TravelStream™ news feed for member bashleyf on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bashleyf en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:29:23 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1237235400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1237235400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1237235400/tpod.html Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:29:23 -0400 Florida (and Savannah) road trip

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Miami Beach, Florida, United States

Miami has definitely taken the number one spot as my favorite city in Florida. Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg are bumped down to number 2. When I got to Miami I was originally supposed to do a go car tour. It's a talking GPS tour but I didn't really feel like doing it because I didn't feel like driving around Miami anymore. I went though since I had prepaid and it was $100. When I got there luckily they had somehow overbooked and said they'd refund my money. He said he couldn't give me a receipt unless I came back (which I couldn't do) and it all sounds a bit weird, so we'll see if they refund the money. I decided to go do the duck tour instead. Most of the duck tour was spent in the water. The views from Biscanye Bay are definitely the most beautiful I have ever seen. You're surrounded by million dollar homes and the Miami skyline.
After the duck tour I went and walked around some of the places we saw on the tour like Ocean Drive, Espanola Way, and the Lincolcn Road mall. Miami has some of the best shopping I've seen and it wasn't even expensive (well some stores are). I got two really cute dresses for $30 each. I had lunch on Ocean Drive which is a really cute place. As you can probably guess, you can see the ocean from there. The other side of the street is lined with restaraunts. Lincoln Rd Mall is a pedestrian only mall with lots of cute stores and some interesting bars. They had nice big comfy looking counches to sit on outside of the bars and restaraunts.
I've definitely missed a lot on this trip. I missed the Everglades and I didn't really see much of Miami. Everywhere I went was Miami Beach and South Beach, which is across the water from Miami. Most of what I wanted to see was in Miami Beach though. Even so I will definitely need to come back to Florida, especially the Miami/ Fort Lauderdale area. I want to rent a boat and go exploring the waterways, go to little Havana, try out some of the nightclubs, go to the Everglades, and try some of the Cuban food. I drove around Miami a bit and got out to go to Biscanye Market, but by then I was sunburned from walking around for 5 hours. I always use sunscreen but it was near 90 so the heat was insane. I'll just have to come back to Miami...I think a year or two would be enough time to see it all...
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Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States

So I outsmarted the Spring Breakers this morning by heading into Fort Lauderdale at 8AM on a Sunday when they are all still hung over and asleep. Hoefully this will work tomorrow for Miami...all I really did in Fort Lauderdale was walk around Las Olas Blvd. a little bit to take some pictures and of course I went over to the beach. I really like Fort Lauderdale...it's definitely a contendor on for my favorite Florida city. So far it's down to Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg.
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Key West, Florida, United States

Well I am really tired from another long long day of driving and sun. I went to the keys today. I wasn't particularly impressed by Key Largo or Key West although I liked Key West a lot more because it's bigger but still easy to navigate. Duval Street is worth checking out. Sure it's touristy but there are some cute shops. Besides, I don't mind touristy so much. I figure if tourist's are doing it then it's probably worth checking out. What makes the trip worth it is the drive from Key Largo to Key West. It's by far the most amazing drive I've ever done. You're surrounded by beautiful water on both sides...for some reason the water doesn't look quite like that in Key West or Key Largo. The only drawback is that it's a 1 lane highway so if you're stuck behind a slow car it's really annoying. You can always play chicken with oncoming traffic but I'm usually too scared to do that. All right, it's bedtime. Another long day tomorrow. I really need a vacation from this vacation...wonder if I can "miss" my flight and hop on one of the thousands of cruise ships I've seen since getting to Florida...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1237059060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1237059060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1237059060/tpod.html Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:36:39 -0400 Florida (and Savannah) road trip

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West Palm Beach, Florida, United States

So the Lion Country Safari was one of the coolest things ever. You drive through it in the car like an African Safari. If you've actually done an African Safari then you will probably be a little bored but if you haven't then you may like this. The Lion Country Safari is actually in a city that starts with an L...Loxa...something. You will see signs for it on both 95 and the Florida turnpike. Just go east for a while...15 miles from 95 and 10 miles from the turnpike. Yes it's out of the way but it's fun. I'm actually writing from my hotel in Fort Lauderdale right now. I was supposed to stay 3 nights in Miami but there's been a change in plans. Maybe I'll write about it tomorrow but probably not. Anyway, it will probably work out for the best. I am going to stay here in Fort Lauderdale for 2 nights then go to Clearwater for 1 night (I loved St. Petersburg and want to see more of that area) and then my last night is in St. Augustine. Driving from Miami to Clearwater and then to St. Augustine sounds much more doable than driving from Miami to St. Augustine. Anyway, tomorrow it's off to the Keys. I want to be in Key West for the sunset so I will have some time to kill in the morning. I will probably head over to Fort Lauderdale. I loved what I saw of it today, but I forgot that it's Spring Break and a weekend! That translates to NO parking anywhere in Fort Lauderdale or Miami Beach...I'm hoping that if I head over there tomorrow morning that all the spring breakers will be hung over and sleeping...we'll see!
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Naples, Florida, United States

It's been another insanely long day because I ended up doing a 12 hour road trip. On a good note this is the first day I wasn't completely exhausted (I am now but I just got back from Naples, a 4 hour drive). I left this morning and went to Tampa first. Nice enough place, the University of Tampa is really pretty. I didn't stay long because I wanted to see some beaches so I headed over to St. Petersburg, which I loved. I went to the pier there which is really pretty. Then it was off to Sarasota, another gorgeous city. The drive there was cool because one of the freeways is just a road in the middle of the ocean. There's a rest stop, so now I can say I've been to a rest stop in the middle of the ocean! Best rest stop views I've ever seen. Eventually I made it to Sarasota which I also loved. That's where I got my first glimpse of the mansions on the ocean with their own boat docks and yachts. Now that's the life!
After Sarasota I went down to Naples. Originally I planned to do a day trip to Naples from Miami since it's way closer, but I decided to go today. I have a friend who used to live in Naples and I wanted to eat at the restaurant he used to work at. Naples is a gorgeous town...it's perfect. Almost Stepford perfect. I'm not talking about the people...I didn't really talk to anyone there. But the town is perfect. The palm trees, the flowers, it was all very well planned. I've heard that a key difference between Miami and Naples is that in Naples no-one looks like they have money but they're all crazy rich. Well everyone definitely looked average, like you'd find in any town but you know most of them must have some money because the city and the houses all look crazy expensive. It was a very nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there because if you live in a perfect paradise then where do you go on vacation?
Anyway, I just made it back to the hotel. It's only 10:30 but I'm about ready for bed. First I need to pack all of my stuff so I'm ready for Miami tomorrow. I'm going to be taking 95 most of the way, but then I'll get onto highway 1 which is the scenic highway. I'll be making stops in Hollywood, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and wherever else I feel like stopping. Tomorrow I go to Lion Country Safari, which is the thing I've been looking forward to most on this trip.
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Orlando, Florida, United States

Well it was another long day. I was right and the NyQuil made me nice and groggy. The drive to Florida seemed to take forever, but once I made it past Jacksonville I woke up a bit since it was all new to me. I made it to Orlando around 2. After checking into the hotel I went over to the Titanic Experience. I loved it, but I've been obsessed with the titanic since I was a teenager. It's a guided tour which takes about an hour. They have a replica of the grand staircase as well as other items on the ship. They also have a replica of a 1st class cabin on the ship. If you aren't a die hard titanic nut you might get bored, but I find everything about the titanic fascinating so of course I loved the whole thing. They tell you some stories about survivors and your ticket has a name and story on it. My person was a 44 year old immigrant with 9 kids! She was on a lifeboat but when she realized that none of her kids or husband were on the boat she got off. Her and her entire family died. Since she was an immigrant (3rd class) it was really hard for her and her family to get on a life boat because people were snotty little brats who thought that the life of the immigrants didn't mean much. Way more 3rd class passengers died than 1st and 2nd. Human life is human life people! And the 9 kids died! I don't understand how the life of a 3rd class child is worth any more or less than that of a 1st class child.
Next I went on to Wonderworks. It's a cool place but would have been a lot more fun with someone else. They have tons of interactive exhibits and games and stuff. I got to feel an earthquake (since I was living near San Francisco during the 1989 earthquake I've already felt one) and stand in a hurricane. I definitely haven't been in a hurricane and hopefully I won't. It wasn't so bad but I had poles to hang on to and the lack of debri flying around was very nice and also unrealistic. Had it been a real hurricane I definitely would have gotten knocked out by a tree branch. I also laid on a bed of nails. The guy said that as long as I didn't move I wouldn't feel them but I definitely felt them! After about ten seconds I was done with the bed of nails. Ouch!
I drove around for a bit and finally found Disney World. I was hoping to take some pictures but it's way harder than I thought. First of all it's really spread out and each kingdom has it's own parking lot. The lady let me in the parking lot free when I told her I just needed to turn around and get out of there. I really didn't feel like parking and riding around the tram just to take pictures. So pictures of Disney World will have to wait until I have kids. After driving around getting lost a little (but not too bad because there is a giant NBC ball across the street from the hotel. It's taller than any other buildings around here so I can always find my hotel) I went next door to Red Lobster to get some dinner. I ate way too much and actually took a nap. I didn't think I'd really be able to but I decided to try and sure enough I passed out. It only lasted for an hour but that was okay. I woke up at 8:30 which was perfect since the sun was down. I've been wanting to go to City Walk at Universal Studios but wanted to wait until the sun went down. It was pretty cool. They really make you walk to get there! For some reason I like the one in California more...maybe just cause I'm used to it and have been there numerous times.
So tomorrow is my day trip to Tampa and Clearwater. I really like Orlando and there's tons to do, but it all costs a lot of money so if you're broke you will get bored (and I'm always a tad broke since I travel way too much). Plus I haven't seen a beach yet and I've heard Florida's west coast is amazing. I'm definitely looking forward to heading over there. I'll be back in Orlando tomorrow night (maybe I will go check out downtown Orlando since all the touristy stuff where I am staying isn't close to downtown at all and downtowns usually have some stuff to do) and then Saturday it's off to Miami.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1236796440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1236796440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1236796440/tpod.html Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:45:46 -0400 Florida (and Savannah) road trip

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Savannah, Georgia, United States

So after sleeping only 4 hours last night (stupid cold kept me up coughing all night) I gave up on sleep and headed to historic Savannah. I did the same tour as last time but this time I got to get on and off. I started in Forsyth Park which is gorgeous and had an awesome purple tree and lots of the oak trees with the Spanish moss. Those are my favorite and will always be associated with Savannah for me. Then I went and toured the Davenport House which was both interesting and boring at the same time. Interesting to see the house but boring because the tour guide rambled on a lot. It was still worth it though to see an old Savannah house. I wondered around for a bit and got a really good tuna melt by the city market.
After 5 hours of walking around in the heat and sun I decided that I'd had enough and seen what I wanted to see. It was only 2 or so, so I decided to take a day trip to Jacksonville. On the way back to Savannah I will be staying a night in St. Augustine, but I figure that driving from Miami to St. Augustine and trying to explore both St. Augustine and Jacksonville in one day is a bit much. Anyway, since it was spur of the moment I had no idea what to do, so I just drove around. It was fun being in Florida but I wasn't too impressed by Jacksonville. May have been different if I had actually known what to go check out. But now I saw Jacksonville so on the way back I can focus more on St. Augustine. So this is gonna be a short entry because I am exhausted and hungry. I bought some Nyquil for tonight. The downside is that I will probably be a bit drowsy tomorrow, but I'll be drowsy if I only sleep 4 hours again! Before I go I have to say that I still love Savannah. It's definitely in my list of favorite U.S. cities which is weird because my favorites so far are Boston, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco (I'm sure New York will be added to that list when I make it there later this year)...see a theme? So even though Savannah is small it's still one of my favorites. It's just gorgeous and charming and cute and there's a lot of history. Plus I am obsessed with those oak trees with the Spanish moss. Dunno what it is about them but I really love them. Tomorrow it's off to Orlando. Can't wait!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1236730380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1236730380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1236730380/tpod.html Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:32:18 -0400 Florida (and Savannah) road trip

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Savannah, Georgia, United States

Last summer when I did my east coast road trip I knew that I wanted to come back to Savannah to really see it (last time I was only here for about an hour and a half). I didn't think I'd be back this soon, but I am! It's been a really really long day so I'm just going to hang out at the hotel tonight and go to bed early. All of the stuff I want to see in Savannah seems to close at 5, so I'll need to figure out something to do tomorrow night.
My flight wasn't until 7:55 so I got up at 5:45 figuring that I'd have plenty of time to get to the airport. Wrong! It snowed sometime last night. It wasn't bad, but it definitely created a lot of traffic on the freeway. I got to the airport way later than I wanted. It's always a bad sign when the ticketing agents are telling you to run. Anyway, I made the flight as they were doing the last call for boarding...dunno why...it took us 40 minutes to take off! So my flight landed in Houston an hour late! Luckily I still had an hour until my next flight, which also took off late. They never said anything about delays...I think it's just the airline. It was my first time using this airline and I definitely wasn't impressed. I finally made it to the Savannah airport. It's tiny which makes it easy to navigate and it's a pretty nice airport, especially for its size. I had a rental reservation with Budget, but they said that since I was using a debit card that they had to run a credit check and that based on that they couldn't rent to me. I don't get it...the rental was only $210 and they ran a hold on my card for $400...I don't get why my credit matters when they are holding twice the amount of the reservation! The lady then told me that no-one else at the airport would rent to me either. So I was kind of panicking, thinking about how to take a bus into Florida on Thursday. I went over to the Avis counter and they rented to me no problem. The car is $100 more for the 8 days, but it's also a midsize instead of a compact. At this point I didn't care, I just needed a car!
By then it was about 6 so it was a race against the sun. I went to Bonaventure Cemetery. Normally a cemetery is not high on my list of things to see, but this one got good reviews from Frommers and other tour books so I figured I'd check it out. Of course it was closed. It looks really pretty from the outside though. So now I am gonna take a shower and then go to bed. It's pretty early but luckily I'm tired from waking up way too early and from eating for the first time about an hour ago. Plus I came down with a cold yesterday. It's a chest cold and I figured that the humidity of Georgia and Florida would help. It actually does. I think I should be better within the next few days. I don't really care though cause I plan on ignoring this cold until I get home! :) Tomorrow I will be in a much better mood...my hotel has a shuttle to the trolley tours so tomorrow morning I'm doing the hop on hop off trolley tour of historic Savannah. This time I am going to get off and actually go tour some of the mansions. Have no idea what I am gonna do tomorrow night since I don't think Savannah has much of a night life...oh well, I'll figure something out. Tomorrow's entry will be much better and then Thursday it's off to Orlando! I'm very excited about that cause my hotel is on International Drive right in the middle of all the tourist stuff and by Universal Studios.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1235494500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1235494500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/6/1235494500/tpod.html Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:05:48 -0500 Florida (and Savannah) road trip

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Arvada, Colorado, United States

Yay, in exactly two weeks I will be on the plane to Savannah! For any of you who read my previous first entry, I've changed the dates of this trip and added an extra night in Miami. I was originally going to go in April but decided that I'd rather go sooner. Normally right now I'd be working my butt of to earn some money but I've been on a kind of work hiatus recently, so instead I will work on getting all of my homework done by the time I leave for Florida so that I won't have to do any homework on vacation. Here's my planned itinerary, let me know if I should add more!

Days 1 and 2, March 10&11- Savannah
Hop on hop off trolley tour
explore the mansions

Days 3&4, March 12&13, Orlando
Day trip to Tampa and Plant City to go to Dinosaur World
City Walk at Universal Studios (see how it compares to the one in California)
Wonderworks

Days 5, 6, &7, March 14, 15, &16 Miami
Day trip to the Keys
Ft. Lauderdale
Go car Miami (super touristy but looks fun!)
Millionaire row yacht cruise
Lion Country Safari
Everglades National Park and Gator Park

Day 8, March 17 Drive to St. Augustine
Explore Jacksonville and St. Augustine

Day 9, March 18, Drive back to Savannah to catch my flight home...which I may or may not "accidentally" miss depending on how much I like Florida.

I am very excited because I've never been to Florida and I loved Savannah and am excited to have more than an hour or two to explore Savannah!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/5/1227708000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/5/1227708000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bashleyf/5/1227708000/tpod.html Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:16:09 -0500 California Road Trip

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Santa Barbara, California, United States

During the drive last night, somewhere between Fremont and Santa Barbara it started pouring rain. I was hoping it would let up overnight, but it hasn't. This sucks because I've never seen Santa Barbara and it looks like today won't be the day that I see it. I'll figure out something to do...my flight doesn't leave until 10:30 tonight from LAX. It could have been worse...at least it didn't rain in San Francisco. I really don't want to go home...I'd rather drive back up to Santa Cruz or San Francisco, but tomorrow is Thanksgiving so it's off to my parents house and I get to see Raina for the first time in nearly two weeks. Yay! Besides, we all know that I can't sit still for long. I still really want to go to Spain and Italy, and England also...I should really start saving for those. If I go to Seattle and Portland though I'd only have to save for a few weeks as opposed to the few months that saving for Europe would require. I'll stay still for the holidays though...maybe by February I can go somewhere again. Stay tuned! :) And I've given up on trying to figure myself out...I have a traveling addiction and it's not gonna go away any time soon so I might as well enjoy myself. I will post pictures later if I get any but they won't be the greatest because of the rain. All I need is a small break in the rain...come on hour or two of sunshine!

Two days later...
So the rain let up just long enough for me to go to an outdoor shopping mall. I went into one store for about twenty minutes and then came out to the pouring rain and got soaked on the way to the car. Regardless of the weather I still loved Santa Barbara. It reminds me a lot of Santa Cruz but it's a lot bigger. It kind of surprised me because I don't like southern California as much as northern, but Santa Barbara definitely made it into my list of favorite California cities. I''ve been home for 2 days now. Normally, no matter how much fun I am having, a small part of me is ready to go home. I am still waiting for that feeling...so far I just miss California. Oh well, today it's back to work. The California trip was really fun. I loved seeing everyone again and going to places I hadn't gone in years.
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