Orlando in 36 hours, Harry Potter(!), Pool party part un and falling asleep in the everglads

Soooo onwards and downwards to the beautiful state of Florida which was to be our home for the next 7 days – the longest we would spend in one state. Soo much happened that we will do Florida in two parts – number one Tallahasse to Miami.

We left New Orleans and bussed our way along the coast. Today Justin decided we would be stopping for lunch in Pensacola Beach. Pensacola Beach is one of the tourist communities affected by the BP oil spill in the gulf and he thought it would be nice for 50 hungry people to go and spend some dollars there. To get there we had to drive along a very long bridge which I can’t find on the map but I remember it took ages to get there! Little Erin, Naomi and I headed to a local sports bar for lunch and Naomi and I enjoyed (?) $2 margaritas just because they were $2!

Onwards to Tallahasse the state capital of Florida, surprisingly as it seems like a really small place. We got there late so didn’t see much, we went to Applebees for one of our better included dinners (and it seems to be a hot place as when we left people were paying to get in to for some karaoke thing, I guess not much happens there!). Some of us then headed for a local bar which had a ‘wheel of fortune’ for free beer and played some pool and air hockey. Headed home at a reasonable hour to enjoy a room to myself, which resulted from a reservation muck up (after Erin and I had shared a bed in Memphis too!). Worked out quite well as I was ill and could not stop coughing due to *still* being ill.

Orlando beckons the next day and we get there early afternoon and a bunch of us decide to check out some water slides at Wet’N’Wild. Lots of fun, lots of queues and pretty hot. Managed to do most of the rides which was a good effort considering we were only there about 5 hours. The best had to be ‘Disco H2O’ where you go down into this funnel type thing with disco balls inside and disco music and you spin round a bit before getting chucked outside, pretty fun! That evening (still a little ill) we went for our included dinner – pizza which we waited nearly an hour for and a laundry party with Naomi. I hadn’t washed my clothes in a washing machine since the grand canyon, it was a crisis situation! The others went to a bar and got drunk and had a pool party at crazy oclock and I got woken up a few times, fun and games!

Our only full day in Orlando was next! We had decided to hit Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios as that is where HARRY POTTER world is! We upped the stakes and bought express passess (best $70 I had spent in a while!) so we could skip all the queues. They were amazing, walked past all the people queuing and didn’t wait more than 10 minutes, which is pretty good in the middle of August! Our first stop was of course harry potter world (officialy ‘The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’). Something was wrong when we got there so had to wait an hour in the queue with De, Trudy and Naomi. So we sat on the ground (it was hot and we weren’t precious) ate Choros, pretzels and slushy drinks for breakfast and got excited.

Finally getting in to Potter land - so excited!

Harry potter world is really cool, if a little smaller than I imagined. The Hogwarts village has been done in such detail, you can go in all the shops, buy things from the movies (like butter beer and bertie botts beans) there is an owlery to send postcards and you can visit ollivanders. Trudy and I headed for the duelling dragons ride which was lots of fun and our first use of our express pass, it was set up like the challengers for the tri-wizard cup, very cute. Something I loved about universal studios was the quality and detail everywhere. All the rides are so well maintained, no wear and tear and really well made! Every ride the staff have uniforms themed to that ride (not just that area) its soo cute! On this ride they were dressed like the people who look after the dragons in the film! We skipped the ride inside Hogwarts as there was a huge queue and our queue jumpers didn’t work on that ride (bummer) but we cheered ourselves up by buying wands and other paraphernalia!

We next hit up the water ride section of the park, and oh my god the rides there get you SOAKED! Not damp, not wet but ‘oh my god everything I am wearing (including my underwear) is so drenched if I stripped off I could fill a paddling pool with the water I squeeze out of it’. Much fun, but kinda icky when its humid! We also checked out some more rollercoaster and superhero themed things, waited in a queue for 30 mins for bad fast food (there were only TEN people in front of us) and relaxed a little as our wonderful express passes took all the stress out of the day!

That night we had a barbeque (where even though I paid I ended up with no food – hmmmmm) and a party with a ‘D’ theme (Well gold bus was ‘D’ theme, white bus all had different letters which made it hard to tell who was what). Most of us got in on it (I was a domino!) but some lazy sods didn’t bother – you know who you are :P! It was actually pretty tame, lots of us went in the pool, some of the guys had nerf guns so there was a bit of a nerf war and Amy decided to have a little strip in the pool but pretty calm! Stayed in the pool until the security guy kicked us out (hmm, will that happen again??) at a rather early 12.30am and had a good nights sleep for the journey to MIAMI!

Okay, a side note on our journey to Miami. We were told we would get a tour of the Everglades included, yay we said. Justin says, if you don’t want to do it you don’t have to but there is nothing to do at the place we leave the bus. So we go on a little tour in these trolley type things. One of the most boring 90 minute periods of my life. Grass. Water. Birds. A gator. Repeat. For 90 minutes. Also one of the most boring tour guides in the world, he talked about alligators for 20 MINUTES! I was tired, ill, a little hungover and just wanted to sleep. We nearly killed Justin for not warning us. Bad times.

It really was that boring!

But, we were on our way to MIAMI!!!! So all is good.

TBC – Miami clubs, DASH, Miami Ink, booze cruises, SHOTS!, beach bumming and NASA baby!

I left my heart (and my liver) in New Orleans

So we leave Memphis early on a Monday morning and board our coach to NOLA!

We stopped in the morning at generic American rest stop which had a cool Louisiana shaped sign (see picture!) and then I *think* (it was a month ago - need to get this blog finished before I forget everything) we stopped in some little place and got amazingly huge sandwiches. And may I say it was ridiculously hot still and getting more humid.

So we continued to NOLA, as we drove we went through Brentwood, LA (home town of Britney Spears - Naomi, Erin and I were the only ones sad enough to admit to knowing this when Justin asked who came from there) and as we drove in New Orleans Justin told us a bit about the city and the impact of hurricane Katrina.

Justin used to live in New Orleans and coincidentally he left the city just a few days before the hurricane hit. We drove on a massive motorway/flyover type thing which I remember seeing people walking on in footage from years ago. We also drove past the Louisiana Superdome which is where thousands of people tried to shelter from the hurricane. It's repaired now but it was pretty wrecked by the storm, I really can't imagine what it must have been like. Shame on the US gov for not doing more to evacuate the poor and vulnerable.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was in a good location, only a couple of blocks from Bourbon Street. Not the nicest inside however, Erin and I got to our room to find it had an industrial carpet cleaner left in it. We really didn't want to know why they had been shampooing the carpet. Then, revelling in the fact that we had more that 30 minutes to get ready, we decided to try out the hotel pool. Let's just say it was about the size of a paddling pool. Oh well, it was hot and humid so at least we got wet!

Post cruise fun with Kate and Naomi

The first night we had signed up for a paddle boat cruise on the Mississippi. The boat was pretty cool and they played some jazzy type music. There was food which again was yucky and not what we were told it would be. Can I just say 80% of the food I ate on this tour was pretty gross. We all had a few drinks from the worlds slowest bar staff and enjoyed the views.

After the cruise we headed to the original 'Pat O'Briens' home of the famous New Orleans hurricane to meet up with the rest of the Contiki's. Hurricanes are like an institution in NOLA and wow are they strong. They don't taste that strong as such, but I had 2 in about 1 1/2 hours and combined with a few vodkas on the boat I was very tipsy!

Next we hit another NOLA 'landmark' 'Tropical Isle'. This bar is the home of the hand grenade. The bar only sells these drinks (and I think maybe beer) and you can get them slushy style or regular in one of two sizes, if you get the big size it comes in a nifty neon yellow cup and you get a little mini hand grenade floating in your drink. I really do wonder who thinks of these things. Needless to say these were also very strong, so by this point you have in the region of 70 very merry contikis! So we headed off to Razzoo's for more fun, dancing on the stage, test tube drinks and other fun. I am pleased to say I was good and started drinking water here (there are photos for proof!) and so started to sober up and remember the night!

http://www.tropicalisle.com/

Razzoo's - Messy

So the next day I rose reasonably early but bed looked so comfy I decided against an early departure. I did manage to get out though and see the city, I mainly walked around the french quarter which is really pretty. I've always thought New Orleans looks nice after seeing it in films like interview with a vampire and runaway jury. I did some souvenir shopping etc and got a pedicure - generally enjoying having my first afternoon to myself!

Night two I went for dinner with some friends and then we stopped off at Cafe du Monde to try their famour Beignets (see below) which are like pillow shaped doughnuts covered in icing sugar. LOTS of icing sugar. They must go through tons of the stuff. Nice, but sickly.

We then headed to a 'locals' bar which Kris (other bus manager) had chosen. It was okay, but lacked atmosphere. That night was one of those could go either way nights and I wanted to have fun as it was Janice's last night (she was only doing the half tour 'Southern Adventure'). We decided to head over to Bourbon Street and stopped in Tropical Isle. I admitted defeat though - still sick as I had been from Dallas and after such a humid day I called in a night just after midnight.

Onwards to Tallahasse and Florida.

New Orleans was lots of fun and crazier than I could imagine. Will be going back at some point, that's for sure!

Memphis, I love you

So, we arrive at our next destination, Memphis, TN.

Okay, I'll admit it, I know little to nothing about Memphis (beyond Elvis and 'Walking in Memphis') and it wasn't a place I was super excited to be visiting, how wrong was I!

We drive into the city to the sound of Marc Cohn and do a quick city tour of a few sights such as Beale St (whilst discovering the Bieber is in town and the city if full of tweens!).

Our hotel is pretty nice if unremarkable, and the first night I had opted in to a dinner at a famous barbecue place called 'Rendezvous'. So the night is hot and sticky and we get there and there is a big queue outside, I think this was because we had reserved a pretty huge section of the restaurant - sucks for those without a reservation! So we have a random buffet type meal of ribs which was pretty rank imo, and we've also paid to have free beer, but me being sick couldn't drink the damn stuff which was annoying so ended up going to the bar for a cheeky glass of wine. The atmosphere was pretty good though, we had a jukebox in our section and I attempted to liven up the atmosphere with a great double bill of the Venga boys and the Macarena (see evidence below of me attempting to do the dance). Didn't catch on, shame!

Next - Beale Street - Saturday night, one word, awesome! Okay so there is lots of ID checking this night, once to get onto Beale St, then to get in a bar and then for every drink, overkill? So, first stop is BB Kings blues club. The music is pretty cool but Naomi and I were just not feeling it, the bar was smallish and the Contikis there were all spread about and we were lacking the group fun we normally had. So after some dramas in getting Kate her ID (which had been 'borrowed'). Naomi and I decided to pace the street, first we found Janice, De and Trudy and had some hugs and hellos and they wanted to continue there wanderings so we parted ways. Now at this point, I still wasn't feeling in (lots of nights partying was starting to take its toll!) but this was the city where Naomi and I learned to work through the funk as it ALWAYS turns out to be a good night. First turning point, bumping into Mick who was in such a high and infectious mood! Second point, having a huge blue slushy cocktail thing in a big glass - strong! Last point, returning to BB Kings and finding we have taken over large sections of the dance floor! Brillaint night, only spoilt by tripping on cobbles on the way home and ripping the bottom of my dress, grr!

Drag myself out of bed the next day, determined to see stuff even if I didn't get to bed til after 3 (this was the start of a theme!). Firstly we went to Graceland. Now I'm not an Elvis fan, but it was kinda cool. The house was actually very small but it was decorated as it was when he died. There was also all his records, some costumes etc and LOTS of people. Tons. And they walk slowly!

Next we went to the Lorraine Hotel where MLK jr was shot, very sad. It's now a civil rights museum (closed when we were there as it was a Sunday morning) and there is a lady outside who has been protesting about the museum for over 20 years, she says MLK would have thought it a waste of money and the millions spent on it should have been spent on poor people. I think I agree with her, even if she is a little crazy. We also visited Sun Studios where Johnny Cash made music among others. I must admit, I didn't get of the bus here. The heat, humidity and lack of sleep got the better of me! Later that afternoon we also headed to see a baseball game, the Memphis Redbirds. Baseball is pretty dull though, so we enjoyed a bit of the buffet we had provided, watched a bit, I bought a foam finger and we headed back to chill.

Last night - included dinner which was okay but they decided to put this huge band on next to us which mean we couldn't really talk to each other. We had a few drinks in and Irish bar next door and again another in BB Kings but the groups I was with decided to call it an early (ish) night and prep ourselves for the next leg to New Orleans. And I'm glad I did. Do you know what they call Bourbon St (main party street in NO)? Beale St on crack. And that is VERY accurate description as I will further explain next time :)

Memphis, you were one of many surprises on my trip, so glad I got to visit you, may we meet again!