Winter Sun

The sunset from mallory square was nice spectical.
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Miami

Having left the brisk wind, icy roads and the snow of Canada, we were heading for Miami, it was just a matter of time before we got there. And let us say now it wasn’t easy. First we had to overcome an overnight 11:45pm greyhound bus. This got off to a nice start when we left early without any trouble. Then came U.S. boarder control, where two hours in to the journey we, along with all our bus riding companions were stopped and taken into a small building for “inspection”. Luckily we were both past through without a problem, Mike had a little delay when the officer found his recent Tunisia stamp in his passport. However there were a couple of people the kind officers insisted on fully searching, checking visa’s…

Max feeling high off the "magic" of disney
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None the less we were back on the road after about 2 hours smoothly coasting down the highway, until the lights and engine decided to cut out and refused to come back on. We broke down. In the middle of nowhere. Temp was -20’C. And it was 4 0’clock in the morning with our required arrival time 6 hours later to catch the plane. So we sat for what seemed like a lifetime in the dark silence, but to our relief the driver announced that a next bus was on its way. We transferred on and luckily got back on the road without too much of delay, and managed to get in to New York only 2 hours over schedule.

Tiger and the boys
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Then we got to the airport which relieved the stress only for Mike to be taken in to a “special” queue for security reasons. Max past through in seconds and couldn't’t find Mike for ages. The plus side was that when we did find each other, we had both managed to blag it on to a standby queue for a plane that was leaving 2 hours earlier. We boarded the plane in our separate seats only for whoever it was adamant of spoiling our plans to escape the winter weather, to tell us to get off the plane as it wasn’t safe to ride. Another delay and now two young Englishmen on the end of our tether, we eventually got in the air and after a sluggish flight WE ARRIVED IN MIAMI.

Max flying at a whopping 7 mph towards Mike. A ride at Disney
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We were pretty beat after the eventful day so we took an early first night vowing to wake up and catch some beach time the next day, and get some beach time we did. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and beaming a amazing 30’C upon us – on 16th of Jan. this really was all it was cracked up to be and stopping only to take a dip in the refreshing clear sea. We spent every hour of sun lying in our backsides. We can’t say we saw a great deal of Miami, in fact we didn’t leave the bright touristy strip that our hotel was on, but we would highly recommend it just for the beach alone. Another early night was in order, we were exhausted due to the busy day of doing jack, and had to prepare for the departure of the Trek the following morning.

Got Him! 8 hours of hunting for the famous mouse came to a relieved end. Smiles all-round
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Trek begins, the trek started in Miami at 7.30 where we acquainted and registered with the tour leader at a hotel in Miami. We then departed with 11 other passengers in a comfortable minivan with a trailer attached to the back. First stop on the itinerary was Key West only a short 300 miles south. The beautiful scenic drive through the sun was provided the perfect opportunity to get to know all the fellow travelers, the people we were to spend the next 25 days with. The group was split 7 girls and 7 boys, 2 of each were Danish Dennis and Morten, Laura and Mette, 1 of each Swiss, there was another older Englishman from Kent, and 4 Germans.

Showing arteficial exciotement on the worlds slowest and unthrilling rollercoaster.
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We boarded our minibus and started the long drive down to the Florida Keys, the scenic drive took us down the peninsula and through the Keys to the most southernly part of main land America, Key West. We setup camp on this idyllic island, it was late afternoon so we took to a few bars before watching the sunset across the Caribbean Sea. The following day we had the option of either hittin the tourist streets of Key West or the Beach. Being true Brits there was only one option. We purchased a pair of footballs(both English and American) and duely relaxed in the Sun. The same afternoon our fellow trekkers joined us on the beach, and with the guidance of our Yank tour guide setup our first american football game. The two English boys were split up, and with it the competition began. Max's team took an early lead with a beautiful 20 yard pass from Max to Jan our Swiss friend. For the next hour the game was at a stalemate, Mike's team was unable to penetrate the defence of the opposing team. Then late in the game Mike's team came up with a new strategy(influenced mainly by our trek leader) a blitz offence! Mike ran a tight right, then left his covering defender confused by his speed and trickery had no chance. With the sun setting on his shoulders the ball was thrown, mike jumped and plucked the ball from the air, TOUCHDOWN!! the game was tied. Our fellow European travelers were happy to leave the score at this, but the English boys insisted on a winning score. Passes were made and dropped, both teams had the opportunity to finish the game however neither could convert there chances. With the Sun nearly set Max intercepted a missed pass, ran 30 yards ducking under a number of missed tackles. Facing the Sun and the imposing figure of mike hurtling at him to make the tackle he shot the ball like a cannon. The ball spiralled out, it cut through the damp humid air and found its man. The game was over, Max's team had won.

Max and Sme onlooking as Mike was about to push Hook to the crocodiles.
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The next day we travelled north to the tourist Mecca of Orlando, once again we were camping. However this time it was next to the Worlds smallest themepark. But it did have one ride that stood out from the rest, the Worlds highest Swing Drop. This ride immediately took Max's attention, and later that evening with a couple of other trekkers he decided to take on the challenge. Harnessed up they were slowly winched 300 foot to the top of the ride, Max had the responsibility of pulling the release cord. 3,2,1 the three trekkers plummeted at 80mph towards the ground, then just before hitting the water the swing kicked in and pelted the three back into the air. Screams and cheers filled the park, thats was until Michelle ( a blonde from Switzerland) was reacquainted with the ice-cream she had just finished eating before the ride..oops.

Having fun at disney
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Including in our trek was a visit to the Magic Kingdom, we rolled into Disney immediately to be met by Pluto. Picture time, (this is was we did with most of our day) Mike had previously spent two days in Disneyland Paris hunting Mickey to no prevail. Spending hours in the sun looking for the great mouse, the boys eventually tracked him down. Once these formalities had been completed It was and photos were taken with some other cartoon celebs, (see photos), we ventured on some of the rides and attractions. The rolercoaster's weren't great but just being in the park in such beautiful weather, with everyone so happy, made for a terrific day. 7.30 saw the end of the day in spectacular fashion as a great firework display erupted over the darkened park.

The magic kingdoms centrepeice - Cinderella's Castle
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Our final day in florida was spent on cocoa beach as it was predicted to be the last real day of sun for a while. this was a nice beach - the highlight came when max AND MIKE out shone some Brazilian soccer players in a beach game..

AHHH FLORIDA.....