Travel Diary- Orlando – Part Uno

My exams got over about 2 weeks back and I have had all the time in the world to do some things I like doing / plan to do- Go on a vacation/ finish reading John Wright’s book,learn a new language to mention a few. Top of that list was a get away from the island for a short vacation. I didn’t care where I went as long as I got to do something new and see a few new faces. Further, M and R&K (who got engaged recently -hearty congratulations again- you won’t believe how happy I am for you guysJ-) would be leaving Bermuda soon and we have been wanting to do another Montrealesque trip. After exchanging countless emails since mid-april about the likely dates and destination we finally decided sometime in end of May that it would be Orlando between June 13th and June 17th.(which BTW is an outstanding achievement given our history of making plans through emails have been as successful as South Africa winning a cricket world cup).

To be honest I was never convinced about this trip being an enjoyable one and my fears were compounded when G& KR decided to drop out due to personal reasons and R got stuck at work and couldn’t make it. Anyone with whom I discussed the trip about came with the remark- “Why Orlando? You guys should do vegas”. I have never been a fan of vegas despite all my acquaintances drooling over the prospect of a trip to Vegas. Just like alcohol, gambling has never fascinated me. I really don’t understand what the big deal is???? Is it so cool to gamble and lose money????? Anyway we decided to go ahead with the trip and it was K,S,KK (ok I will do this only once to annoy you – hence forth I shall address you as KD) M and me. I was just hoping that KD wasn’t going to be bored as R had pulled of the trip and it would make it extremely uncomfortable for the rest of us.

Day 1- Friday June 13th

We took the afternoon flight and reached Orlando via Philadelphia at about 10.30pm and M joined us directly from New-Jersey. The flight was rather pleasant and we had booked ourselves a nice and comfy hotel which was quite some distance from downtown Orlando but was close to the other places which we wanted to see. We went out for a drink and were planning to be back early. The next day was birthday and it had made it mandatory to stay up until 12 so that we could have the customary but embarrassing and “SURPRISING” cake-cutting ceremony. S exhibited childish exuberance while I was cutting the cake while the rest of the crew (including me) went through the motion. It is no wonder she is the youngest of the gang (not by much though!). I had a pomegranate margarita as KD’s insisted that I should. I am no alcohol virgin but this is the first time I had ordered a full drink for myself and I am rather embarrassed that I had picked myself a “girly” drink. I am thinking I have to watch a few hundred girl on girl porn videos to move away from the feminine feeling. We were back at the hotel by half twelve. Long day ahead tomorrow.













Day 2- Saturday June 14th

Ever since my 23rd birthday the lead up to my birthdays has been rather depressing. The fact that I wasn’t where I should be at this stage in life was always bothering me and hence the my birthdays haven’t been happy occasions irrespective of how and with whom I have spent the day. This year seemed different. I was feeling nice. We had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel and made plans for the next 3 days including reservations and taxi appointments. As is so often the case KD and K made all the planning whilst I kept nodding my head and making wise-ass comments which added no value to the discussion. M was his self as he kept saying “Perfect”, “sounds good” without adding any new ideas while S was just way too excited about the trip that we were sure she wasn’t even listening to the plan.

We had planned to spend the whole day at Universal studios. Of late I have wanted to overcome some of my bat-shit insane fears in life. Some of the rather embarrassing ones are fear of dogs/cats (even if they are as the same size of a squirrel) fear of water (I have enrolled myself in a swimming class and I am working towards getting over it) and the perennial fear of talking to pretty women. As a kid every time we went to an amusement park all I would do was to eat pop-corn and sweet candy and wait for long hours for the rest of the gang to comeback from the rides. I kept telling myself I would feel giddy going for these rides while I have never ever been on one. Deep down I was scared of those giant-wheels and roller coaster but I conveniently believed it that I would feel giddy.





KD,S and me decided we were going to do all the crazy rides while K and M opted out of the roller coasters and agreed to join us on the others (alternatively as KD likes to remind the boys they “chickened” out). I think M wanted to do these rides but wasn’t confident enough. Hey, who am I to judge after all I was scared all these years. We decided to do the mother of all roller coaster rides first- “THE INCREDIBLE HULK”. It was humongous and quite scary for someone like me who doesn’t enjoy looking through the window from an airplane. It was unbelievable and we thoroughly enjoyed it. KD absolutely loved it (she has done these before), S was thrilled to bits and she let out a girly shrill which lasted the entire ride and sounded pretty much like the old mice which gets stuck in a mouse trap and I was too scared to let go the hand guard even when it looked like my glasses would fall off. Through out the trip we were suckers for good snaps and we ended up paying 50 bucks every time the camera in the rides captured natural images of being scared. We ended up spending quite a bit on photos alone but am sure it will be worth it.

K and M decided to ditch us and went to watch a blue men group show- A trio of mute performers. They enjoyed the show while we were busy conquering every other crazy ride. A special mention has to be made for the “Mummy returns” ride which was unpredictable and had nice 3D-animations. It was quite hot in Orlando and we decided to get a drink and something to eat before we watched the Cirque du Soleil show. We were bloody tired and weren’t too keen on watching the show. The group is from Quebec and only way KD was missing this show was one of us had a stroke. So we reluctantly went to this show which features acrobats, dancers, gymnasts and clowns in a combination of theater and circus. We were soooo wrong- the show had to be the highlight of the trip. It was a performance for an hour and half and the synchronization they displayed would have put Olympic swimmers to shame. Absabloodylutely fantastic! A long day where I had overcome one of my fears- A birthday I will remember for quite a while.


Ok, this one is taking much longer than I expected but I shall continue my blog when I find time. Sorry folks you might have to wait for some more time!

Cheers
S