Monday, 8 April 2013
So after our last trip we were supposed to
settle down; buy houses (or most likely just one house), have babies, that sort
of thing. That kind of did and didn’t
work out. We didn’t buy any houses (not
even the one) and we certainly didn’t have any babies. We did have 18 lovely months in beautiful
York in a house with a roaring open fire (which we had to use for most of those
18 months due to the extreme lack of summer last year). But the itchy feet struck again and before we
knew it we were enslaved to Skyscanner, furiously plotting ambitious routes
across the globe.
Our persistence (I use the term ‘our’
loosely – Nick put all the hard graft in) paid off. With the job jacked in and the house packed
up we find ourselves in sunny Florida.
And boy is it sunny.
Getting here was (as to be expected)
something of a ball-ache. The flight was
a good 9 hours and, lets face it, British Airways are just not what they used
to be (overheated plane, seats crammed in and a meal of pasta with a side of
pasta salad…really?) None of this was
aided by the patches of turbulence we hit and the stinking London cold I’d
picked up just before we left.
But we landed into a bright and sunny
Miami…only to be met with 90 minute queues for immigration. We survived that with most of our good cheer
in tact, to face the very unhelpful and annoying staff at Budget. The
immigration queues mean we’re a little late picking up the car, but as it’s
fully prepaid, we’re not overly worried.
Except that Budget have given our car to someone else as we weren’t there
exactly on time. They’d like to charge
us an extra $100 for a different car. We
call their bluff and say we’ll wait for a suitable car to turn up – surprise,
surprise, one is ready straight away. We
then refuse extra insurance but are charged for it anyway. And as a final straw we are asked to pay an
additional $80 for a charge unknown.
Budget cannot tell us what this charge is, but can tell us that if we
refuse to pay it they will not give us the car.
And if we have a problem with that we’ll have to ring their customer
helpline as they don’t deal with that sort of stuff.
With gritted teeth we collect our keys and
find the car. But hey – what am I
moaning about? We’ve just come from a few glasses of wine and a late dinner
(all al fresco) and I didn’t even need a cardigan. There are tropical flowers
blooming everywhere and even a couple of motel parrots.
Janet adds: I’m definitely a secret
American.
Tuesday 9 April 2013
We’re trying to ease our pale white bodies
into the Floridian sunshine and avoid burning to a pink crisp on day one, so we
take things easy today. A short drive up
the beach (you can’t go wrong – there’s beach, beach and more beach in every
direction) takes us to a nice spot to walk followed by an even nicer spot to
have eggs on toast on the veranda, cooled by a lovely sea breeze.
With tummies full, we keep driving. At Hutchinson Island we decide it’s about
time for a dip. It’s a little windy and
rough out there, but we have a great time playing in the waves. Once we’ve dried off and found some lunch we
keep driving up towards Cocoa Beach, our stop for the next 2 nights. It’s late afternoon by the time we pull
in. We tidy ourselves and then head out
for a stroll.
Along the way we find the Cocoa Beach
Brewery, serving up it’s own beers. It’s
a lovely little spot, but with their ale coming in at 6.4% abv I’m only able to
handle one (and Nick may have helped me a little on that one). We find another bar next door with some
‘gentler’ options before heading off for some food and an early night.
Janet adds: Feel like I’ve gone back to the
70s – we’re in tourist central, Florida, but had to eat at Denny’s as it was
the only place with a vegetarian option.
Wednesday 10 April 2013
I start the day with a barefoot run on the
beach. I just manage to catch the tail
end of sunrise as well as a proper monkey’s wedding rain shower (if you don’t
know the phrase ‘monkey’s wedding’ you’ve probably not spent enough time with
me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshower).
It’s glorious, apart from the running, which is really hard work. (I’m tracked for some of the way by a bird
that looks suspiciously like a vulture.
I must be going so slowly that it assumes I’m going to keel over at any
minute).
After breakfast we take a slow stroll up
the beach to the pier (about 2.5 miles) where we stop for a swim and a little
lie in the sun. We spend the afternoon
wandering about the town and browsing in the cavernous Ron Jon’s surfshop before walking back
to the hotel for a cool off in the pool.
In the evening we walk back up the street to have a few beers
overlooking the other side (the river side) of the island. There’s live entertainment in the form of a
gentleman singing and playing frankly hideous sax versions of popular
songs. Gangnam Style is a particular
highlight…
Janet adds: I don’t know what they’ve got
in the pool, but both Nick and I have been struck down with pool
blindness. We’re hoping we’ll be able to
see properly again tomorrow.
Thursday 11 April 2013
I head to the beach again this morning for
some more (excruciating) running and another (glorious) sunrise. Luckily my eyesight seems back to
normal. Nick’s is better, but not
perfect.
We take another trip to Ron Jon’s to grab
swimming goggles for me, (I’m not risking my eyes again) and more cheap
t-shirts for Nick. Then we drive across
to the historic Cocoa Village. It’s a
quaint, riverside town dripping in Spanish moss and we spend a half hour or so
strolling.
Back in the car, we drive over to Tampa
(not stopping for any of Orlando’s delights).
Before heading to the hotel we take some time to see Ybor – a culturally diverse part of the city with a rich
history in cigar-making.
We get checked in and test out my new
goggles with a swim in the pool. I’m
loving Tampa. The weather is gorgeous,
it feels laidback and has a fantastic riverside location. The main reason we’re here though, is to
catch Tampa Lightning taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s a fifteen minute walk along the river to
the arena. When we get there the sun is
shining and a band is playing, so we have a beer outside before finding our
seats. The over-the-top drama is
fantastic: Tampa Lightning even have their own lightning machines that go off
at strategic moments and Nick is loving the in-house organist.
The game is what you’d expect – fast moving
and filled with mini punch-ups. At the
end of the night, Lightning have been solidly beaten 6 to 3, but we’ve had a
great time. Best of all, when we come
out of the arena at 10.30pm, it’s still
lovely and warm.
Friday 12 April
I hit the gym at the hotel this morning for
a quick go on the machines before we head off.
We don’t get breakfast here and as we’re hoping for a beach day we drive
out across long causeways and bridges to Clearwater. We find a spot to eat without too much
bother, but it’s still nearly 11 by the time we tuck into our eggs.
The beaches at Clearwater are impossibly
long and impeccably white. Unfortunately
for us, it’s also an overcast, windy day (although not cold). We take a long stroll along the beach and
back through town before braving the wind for a swim.
Once we’ve dried off, we drive along the
coast a ways to where we’re staying for the night. We’ve forked out for a (not particularly nice)
motel on the beach, but the wind is picking up and we decide on another walk
instead. There’s a long boardwalk about
a mile or so away and it’s a good spot to grab ice-creams as big as our heads. Nick thinks it’s about the tackiest place he
has ever been, but then realizes that as we’re staying in a town called
Treasure Island, that’s to be expected really.
Once we’ve tied ourselves up, we head off walking in the other direction and find a bar for a few beers and a restaurant
for some good Mexican food. Mmmm.
Janet adds: I’m getting obsessed with
pelicans.
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