Floridian Stay pt. 1

Warm greetings from the ever-so-tropical Lake Worth! It’s been quite a ride the past few days. I hope you find some of my recent travels interesting and take away some of the dos-and-don’ts of Florida.

Day 1 (Post-Disney): Travel and Exploration

Upon leaving Orlando and our questionable hotel, Mom and I grabbed another easy, tasty breakfast from Starbucks. (Do: Try their oatmeal with cinnamon and yogurt in it; it tastes amazing!) We then took the scenic route southbound towards my grandparents’ condo. The car ride was pretty uneventful for the first couple of hours until we hit Cocoa Beach, where I insisted we stop and explore. You see, I’m basically your typical Arizonian novice, “wanna-be-pro” surfer, and Cocoa Beach is on my list of “must visit for fantastic beginner’s waves” surf spots. First-off, we scouted around for parking lots that wouldn’t require us to pay $15 to stay for an hour. (Yes, they really were that expensive. Don’t: Park in a metered public parking space and lose a load of dough if you are only visiting for a short period of time.) We found a great spot next to a gas station and close to the beach. There was colorful street art, imaginative surf stickers, and gorgeous greenery everywhere. But the beach. Oh my, those waves! They were perfect; I could almost feel myself grabbing a board and taking it out for a spin! A really long board, that is, with plenty of buoyancy for my inexperienced self. :’) Cocoa Beach is home to long, calm, rolling waves that crash a ways out from where the water meets the sand. I was obsessed and proceeded to run straight into the ocean as far as I could go without getting my clothes entirely soaked. (Yes, I got half of my shorts wet in the first 20 seconds, but who cares, right??) Definitely a do: Head to the ocean! The waves are beautiful and calming, perfect food for the soul! After snapping a couple of gymnastics/what-I-hope-are-semi-artsy photos to reminisce on, I reluctantly headed back to the car, taking photos the entire way. Upon driving, we came across a huuuge surf shop that I just HAD to take a look at, so we made a quick stop to visit the Ron Jon Surf Shop. The different surf boards were fun to look at for someone like me, and we bought a couple bracelets for my sisters and were given a couple decal stickers as a bonus. After leaving, we drove for about ten minutes down a cute, local road until I spotted an adorable café/store, where we treated ourselves to a smoothie and an acai bowl. The shop is called Surfinista, and I highly recommend it! Their food looks fantastic, the atmosphere is very laid-back, and, of course, a dog bowl resting outside their coastal stickers-covered doors is set into and adorable mini-surf board holder. The acai bowl was also incredibly delectable, although I may be biased due to my illogical love for all things fruit. Do: Visit the local shops and cafes in Cocoa Beach area. They are unique and have much to offer. Also, Cocoa Beach has a fantastic surfer vibe to it, making it an awesome place for those of you who enjoy the destinations where everyone seems to just enjoy life. 

Once back on the road, we continued to head south towards our destination. Finally, we pulled into the parking lot of my grandparents’ quaint, lovely condo, where they were waiting for visitors. We were greeted with welcoming hugs, as most grandparents love to give and receive freely from loved ones. After unloading our bags from the car and into the spare room, my mom and I drove to the car rental place to drop it off as my Mummi and Pappa (Grandma and Grandpa for all you non-Finnish folk) followed. We then rode back with them to their place. Do: Check and see if a car rental agency allows you to drop off the car in a different city than you picked it up from if you are visiting relatives. It saves a lot of trouble! The skies were a bit cloudy that day in Lake Worth, but the ocean was safe to swim in. Therefore, I obviously had to be swimming as soon as possible! My mom and I walked to the ocean, which is less than a mile from the condo, where I dove headfirst into the waves. The first ocean swim of the season is always so, so sweet! (Excluding the salty water.) Don’t: Hesitate to head into the water, providing safe conditions. The Atlantic is warm, so embrace the chance to swim even if it isn’t 100% sunshiny and gorgeous out! We finished off the day with a delicious home-cooked dinner prepared by my Mummi. It was a pretty fun, slightly adventurous way to start out our Floridian stay.

Florida Travels~Magic Kingdom

Hello from Florida! My mom and I arrived at Orlando two days ago after about a four hour flight. Man, I had a hard enough time sitting still in the airplane seats that I have zero ideas on how I’ll be surviving the car ride home after our travels! :’) Anyways, we stepped off the plane and through that tube-like walkway that leads into the airport and BAM. Muggy weather. I swear a trickle of sweat was already working its way down my back. To put it plainly, prepare yourself for the humidity, guys! After nodding our heads a billion times like we understood everything the rental car spokesperson was saying at a billion miles-per-hour, we finally got into a cute little grey car and made our way to our fabulous hotel. Or so we thought. Let me explain: Orlando’s I-Drive is kind of like Phoenix- there’s the northern half of the strip, dazzling with beautiful hotels and ritzy restaurants, and there’s southern Orlando, cluttered full of souvenir shops, random food shacks, and a grand McDonalds. You can guess where our hotel was. (Think price.) Seeing as my only impression of Orlando was the southern half of the I-Drive and I had NO clue that the northern half existed, I was kind of wondering, “This is it?? All of those people who visit the famous Orlando for Disney World, Sea World, etc. get stuck in the part of town that’s ‘full of character’ (a.k.a. kinda slummy)?” (Here’s where I go on a rant about the place we were staying, so just skip this part if you want a head full of happier thoughts.)

 I was even more unimpressed when the International Palms Resort (btw the name is a bit of a misnomer) put us into a handicapped room that wasn’t suited for people without a wheelchair. I guess they do this to everybody who books a third-party stay, so be careful when you book places from online! After staying a night in this room, the next morning as my exhausted mom and I tried to drag ourselves out of the room to leave to Disney World, the handle on the door broke! It was literally dangling from the door, useless. At this point, our thoughts were along the lines of “What the heck did we get ourselves into here?” After a night of little sleep, my mom asked for a different room. Now, I’m sure you’re all thinking, “Wow, you couldn’t stand another night in a hotel just because it wasn’t kosher, what some uppity snoots, etc. etc.” I’m just going to say, my mom and I have stayed in every single kind of I’m-not-sure-about-this place. From dog-poop-on-the-stairs-motel to public-hostel-where-everybody-sleeps-in-one-big-room-full-of-bunkbeds-coed-style. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that I am an incredibly lucky person and am very well provided for. However, there are just some places that you really don’t feel comfortable with. This was one of them. They were quick to apologize and gave us a different room in a tower that we didn’t know was part of their hotel service. Yes! Score! But wait. There’s more! When we finally breathed a sigh of relief about getting to stay somewhere we wouldn’t be hearing people outside our door in the middle of the night, we went back to our old room to retrieve our belongings. The door. Was. Stuck. At this point, my mind was spiraling towards great-we’re-gonna-be-stuck-at-the-hotel-the-whole-day-and-are-gonna-miss-our-one-time-chance-to-go-to-Disney-World. My mom had the front desk call an engineer, who I’m sure would have taken close to an hour to get there to help us. As she went to check on the new room in the meantime, I just waited for the guy next to our old room with a salty look on my face and my arms crossed in a don’t-cross-me fashion that I’m not proud of. However, maybe it did something, because then an awesome woman who was cleaning rooms asked what the problem was and helped kick the door open. Literally. She put her key-card in the slot, lifted her leg up high, and slammed it against the door. Bingo! I proceeded to thank her profusely while placing a tennis shoe in the way of the door to keep it from closing. There was no way I was getting locked in that room while packing up our things! Anyways, when my mom made it back to the room, we hauled everything into the car (and left it there for time’s sake), and headed over to Starbucks for breakfast. When you’re staying in a place where most of the food is served at fast-food places or food shacks on a day you definitely don’t want to be sick, you try and look for something you feel you can trust. Coffee/oatmeal/yogurt to the rescue!

FINALLY, we managed to hightail it to the Magic Kingdom. (Here’s when we discovered that the I-Drive had a good side to it, hahaha) And wow, magic it was! As soon as we walked through the entrance, I was floating. I love going on crazy rides, and although the Magic Kingdom doesn’t have anything too wild, the thing I love most is that you are really transported to a different world. Nothing exists beyond that magical place in the moment, and you live in the here and now. Your sense of wonder is reawakened, and you get to enjoy that precious sense just as little kids enjoy it every day. I also thought it was a wonderful place to go with my mom, seeing as she no longer likes going on anything that’s too crazy. She went on every one of the faster rides besides Space Mountain, and she loved the experience! She was really a good sport through the whole day. Thanks, Mom! All of the lands were fantastic, but Main Street was most charming as always (pinstripes, anyone?), and Adventureland was pretty sick, definitely my favorite land looks-wise. I can’t stress enough how wonderful it was to be in a place so full of creativity in its design and character in its staff. It made for a truly fantastic day. Throughout our time, we treated ourselves to frozen chocolate and pecan-covered bananas, Starbucks (again, I know, we have an uncurable affinity for coffee), a rice crispy (Micky-Mouse shaped, of course), and later, dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café. The food was surprisingly good! At night time, we stayed for the electric parade and wish fireworks spectacular. This was the first time for both of us watching these. The parade was pretty cute, but the fireworks spectacular was inspiring. Kudos, Disney, for encouraging people to believe in their dreams! The end of the spectacular features Tinkerbell in a pretty sweet way that I won’t give away in case you decide to visit the Magic Kingdom. We went back to the hotel happy and content, myself fully renewed with magic.

The only thing I personally didn’t like much about the Magic Kingdom is how much they catered to their resort guests. I understand that they are only trying to make more money, but sometimes they made things much more difficult for the ordinary (in a money-sense) guests or kind of shoved the fact that “you aren’t a resort guest, so you don’t get this, this, and this” in your face. Nevertheless, we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves very much! Now, I’ll stop talking and let the pictures finish. 

Procrastination and SEDONA

Hey all! Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I'm gonna blame that on a medley of things:
a) Procrastination has been hitting me at its finest right now
b) Finals, exams, tests, SATs, yadayada and every other stressful moment for a college-attending high school student
c) Moving!

So about a week ago, my family moved houses, and now we are about a half-hour further from our old house. And my old school. And work. So, needless to say, things are changing in a major way. But, as they say, welcome change, for you never know what good can come of it. Right?? I'm hoping so, anyways!

I'm in the middle of getting ready to take my last two finals for this semester and finishing up my final art project, so I figured I'll just take a quick break and pretend my life is always adventurous, like the spontaneous day-trip to Sedona I went on with a few of my friends. Let me tell ya: the mountain roads-sketchy but pretty fun! Don't be scared if you want to take a road trip somewhere and haven't been on twisty roads before; my car has a low-bottom, is a stick-shift vehicle, and I've never driven in the mountains before. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a good experience! So, I'll quick yammering away now and let the photos speak for themselves.

Now, I'd better get back to my studies. P.S. I'll be heading to Florida on the 16th of this month, so get excited for Disneyworld and gorgeous beaches!
Talk to all you lovelies next time! :) Until then, au revoir!