Nicole schreibt...

Florida 2011

It seemed to be the longest journey ever, starting at 10am on a Saturday when I left my flat, ending 42 hours later in a hotel bed in Orlando. How come? Well it involves a convoluted story about changing travel mates and cancelled planes, which would bore so you much, you wouldn't even make it to the beginning of the actual travelogue, so I'll spare you. Suffice to say that the actual trip began on Saturday afternoon with a train journey to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam where we had booked a hotel for the night since the initial flight had been at 9.15am - impossible to make it from Germany. And though the new flight was at 12.15am, it was still a good decision I think, being rested and on location the next morning. Not to mention that the Citizen M-Hotel was a very modern nifty thing with free wifi, strange "pods" for shower and toilet in the room and an amazing view on the actual airfield where we could watch planes come and go (and stand around), so here's a full (sadly unpaid) endorsement by me to check out this place when you need a hotel in Schiphol. ?It also provided the opportunity to go into Amsterdam for dinner and enjoy watching the tourist hordes file by from a nice brasserie on the Damrak. And venture into De Wallen on the way back to the Central Station for a little peek around (well, about 90 percent of the people on the streets there seemed to be drunk Brits).

Next morning the real journey finally began with a long-distance flight to Washington Dulles, courtesy of United Airlines. A step up from US Airways, but man the plane was old, the "entertainment" sucked (tiny screens and no on-demand start of movies - luckily I had my trustly little laptop which provided me with hours of good TV) and the food was so-so, but at least they got us to Washington in time. And I love me some IAD now, there were NO queues at immigration at all and within half an hour of arriving we were through customs and security and in the departure area again - eat that, assorted New York airports with your endless queues. The flight to Orlando was on time as well, but the good folks at Budget took their time to unite us with our rental car, a shiny white Mustang Convertible, which I quickly christened Monster Mustang, as it was a damn friggin' truck compared to my little Peugeot at home. It took some wobbling out of the airport parking to get used to automatic gears again, but eventually I made it to the hotel without any crashes or being hauled over by the cops. Well it certainly helped that the streets were empty at 9pm on a Sunday evening (yea, I know everyone was glued to HBO).

After a reasonably good night, Monday dawned on what was ultimately the main reason for the Florida trip: A visit to the "Harry Potter Park" - which isn't a complete new theme park, but just a new area in Universal's "Islands of Adventure" park. Luckily I had worked out in time that there's a free bus shuttle service from our hotel, which ironically calls itself "Doubletree at the Entrance of Universal" but is still a good mile away from the actual entrance gates. In a way it was a crazy dream coming true to finally walk into "Hogsmeade" - the mere fact that it is possible for me to say "Oh, I'd love to see this park!" and to actually be able to go there. Hogsmeade looked pretty much like it does in the movies, Ye Olde English village with snow-covered roofs (under a bright-blue Florida summer sky!) and geeky little shops where you could buy all the amazing stuff JK Rowling had so creatively thought up - candy like Bertie Bott's All-Flavour Beans and Chocolate Frogs at Honeyduke's, Extendable Ears and other silly stuff at Zonko's, Wands, Monster Books, Robes and full Quidditch sets (and so much more!). The rides were pretty awesome, too, especially the "Flight of the Hippogriff" thing inside Hogwarts (which was also really nice, though I would have liked to see more rooms) which was part rollercoaster and part 3D-animation that made you feel like taking part in a Quidditch game or soaring over mountains and lakes on the back of a Hippogriff. The only thing I definitely did not like was the "Butterbeer", some incredibly sweet gooey stuff with a cream topping. EW! But overall - yea, for everyone who's even vaguely into the whole Harry Potter thing, this park is a wild dream coming true and I was really happy that I was able to be there.

There was also lots of other fun to be had in the park - another great rollercoaster, based on The Hulk, a 3D-Spiderman ride and a crazy wild water ride that left me absolutely soaked, plus some more sedate things. Finally we returned to the CityWalk for a fairly early dinner at Margaritaville, another "franchise" apparently, but a fun place emulating very well the image of happy, carefree beach life in the Caribbean (and doing a mean spicy jambalaya dish!). The was an hour of sunshine left by the poolside before ending the evening chatting online (oh the geekery!) and catching the season finale of House on Fox (oh the obsession!).

Tuesday was part two of the theme park tour, this time the original "Universal Studios" Park next door which I found nicer designed with all the eye for careful details that make these American parks so special with areas emulating Hollywood and Beverly Hills, San Francisco, a New England fishing village (well Amity and a boat tour for "Jaws") and of course New York City. And also some cool rides like the Rock It-Rollercoaster, where everyone can pick their own soundtrack to accompany him on the ride (I tried both hard rock and hip hop, oddly, hip hop worked better) and the totally crazy Krustyland-Simpsons Ride, as whacky as the series is in its best moments. Other nice stuff included the "Revenge of the Mummy" indoor-rollercoaster and a fun live version of the TV show "Fear Factor".

By the afternoon my head was buzzing though and I was glad to retreat to the hotel pool for a few hours to chill and come down from it all. While I dearly love theme parks and the perfect fictional worlds they create, the rollercoasters and the easy-going fun, I think two days in a row are as much as I can handle before the crowds, the noise and the permanent sensual overkill become too much, especially in the stifling heat of Florida. While I can see how Orlando is a perfect destination for a family holiday, I personally couldn't last there for a week or even more.

Next morning it was time to leave Orlando behind and hit the highway south - well via a detour east to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. While I'm too young to remember the first heydays of mankind going up into space and landing on the moon, I remember the beginning of the Space Shuttle flights and have generally always been pretty interested in space flight - even though my own experience is limited to roleplaying characters from Firefly or Star Wars. Ah well, the KSC offers a "Shuttle Launch Experience" that supposedly makes you experience how it feels to be shot up into space but in all honesty, I found it a bit lame. Yea, the sheer pressure in that can, the rattling and the visual images were pretty cool but I had quite expected to go overhead and roll around and all that as the real shuttles do on their launch. We also watched a pretty cool IMAX movie about life on the Space Station (a lesson to be learned there: Don't try eating popcorn in space) and saw the rocket garden, but considering the steep entrance fee, I would have expected a tad bit more. But then we also didn't do any of the offered tours around the area as we still had a long drive to Miami ahead.

I had initially been worried about driving around in the USA since I had earlier got spooked by strange traffic rules I didn't know, the strict speed limits and the whole "getting pulled over by a cop" thing they do over there. Not to mention going back to automatic drive which I hadn't done for years and driving a car now that felt like three times the size of my own little Peugeot at home. But while the first drive from Orlando Airport to the hotel - after a very long day, in darkness, and totally lost for orientation - had been rather awkward, it was fine now that I was rested and it was daylight. In fact I soon began to enjoy driving as everyone was so much more laid back than around here with plenty of space to change lanes, easy signage and no suited "I'm important" jerks racing up behind you at 200 km/h in their fat Mercs and Beemers, flashing their lights to make you go out of their way. Overall I really felt that compared to Florida's drivers, the entire German car driving population should be sent on anger management courses. And of course it was a dream come true to drive around in a convertible with the wind blowing in my hair (and feeling very much like being in one of my favorite US-series where people always seem to have the money for impossibly gorgeous cars).
We got to our hotel easily, the Crowne Plaza on Hallandale Beach in Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale which had a lovely pool big enough to fit huge yachts into as the photo shows. Well, not really, admittedly. But it was still a great pool and a great location by the canal, so we just crashed their for the rest of the day and had dinner in the hotel restaurant by the pool.

Some pretty Art Deco hotels here and proof that Miami was just too darn hot...

Thursday it was time to explore Miami itself and Miami Beach, where we went first along the scenic Ocean Drive route from Hollywood through Bal Harbour to Collins Avenue. And a big thank you here to Peter for alerting me to that "Urban Black Weekend" thing going down on South Beach over the long Memorial Day weekend because it was already starting with hip hop and rap blaring from every corner and lots and lots of guys in too-large baggypants and chicks in too-tight clothes out and about. So I was really glad I dodged that bullet and didn't get a hotel on South Beach.
Nonetheless the Art Deco quarter was absolutely gorgeous and worth the long walk down Ocean Drive despite temperatures being well above the 100F - but afterwards we didn't stay on the beach as initially planned and instead headed on to the much quieter and prettier beach at Cape Florida on Key Biscayne island (okay, I admit, initially it was just a wrong right-turn that led me straight onto the Causeway to Key Biscayne with no chance of turning back but in retrospect it was the best mistake I made on that day).
Finally we stopped in Downtown Miami for a walk along the harbor and Bayview Park which brought back memories of my 80's obsession with Miami Vice. Sadly no Don Johnsons in sight now, just Dutch tourists buying stacks of Chucks at Foot Locker. After a great Cuban dinner it was finally time to return to Hollywood Beach and the hotel to put my feet up.

The last two days on Floridian soil were given over to doing fun stuff and being lazy - a long tour around Sawgrass Mills Mall to stock up on Hilfiger, cheap jeans and other US goodies followed by a hop into the pool in the late afternoon and another full day just doing nothing at Hallandale Beach just across the street from our hotel. While the beach and the sea were both absolutely gorgeous I was boggling at the rental prices for two chairs and a sun umbrella that came to $45 together. For just this one day it was acceptable but if I wanted a proper beach holiday, I'd really rather visit some Caribbean island with all-inclusive offerings.
In the evening we drove into Fort Lauderdale for a stroll along Las Olas Boulevard which wasn't as long or interesting as I had hoped for, but still a nice place to go to for dinner as it's one of the rare places with plenty of outdoor seating along the street and a social feel unlike so many other areas in the US where there's virtually no street life and eating is restricted to hotel restaurants or isolated buildings surrounded by parking.

Despite having to get up at 5am to make our 7.05am flight to JFK, I held it together quite well and although I said goodbye to the lovely Monster Mustang with a heavy heart, I was quite glad when we were finally on the way north on JetBlue (very comfy seats indeed!). At JFK we decided to splash out on a cab to Manhattan to escape lugging heavy suitcases up and down the stairs in subway stations and got to the Milford Plaza Hotel in Times Square by 11am already, getting a room with an awesome view on 8th Avenue.
It gave me time to hunt down some plays despite the stupid Drama Book Store being closed, retrieve the show tickets and have a nice late lunch before seeing "Spiderman" at the Fridge, er, Foxwoods Theatre, air-conditioned to within three degrees short of the North Pole. What to say about the show? Let's say it wasn't as bad as many people say. There's some good stuff hidden in it somewhere, but it certainly could be much much better. And of course it didn't help that both acts came to a grinding halt at one point, when the flying technology didn't work. Luckily I had tacked on "The Book of Mormon" which was every note and joke as great as all the positive reviews promise it is. And certainly living proof of how much a solid book with fleshed-out characters singing sensible lyrics to good tunes matter to a musical.

Next morning the trip came to a mellow end with breakfast and one last stroll around Times Square and Fifth Avenue before it was time to go to Newark and onwards home to dreary old Germany. As if I needed a reminder of how over-regulated and choked by red tape my country is, the pilot announced after boarding (4.20pm, with a scheduled departure at 4.30) that he couldn't take off until 5pm because favourable winds would make us arrive at Duesseldorf Airport before 6am otherwise and that would land Lufthansa with a big fine for breaking the prohibition on "night-time flights". So we just stood on the tarmac for another 40mins with me contemplating doing a runner there and then. But here I am again - and plotting new travels...