It took 10 hours to get to Orlando but it was well worth it.
When we arrived it was 4.00am in the morning and the hard part was to find our hotel, and on our way we got lost in a place called ‘Boggy Creek’ and my family blamed it on my Dad because he was driving. Eventually we reached our hotel, with a bit of a struggle, at 5.30am. When we got to our room we put our bags to one side of the room and flopped our tired bodies on the beds.
The first day in Florida was fantastic. We all went to Wet & Wild.
This was a water part in Orlando, near to International Drive and we spent most of the day there. The weather was great, blue skies and sunshine all day and the only sad part was that we had to leave, as we were enjoying ourselves so much.
We went to bed pretty early that night because we had to get up early the next day as we were going to Orlando shopping at the famous ‘Beltz’ shopping complex which is full of discount designer stores like Adidas, Nike, Levis etc. and we also went to Universal Studios.
Universal Studios were amazing, 3D movies, special stunt shows and exciting rides filled our day. After the Studios we headed off to the Beltz Shopping complex. When we arrived it was massive. People rushing everywhere, the air-conditioning helped, but when you went from one mall to the other, the heat outside was very hot.
My Mum and Dad had to tell me to stop buying so much because we had another 10 days left and my money was ‘burning a hole in my pocket’! Already my arms were full of bags with clothes, shoes etc, so I had to stop.
The next day we lazed around the pool, trying to get a tan, but Mum being Mum splashed loads of cream on my back, it was freezing!
The next day we visited Disney World. It was wonderful, more than you could imagine, all the famous stars were walking around the park, such as Donald Duck, Goofy and the best…Mickey Mouse. We spent the whole day there, it was a whole day trip because at 9.00pm there is a magnificent electronic nighttime parade, which was so picturesque and amazing. There was also a nighttime fireworks extravaganza to celebrate the millennium, it was awesome.
When we returned to the hotel, I was so exhausted I went straight to sleep with my clothes still on.
The next day was frantic because we were leaving our hotel in Kissimmee and travelling down to Clearwater Beach, further down the coast. We had some trouble packing our suitcases into the car, because of all the things we had bought but eventually Dad found a way and we were on the road.
When we arrived at Clearwater the weather was brilliant, I ran up the stairs and stripped and put on my swintrunks and jumped into the pool, which was warm.
My family were going to have a relaxing holiday in Clearwater because our first week in Kissimmee had been at a frantic pace and pretty non-stop.
The next day we went to the beach, which was only about two minutes walk away. The sand was really hot and we had to scamper across the sand as quickly as possible, so as not to burn our feet. We stayed there for a few hours and then returned to the hotel pool to laze about.
The next day my Mum and Dad’s friends met up with us. They had travelled down from South Carolina which was about a 7 hour drive, and they were staying in Clearwater for a couple of days to see us, before continuing their journey on to Miami. We all went to Busch Gardens one day. We left the hotel at about 7.30 am and went to McDonald’s for our breakfast. When we arrived at the Theme Park there was a thunderstorm and most of the rides were closed, except for the water rides but we still enjoyed ourselves. When we got back to the hotel my brother and I went to the pool again to amuse ourselves. We didn’t get to bed that night until about 2.30am because my Mum and Dad’s friends didn’t leave until really late.
The next day the weather was glorious and my Dad had a special surprise for us. He hired Jet Ski’s for the day and it was excellent. The water was really warm, clear and the sun glistened all day. That was the best day of my holiday but I got badly sunburned.
The next day was our last. One last swim in the pool and this left my Mum and Dad some time to pack the bags, then we were back on the road again, this time our homeward journey to the airport.
I fell asleep on the plane and only awoke when we had nearly arrived back in Belfast. I stepped out of the plane and the breeze took my breath away, it was so cold! I turned to my Mum and Dad and said, “That was the best holiday I ever had”.