didn't make it into the car in time...

 While it rained we drove to Ron Jon, a famous surf shop. I found myself a pin badge and then once it had finished raining we found another beach; Lori Wilson. It was much busier than the other one but there were proper waves that we could boogie board on. We wasted little time in getting in the water, the black clouds were far enough away we figured we would have a decent amount of time in the water. It was warmer than at Patrick. I can't remember how long we spent in the water but it was a good amount of time. There did however come a point where the black storm was above us and the red flag went up, meaning the water and beach were being evacuated. We were just leaving at that point anyway. It was much more successful than the Friday and the beach at Patrick!

We went back to Mark and Marie's and made good use of their very nice swimming pool. We also had a delicious BBQ with steak, lamb burgers, chicken kebabs, and mango salad to name just four things. There was also a yummy trifle for pudding. 

Mark and Marie's Pool

All in all a very good day, I love going to the beach and a BBQ afterwards just tops it off. 

Sunday 26th was spent at the pool in the morning. Then later on it was the classic Sunday clean of the bathroom. I was tasked with cleaning the loo (yay, my favourite...) while Meg and Liv tackled the bath and Lizzie did the sink and mirror. I must say, it is so much quicker with four than two. I'll miss the cleaning company next week! 

Later on we went to Downtown Disney. It's a place with lots of Disney shops. Lizzie found herself a Captain America tank top and Liv and I bought ourselves some great 'thick shakes' from a place called Ghiradelli. Yes, I had vanilla, but it was good! 

In the evening we went back to Millennia so Lizzie and Meg could buy some jeans from 'Lucky' where Debbie works. I was a teeny bit jealous, even though I have a couple of pairs already... I think I may be buying myself some more clothes from that store, I need to stock up on clothes for sixth form. 

The best part of the day was yet to come though, once the jeans were bought we headed down to the food court where we could choose what to have for dinner. Given that there was a Chipotle there it was pretty much already decided. Naturally, the food was heavenly. 

We looked at laptops in Best Buy on the way home and then I watched some TV in the evening and had a relatively early night. Aquatica was planned for the next day so I needed to be up early so we could get there in good time and beat the rush.

Okay, the stupid "Today" has gone on long enough, if I don't write on the day then I'm not going to write "Today"... I should have come up with that plan a long time ago... 

The Big Wide World has taught me: You can still have a good time even if the Big Wide World appears to be raining on your parade. You may have to adapt your plans, but it doesn't mean you won't have a good time. Be open to diverting from the original plan sometimes.

That's about it for this post, until next time, 

L
xxx

New Things: Cheesecake Factory, Wet'n Wild (22nd and 23rd July)

Good morning/afternoon/evening,

I am here on the sofa preparing myself for the onslaught that is writing another post, I'm going to write both Wednesday and Thursday in one as Wednesday was mainly spent at the pool so I feel there isn't enough to say to satisfy one post. 

Wednesday 22nd July: 

As mentioned before, we spent most of Wednesday morning at the pool. As you can imagine there is little else to say other than that! It was hot and there was cooling water, so we swam in it, we also ate Percy Pigs and Mentos but I don't think that's necessarily a crucial detail of the day. Naturally I also did some sunbathing, I'm desperately trying to get a decent tan before I go home and start sixth form. 

After the pool we went to the Mall at Millenia where Debbie works. We call it the 'fancy mall' as we don't usually shop in the likes of Gucci, Prada and Chanel they have there. I'm pretty sure one bag from Prada could easily be worth more than everything I own put together... Instead we went to Forever 21 and hunted around the sale section. I managed to find a really nice bikini top which I bought. Since it's nearing the end of 'summer vacation' over here there are plenty of summer sales going on, which is perfect for the middle of my 'summer vacation'. We mooched around a few other stores, namely Apple and Microsoft, but as much as I'd love to buy a Mac or something as equally beautiful, I certainly don't have the funds for such things. 

To top off a very nice, relaxing day we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I'd never eaten there before so that was something new, and no, it's not just cheesecake. I know, you learn something new everyday. I indulged in a massive burger which was really good, cooked to perfection. (Something to note, England, in America they ask you how you'd like your burger cooked...just sayin'...) Of course we couldn't leave the Cheesecake Factory without trying some cheesecakes, it would practically be criminal. We ordered a slice of Lemon Meringue Cheesecake and a slice of Red Velvet Cheesecake, but after such big meals it's not surprising we couldn't manage to finish them; they came home in boxes.

And here endeth Wednesday 22nd July. 

Thursday 23rd July:

On Thursday morning before Wet'n Wild opened we went to Universal as they're very close together. The thinking was that we would get to Universal just after it opened and do the rides that usually have horrible wait times, then we'd get to Wet'n Wild just as that opened and then be able to do some rides with short queues. At Universal I had never done 'Rip Ride Rockit' as the wait time was always unbearable, so that was on the list. Dad was also yet to try 'Escape from Gringotts' so that was the other must-do ride at that time of the morning. We did Rip Ride Rockit first, if anyone knows of Thorpe Park's 'Stealth', they'll know what I mean when I say Rip Ride Rockit has a bit like Stealth, it goes vertically up. That's the worst part, feeling like if you breathe you might move yourself so much you'll slide out the back of the seat, but the rest is great. There's plenty of loops and rolls to fill my roller coaster appetite.

Between Rip Ride Rockit and Escape from Gringotts we did manage to lose a couple of people who had sneaked off to the Mummy- Naughty! Never fear, we did find them eventually, they're not still there riding the Mummy for eternity. Gringotts was also amazing because it's a really good ride, but also because there was no one else in the Single Rider line. We literally got straight on! At that time in the morning it also meant I was sitting with Meg and Liv was in the row behind us. The plan was definitely a success. We did get some funny looks as we were walking out of the park at about 9:30am.

Gringotts Bank

We headed over to Wet'n Wild, a water park we hadn't been to before. As I said, we arrived nice and early and therefore only had a short wait for the rides. At Wet'n Wild they have plenty of multi-person rides which I love. The first one we went on involved sitting in a big four-person tube (which for the visual people out there is a big, round doughnut). You then go down the wide slide where you spin round and get splashed with plenty of water; it was fun. The best group ride we did was 'Brain Wash', I went with Liv and Dad, again in a four person tube. You go down the 53-foot slide, rushing towards a huge funnel where you then slide up and down the sides of the funnel meaning you go higher and faster. It also means you spin round more and more than likely end up doing a stint backwards. That was definitely my favourite ride we did.

At Wet'n Wild

There are way too many rides to describe them all and of course there was the lazy river (where my new bikini (bought the day before...) broke. :( There was a whole host of emotions that came with that little eipsode.). 

That evening we had Chipotle for dinner. The best "fast food" place over here. I say "fast food" like that because it isn't the traditional unhealthy, greasy, fried to within a inch of it's life food. It's Mexican. I always order a bowl with white rice, black beans, steak, mild salsa, sweetcorn, cheese and lettuce. It's delicious and something like $8.00 for the bowl which I always have to eat in two sittings (unless Liv gets to it first and polishes mine off..!).

After Chipotle we watched Sharknado 3. What can I say about that?! It was so much better than the second one. It was set at Universal Studios!! That was crazy since we were there that morning and is a place I know really well, it's very rare a place you've actually been to is the setting for a film, so that was cool. It was also made better by the return of Nova, the use of Reagan's SDI plans and at the end of the film it said we can vote as to whether April lives or dies (DIES!). Again, I'm sorry for the inclusion of this because I'm pretty sure not many of you will have seen the Sharknado films, but my friends and I think they're great. It was a good end to a VERY busy day! I definitely slept like a baby that night.

"Today" the Big Wide World has taught me: Okay, this one is far fetched, but go with it..! Have faith things can get better, even if you expect them to be shockingly awful. I'm taking this from my Sharknado 3 viewing, I can't say I had very high expectations after the second one, but number 3 definitely surpassed my expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. Basically, don't write things or people off because of past experiences. Things can get better.

Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying your summer holiday as much as I am,

L
xxx

P.S Sorry for the lack of photos on this post, but water parks and photo-taking devices don't make a very good mix!

Harry Potter and the Australian Shark Attack (21st July)

I'm sorry... I have been a very bad blogger and have been away from my laptop for several days, I suck I know. I've just been very busy and keep getting home after a busy day and falling asleep in front of the TV. I kept meaning to update, I promise!

I'll try and be a better blogger and write every couple of days rather than something awful like once a week (or worse..). 

So, I'm starting with Tuesday 21st July when we went to Universal Studios. I absolutely love it there, I would say it's definitely the best theme park around here. Liv and I have annual passes as we go there so often it makes sense to, we get our money's worth, even if we are only here for 5 weeks in the summer and 2 weeks at Christmas, that's how much we go there! 

First of all we went on the Hulk, I feel the need to mention a specific detail of this ride. In most roller coasters when you're going up to the top before the big, fast dive down, you go up quite slowly which gives you plenty of time to regret your decision to go on this ride and question life, but that's definitely not the case on Hulk. Instead of going up really slowly, you're shot up really quickly and then thrown around the roller coaster, they talk about some G-Force but I can't remember enough about that to accurately mention it in detail. It's a blimming good ride, over in a matter of seconds as most roller coasters are, but brilliant. 

We then decided since it was early and most people are sensible enough not to choose to get completely soaked at about 9 o'clock in the morning, that we would go on the water rides. The queues were 5 minutes which is practically unheard of at Universal in mid-summer. They get extremely busy at midday when the temperature is at its peak for the day, you can't really blame the frying masses for flocking to the water rides at that point. Anyway, we came water-ride prepared and had rain ponchos, we looked ridiculous, but sucked it up anyway. For the ride you sit in a big circular 'Barge' that can fit something like 8 people in, you then proceed to crash down some rapids and get completely soaked. There were some very wet shoes by the end of that ride!

After that we went on a ride called Ripsaw Falls. It's much like a lot of classic water rides, it's like a log flume, very high and steep. We went on Ripsaw Falls twice since the wait is usually an hour and we were pretty much able to get straight on. 

Okay, this is taking longer than I thought, I'm unable to be concise. To dry off from the water rides we walked to the Harry Potter section. Any HP fans like me, until you see the Harry Potter section at Universal you have not lived. It's insane. There's the castle, which is actually a ride, there's Hogsmeade with loads of shops to go in and you can get the Hogwarts Express from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios where Gringotts and Diagon Alley is (Universal is made up of two parks). We had a Butterbeer in Hogsmeade and watched the Durmstrang boys perform on the stage outside Hogwarts (Apologies to those who have no idea what I'm talking about, virtual high-five to those who do). We looked around some shops, we went into Honeydukes and admired the beautiful array of sweets. 

Honeydukes

Hogwarts Castle

Hogsmeade

We didn't go on any of the rides there as we weren't prepared to wait 45 minutes (even though that's probably a decent wait time..). We figured that we would come back another day and the Harry Potter rides would be the first ones we'd do. We got the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley and had a look round there. Details about the shops and places there will have to be in another post when we go back as we only briefly looked around. 

We went to the Mummy which is the ride conveniently associated with the Mummy Films. Unusually it's an inside roller coaster which is largely in the dark, there's fire and "broken glass" (a.k.a water droplets..) and it's genuinely a really good ride. The wait time is usually about 15 minutes when we go but it's a really long walk to get to the actual ride so we usually find we're straight on, and it's never 15 minutes anyway. When we went this time we had to wait a bit longer but we did go as 'Single Riders' so it was a bit quicker. 

Afterwards we went for lunch in the Simpsons section, in particular in Mo's Bar. Perfect timing too as it started tipping it down. 

We then did the Men In Black ride, E.T (I love the E.T ride, very cute) and finally the newest Harry Potter ride, Escape from Gringotts. That was an ace ride, we went Single Riders again although this time the queue was long and boring. It was made slightly better by the fact some Australians were talking to us and they loved Sharknado. Two things I love, the Aussie accent and Sharknado.

And talking of Sharknado's, we watched the second one that night. It definitely wasn't as good as the first one, so much so that I actually fell asleep and missed a good chunk, although whether it was actually "good" is another question!

And that brings me to the end of Tuesday. Wow, that took me wayyy longer than I was anticipating.. Reading it you have no idea how long it takes me to write these, but trust me, it's a long time...

I guess I should get back to the whole 'Today the Big Wide World has taught me' thing, so I'll just pass on this one gem of advice: "If you're stuck in a Sharknado, find yourself a chainsaw." (But on a side note, avoid a Sharknado at all costs!).

I suppose I better get started on Wednesday's activities.. Thank goodness tomorrow is a chill day where I can hopefully *fingers crossed* catch up!!

Sorry it's been so long, 

L
xxx

Flying to Florida and Seaworld Adventures (19th and 20th July)

I'd say 'howdy' or something but they don't tend to say that here in Florida.. a simple, 'Hello again,' will have to do. 

We made it! I actually made it from one country to another without the guidance of an adult- feeling proud :P.

Sunday 19th July:

Our flight was annoyingly delayed by two hours, we were supposed to take-off at about 13:00 but it ended up being past 16:00 when we eventually left the ground. I'm still slightly freaked out about this actually... I read a horoscope last Wednesday and it told me that my international travel plans would be disrupted on the Sunday and therefore I should make back-up plans...I'd never really believed all that stuff before, but that has made me slightly more wary of all that planetary shenanigans.

The delay was however briefly overshadowed by the fact we were directed to the Upper Class Bag Drop desk at which there was no line. No, we weren't flying Upper Class- we were in Economy, but for some reason they labelled our bags at the Upper Class desk and therefore we were given 'Premium Gatwick' stickers on our boarding cards. The lady gave us two for Meg and Lizzie as well. This meant we could go through the much quicker 'Premium' line at Security.

As I've mentioned before, it was me, my sister and my two friends travelling together. We had good seats on the plane, we had four together but at the back of a section so we didn't have anyone behind to kick us, and we could recline our seats without feeling guilty about someone behind. Of course the food, as always, looked like dog food (especially being beef..) but the pudding was nice. I always feel more hopeful when there is branded packaging! We had a mango and passion-fruit cheesecake which was quite nice, unfortunately not for my sister who is allergic to mango.. but oh well! 

When we arrived in Orlando after the eight and a half hours we made sure to get off the plane as early as possible to avoid horrendous queues at Border Security. As we got there Lizzie went off one way and the other three of us went another, Lizzie flew in on her US Passport as she was born in Boston. It then turned out that my sister and I were sent another way as we were here this time last year and Meg had to go another way. Liv and I used the machines which scanned our fingerprints and then took a photo of us, it was all very technical. We were all reunited at the Baggage Claim belts and it wasn't long before Meg and Lizzie had pulled theirs off. After waiting a couple more minutes for ours I suddenly had the thought that maybe they were put on the Premium and Upper Class belt as mine and Liv's luggage labels were printed at the Upper Class desk. Just as I looked over I saw my case coming along on that belt so I quickly went and pulled it off. Liv's wasn't far behind. They were easy to spot being such unique patterns, mine is covered in world maps and Liv's is bright purple with flowers and butterflies.

After getting the shuttle to the terminal we were met by my dad and Debbie and were soon all loaded into the mini-van my dad had hired. Every time I come here I'm still momentarily stunned by just how hot and humid it is as soon as you step outside. Thank God for air conditioning!

Today (20th July): 

I was quite impressed I managed to stay up until about eleven last night which meant I slept all the way until six this morning... Liv stayed up even later than me but was somehow awake at about half three...

We had blueberry waffles for breakfast and got up and showered, ready to go to Seaworld at about 10:00.

The first thing we did was go on the Manta ride. The wait time was going to be around 45 minutes if we waited in the 'normal queue', so we decided to go as 'Single Riders' which means you fill up any rows where there is a seat free, the line is always shorter and you get on much quicker, but you're not necessarily with your friends or family. However, we went as single riders and the wait was only about ten minutes and Meg, Lizzie, Liv and I were all put on the same row! It was great, we skipped the long queue and got to sit together. The ride was sort of peculiar, you 'hang' underneath a big Manta. When you first get on the ride the seat is in the normal upright position, but once everyone is buckled in the seat swings back so you're staring at the floor; it stays like this for the whole ride. The track was so good, there were lots of loops and twists and made even better by the fact you're hanging down and can see the rest of the park below. 

We went to see the Dolphin show which was very impressive! They were doing all sorts of things, the usual jumping up and out of the water, but also waving and swimming round the tank on their backs. They even pulled the trainers round on their backs so it looked like they were riding on water-skis. There was also lots of aerial acrobatics in the show and some very cool divers doing lots of flips. 

We also watched another show called 'Pets Ahoy' which as the name suggests involves animals you might consider as pets, although I think a skunk and a pig are rare choices for pets. There were very well trained cats, dogs, rats and a not so well trained skunk- he/she got a bit distracted at one point but did make it across the stage on Take 2!

We queued for 'Kraken' another rollercoaster for about ten minutes and were quite close to getting on- but then good ol' Florida got involved and chucked in the daily storm, so Kraken was 'temporarily closed due to inclement weather'. As a result we got out of the line and went to 'Atlantis' instead, a water ride, this had a 50 minute waiting line but we got in line anyway. We looked over to see Kraken running again! So we legged it back there as the line was much shorter and we weren't going to be soaked to the skin. We were just about in the same place in the line for Kraken- close to getting on- when once again the darn thing was closed...We stayed in line this time. The rain was fierce and we would have been absolutely soaked anyway. Lots of people left the line so we actually moved quite far considering the ride wasn't even running. After about 10-15 minutes it was running again and were on. It was a really good ride, plenty of loops again. Kraken was my first looped rollercoaster years ago, it's still just as good now.

On the way to feed the stingrays we passed 'Turtle Trek' which said it had a ten minute wait- that turned out to be a lie, but it was good once we got in. The first thing you do is go into a big room where you can go right up to the glass tanks and see all sorts of fish and huge turtles swimming around. There was a guy talking about the different ones and how we should look after the oceans to stop the turtles dying, but to be honest I think most people were too busy admiring and taking pictures to take much notice of what he was saying. The second part of Turtle Trek is going into a big 3D 360 degree cinema dome where you "swim" through the ocean as a turtle and encounter crabs, seagulls, boats and their nets, jellyfish and other sea and turtle related things. It was quite cool, I like simulator type things. 

Afterwards we went to the Stingray Lagoon where you can buy tiny gross fish to hold in the water and the stingrays come over and take it from you- it's quite freaky, but kinda cool. There was a naughty bird of some kind that swooped in and pinched a fish right out of my hand! It made me jump as I didn't see it coming. Just as we'd finished feeding our last fish to the stingrays there was an announcement to take all hands out of the water as there was lightning in the air. Once again the famous Florida storm was back. We decided it was time to go at this point, but you can come back to Seaworld any time within two weeks of buying your ticket, so we'll be back. 

Right, I'm off to get ready for bed. We've just had steak and salad for tea and its made me very sleepy...Zzzz.

We're going to Universal tomorrow so I'll need plenty of energy for that!

Until next time, 

L
xxx

Saying Goodbye to Majorca and Postremo (30th June)

I'm back again for post number two this evening. I'm quite surprised I've actually made it, cutting it a little fine I know, but I'm here on the last entry! Tuesday 30th June and the day we come home and leave Postremo and Majorca where it is... 

This will be a short entry as I am heading to bed shortly.

In the morning we went for a wander around Palma and Alice bought herself a pencil for her collection from a shop full of penis-shaped souvenirs- that was..interesting! We then went back to Tuttis for a frozen yoghurt and I think it topped the first one. I had caramel sauce, strawberries and white chocolate drops, it wash lush. I did come out in a rash while we were eating, but I think it was just a heat rash as it went down just as quick as it appeared. 

We took the yoghurt back to the boat and finished them there. 

My frozen yoghurt <3

Once we'd finished those it was soon time to start munching through the left over things on the boat, the apples and French Toast come to mind. Alice, I think you still have several months worth of French Toast to munch through!

It wasn't much longer before we were off to the airport... I won't go into detail about that as there isn't much to say really. There was a very cute little boy in the very long line for check-in. He had little glasses which magnified his eyes and made him look super cute. 

I think the last thing to say about Tuesday was the bit of turbulence we had on the flight, it was alright though, we had the landing procedure a bit earlier, the checking of seat belts and tray tables, but everything was fine and we landed on time.

So, that brings me to the end of the flight and the end of my trip to Spain with my gals. It was INCREDIBLE. A very successful first holiday with my friends and I hope the start of very many more. I'm now so looking forward to Florida, I can't wait!

And that being said, I really now have to go and finish packing and go to bed as I want to have a relatively early night.

Thank you to anyone who has read these blogs, but of course the biggest bestest THANK YOU goes to Sarah, Chris and Lizzie for inviting us to their yacht and making us feel so welcome for a week. It truly was amazing and something I'll look back on with great memories for the rest of my life (and of course all the selfies ;) ). I can't thank you enough, and of course I can't go without saying a massive thanks to my friends who really made the trip for me. I love you all so much. 

My next post will be from Florida :D. 

I wish everyone a very happy summer, 

L 
xxx

Happy 'Sweet Thirteen'...?! (29th June)

It's Saturday! It's the day before we go to Florida!

I am here, as I said I would be, to add the final instalments to the Spanish chapter of my summer. I am up to Monday 29th June and it's Lizzie's birthday. 

Alice and I got up early to put up some balloons I'd bought and some banners she'd bought. We decorated the boat and made it look birthday-ish. I was a bit miffed by my '16' balloons that I had ordered from Amazon though.. When I blew the blue ones up the white latex with the writing seemed to peel off and I was also shocked to find a '13' balloon had sneaked into the pack!

Notice the odd one out?!

I was tempted to save the pesky '13' for my sister's birthday in September, but changed my mind and decided to blow it up for Lizzie instead :). 

When Lizzie woke up we all sat around the table and gave her her presents, unfortunately I only had her Captain America USB drive with me as her other present hadn't arrived by the time we left. I then found out a few days into the trip that the company had completely botched up her present and I'd have to order another one... Shockingly she still hasn't had the other botched up present yet, which is why I haven't said what it is or shown a picture. I'll let you guys know what they did when I've given it to her, hopefully tomorrow evening at Dad's, or on Monday morning. It was quite funny how much they messed up, but I am annoyed I still haven't given one of my best friends her birthday present...

After present giving we all had breakfast and went to put on our swim stuff to go paddle boarding. I was quite nervous as I hadn't done it before and I didn't want to be rubbish as it looked like such good fun and something I'd want to do again. We got a motor boat from Postremo across the water to the place where we were having the lesson, it was about 30 seconds or less across and saved us about five- ten minutes walking all the way round, so that was good. 

At the paddle boarding place we were directed towards a place we could get changed, (we accidentally went into to the guys but were soon redirected to the gals before any boys came in!) we left our T-Shirts on as we thought we would be wearing life-jackets but it turned out we didn't- I forgot, it wasn't England where you can't even stand on a chair to close the window because "it's far too dangerous!". We were greeted by a couple of young men, although you could probably call them boys, Meg told me later on that one of them was only 16!! He looked and acted older than most of the boys from where we're from! At the start of the lesson we were told how to hold the paddle, how to use it and also how to stand on the board, it was actually easier than I thought it would be. It did take a moment to get the hang of though, for a while I was floating around wildly.. After we'd sort of mastered the basics we followed one of the instructors as he paddled off towards the other side of the water towards the beachy side. I only have one photo of us paddle boarding and because we were so far away from Chris and Sarah we're only peachy-white dots in the distance.

Very distant paddle boarders

We did a race while the instructors were there and then after a few minutes they told us we had an hour and then could make our own way back. That would have been fine had we a watch between us! As we watched them paddle away we wondered aloud about how we would know when to go back.. we decided our own body clock would have to do and were too busy paddling and having fun to care. Meg was the first to plop off her board into the sea, but closely followed by me, then me again, then me again, and between Alice falling in and Lizzie deciding to jump in to cool off, I fell in again. But I must add- it wasn't my fault!! The first one was.. but the other three were all ALICE! Alice repeatedly smashed into the back of my board causing me to fly off in to the water, and she did it on purpose... The cheek..Of course it wasn't cold, but it was still annoying, Alice! Lizzie and I got her back though, Lizzie stole her paddle and we did get her in at some point ;). 

After what we considered to be nearing an hour we headed back in. I'll spare you the drama but we did nearly have a fainting Meg on our hands.. We got her in the shade and Lizzie got her some water and after a few minutes or sitting quietly she was feeling better. So all was okay. 

We had showers and got changed and walked back to the boat. The paddle boarding was really good and I'd definitely do it again. In fact, my mum has been told about a place in Poole harbour where you can do it and I think she's quite keen to go in the week when we're back from Florida, so that will be cool.

After a few hours we were getting ready to sail back to Palma and once again Alice did an ace job of driving the boat. We made it safely back. 

Lizzie wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for her birthday dinner so we all headed over there for tea. Hard Rock is a famous chain of American-style diners, they have them all over the place. It was the first time I've been to one, but definitely not the last; it was so good! I had a nice big American burger filled to bursting and a portion of chips on the side. Afterwards we ordered dessert. Meg and I were both feeling rather full from mains but not enough we couldn't be dissuaded from the Fudge Brownie Sundae.. We decided to share one though- and thank the Lord we did, it was freaking huge!! We checked the menu to see if we had missed the part where it said, 'recommended for two', but there was nothing. It was amazing, there was whipped cream on top with a cherry, several balls of vanilla ice cream with fudge sauce, a big gooey chocolate fudge brownie and then yet more ice cream at the bottom. It was heavenly, if not slightly too much even for the two of us to handle. We did leave defeated, but we did pretty well to get as far as we did! That was such a good evening, I even managed to find my much-needed pin badge for that holiday, I bought a Hard Rock one that said Majorca on it. I think we may have to try the Hard Rock I know they have at Universal Studios in Florida... I may well need another pin from there too.

After eating to the point of nearly bursting, we finished up and decided to go for a wander around Palma. We went back up to the Cathedral, but this time the sun was setting and it looked beautiful. I can't remember who gets the photo creds for this, but I love this photo taken from up by the Cathedral:

That is about all I have to add for a very eventful Monday! It was one of the best days I think, I absolutely loved it. It was also great to try something new :). 

Right, sorry for the rather abrupt ending to this post, but as I say, we didn't do much else. I also have to finish up quick because we are just popping out to buy something yummy for our last meal with mum for 5 weeks.  

Bye for now,

L
xxx