Well it's been a while since I have written a review, having been to America and Europe im now back and refreshed with hopefully some more stories to tell. This review is about my time in Florida, I spent a week, went to a live wrestling event, visited the most spectacular beaches, went to the latest night spots and so forth, hopefully you'll enjoy my new batch of reviews. P.S, I will be incorporating my wrestling experience in this review, as the whole premise of this holiday was for this sole reason.
Brief History:
Florida is an American State located in the southern region of America, nearest to the Atlantic Ocean. Its rich Spanish history can be dated back to the early 1500's, when Juan Ponce de León, who was one of the first to step foot in Florida and coincidently name it. Many wars with the British, Spanish, French and local American Indians took place between the 1600's and 1800's. Today, the states Spanish heritage can be associated with its large population of Hispanics. Florida also has many cities, which include Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Orlando, all of which we visited.
Accommodation:
Well surprisingly I actually went to Florida with one of my university lecturers, its seemed me and him both had a fascination with wrestling, and since he had been to Florida many times before I thought I would leave it up to him to pick were we stayed. He picked the beautiful "Bay to Beach Resort", which is right opposite Fort Myers Beach on the tip of the Gulf of Florida. The hotel was probably one of the best I have ever stayed in, it's incredible view of the beach and ocean front, the majestic coconut palm trees growing outside your balcony window, and its open hospitality all made the stay much more pleasant.
Prices: We stayed for a 3 nights at this hotel and worked out to roughly £290, which included bed and breakfast as well as free drinks at the bar. I noticed that they had a lot of children at the resort and having looked on there website we found cheaper packages with a family sharing. So if you're a family with young children, your likely to get a better deal that the single people. Like most places prices tend to be steep during the peak season so booking in advance would also be a plus.
The rooms: The rooms came fully equipped with air conditioning, beds, a small kitchen to make tea and so forth, a pleasant bathroom, a safe to store all your valuables and cable TV. I think the best part of the room would have to be the balcony overlooking the ocean.
The hotel also comes with a nice pool, with both a deep and shallow end, which caters for the adults and the children, along with a deck of sun beds, however considering we were right next to the beach we didn't really stay at the hotel.
Contact Details: (Phone: 239-463-5846) (740 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931)
The rest of the time during our trip we stayed at a family house located in Miami. Again even the houses are like hotels, largely due to there sheer size and garden space, as well as most of them having swimming pools in the back yard.
Attractions:
Florida has so much to offer the tourists; it caters for both the older and younger generation. I previously went to Orlando ten years back to go do the whole Universal studios tour, however being a lot older this time around I could experience the nightlife, the clubs and have the independence to see things for myself, without having my family here, (a big plus for me)
Daytona;
For anyone going to Florida, Daytona Beach is defiantly a place that one must go. It's exactly what it looks like in the movies, blonde beautiful women on the roller blades, bodybuilders working out near the beach, surfers in the water, and Baywatch life guards running in slow motions like they do. Its also a place full of motor sport fanatics, with state of the art motorbikes to state of the art cars, they love them. We were fortunate to be around during a NASCAR event, although we didn't see the actual race, just watching the fans were something special.
The beach is right up as the best beach in the world, next to the Miami Beach. Its absolute gold and having arrived for Spring Break, there were plenty of people backed on the beaches having a sun tan. Unlike most beaches this really does live up to my expectations, the sands beautiful, waters nice and cool and majestically light blue. The beach front also has a lot of food parlours, anything ranging from ice cream, to pizza, to chips to burgers. And all with reasonable prices you really can eat a lot. Daytona Beach had tons and trash cans, and I seriously suggest you use them, if you're found littering you can receive a fine upwards of $190, even if you're a tourist.
At the pear end of Daytona Beach they have a water sports section, a chance for tourists and Spring break visitors to use Jet Skies, go on speed boats and so forth. Prices can be hefty, but if you go as a group it works out cheaper. We went on the speed boat ride, which worked out to $50 per person. The experience was amazing, it's like you're in the film Miami Vice. Another beach that you should check out if you have the chance is Panama City Beach, it's just like Daytona Beach, but perhaps the water is even clearer.
Busch Gardens Africa: (Tampa Florida)
I had heard so much about Bush Gardens that I felt I had to visit it at least once. It's located in Tampa Bay Florida, which is easy to access by both busses and cars. You can either pre book your ticket online at; http://www.buschgardens.com/BGT/, or buy tickets at the stand. I would recommend buying the tickets online, they are much cheaper, involve less queuing time and offer huge discounts. The park is a mixture of exotic wildlife, fabulous scenic views, along with the excitement of rollercoaster's. It's a real family hearted place, but anyone would love visiting it. (Im not going to write a huge section because I plan on writing a separate review for this attraction, look out for it)
Wrestlemania 24:
The whole premise for this holiday was to go to Wrestlemania, a wrestling event that takes place once every year. Now being a huge wrestling fan, I always wanted to go to one, and the perfect opportunity was this year when my lecturer had a spear ticket. The ticket itself cost around $750 which some may think is ridiculous for a wrestling event, but hey I thought it was well worth it. The tickets included backstage passes with autographs, front row seats to watch the matches, as well as allowing us to keep the seats we seat on. The event was held at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando Florida, which just so happened to be an open roof arena. Being so, the first half hour of so was marred by slight rain, however it's soon stopped. The magnificent fireworks displays, the matches and the crowd experience, really eclipsed my holiday experience. For more info on the event visit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XXIV)
Shopping:
In terms of shopping, like most places in America British tourists can always get a bargain with the strong pound. There are a lot of huge shopping malls located all over Florida, one of which includes Altamonte Mall, near Altamonte Springs. It's like the London equivalent to Brent Cross, except it's twice as big, has a cinema and bowling centre and offers a wider range of shopping opportunities. There are a lot of electronic shops, however be carful before you buy, make sure they offer an international warranty and above all make sure its works abroad.
Apart from the malls, you can also pick up huge bargains along the streets. The Hispanic street sellers sell some beautiful hand crafted ornaments, however just make sure you don't pay more than there worth, always try and haggle.
Nightlife and Food:
Florida offers many bars and dinning areas along the beach areas, it's not all just for the super rich and famous, most of these places actually cater for the average Joes. There are hundred of places I could recommend, however above all check out the Samba Room if you're in Orlando. They offer some of the best cuisine in Florida for a reasonable price. The food, along with the alcohol and lively music make this a brilliant place to visit. An of course there is a reason why they call it the samba room, they actually teach there guests how to do the samba dance, just make sure you have had plenty of drinks before you make a fool of yourself. This place tends to be busy all year round so make sure you make a reservation the day before you intend to go. (http://www.sambaroom.net/)
Transport:
The main way to get around the city would be using public transport; it's much cheaper and easier to access. The main form of transport is Miami-Dade Transit, which runs rail systems all around Miami; with inter link connections to other cities such as Orlando, Daytona and so forth. Local fairs in an out of Miami cost about $1.60, with connection rail trains costing more. Your best bet would be to buy a weekly pass which works out to about $13.
very helpful
very helpful
