the depths of discovery

Bear with me, this is going to get long!

I must admit that while a portion of our time at Seaworld was spent discussing the controversy of the park, you can't help but get sucked into an exceptional admiration for what these animals can do.

I won't waste my time arguing the fors and againts of a place like this, there are far more coherent arguments on either side than what I could put forth, yet I am still filled with amazement when seeing such incredible creatures in real life.

However, let's start at the beginning of the day. First stop: new rollercoaster 'Mako', claimed to be the "longest, tallest and fastest hyper coaster in Orlando" featuring drops of 200ft. What on earth had I let myself in for?

After riding what I now refer to as "the near death experience", it was time to see some animals.

We arrived at feeding time for the seals and sea lions and my god they can bark.

This guy though.

~strike a pose~

As all good days end, we went home via IHOP.

The next day was pretty much the only planned day we have had here- Discovery Cove.

I can't say that we've been greeted into any of the other parks by a sloth.

SO funny!!

Wetsuit donned, I was ready for a fun day. After the all inclusive breakfast, lunch, snacks and bevs of course.

We had a little while before our dolphin swim which I used to learn how to proficiently snorkel with the help of Alice's snorkel school. Very proud of myself, I have learned something productive in the 3 years since I last visited. Excluding the degree of course...

I went snorkelling in the Grand Reef swimming up close to schools of fish, exotic fish and rays of all sizes. I'm talking up to like 10m- okay that was an educated guess. But again, I wasn't really brave enough to do this last time I came so I was once again impressed with myself. Well done me.

The dolphin swim was only short but the dolphin experience and training tutorial was one of a kind.

Meet Clipper. She is such a funny girl, she cracked our whole group up for the entire time. 

It was a really good day, not just because of the unlimited Mac and cheese either.

Thanks to my Dad for taking us on this experience.

And to Alice for plaiting my hair and teaching me to snorkel.

There'll be another update soon!

Em x

the Universal mini break

After a fun few days in Disney, we went off to stay in a Universal hotel to get full use of the early entry and unlimited fast passes. But of course food comes first and we stopped at IHOP on the way over.

First stop: (after checking in to the hotel and making use of the valet parking) the wizarding world of Harry Potter! 

I had dizzied myself up well and truly after both rounds of the duelling dragons rollercoaster, so time to get the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley to visit Gringotts. This train is seriously cool.

Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley are in separate parks so after riding the Gringotts cart we explored Universal Studios.

We even rode this huge vertical up/down rollercoaster, Wat!

Later, we went to dinner in the biggest Hard Rock Cafe in the world! This is my first burger of the trip as nowhere else does veggie burgers!! It was so good though. I love Hard Rocks, I hope to visit one in LA and San Francisco when I go. Maybe even NY! #hardrocktour

The next day we got up early and did the same thing all over again! Including the rides we missed out on the previous day.

Universal rides are much more intense than Disney rides and there are a lot that feature 3D, even on the roller coasters! It has been a fun few days with much better weather. Today was 92, that's about 33C and we did take a break from the heat by going into a restaurant to watch the Olympics and eat ~my fave~ Mac and cheese!! 

Tomorrow we should be taking it easy a bit more to recover from the head-spinning rides we experienced at Universal.

I'll let you know what goes down, obvs!

Speak soon, 

Em x

AAA: American Adventure Arrival

So here we are. My first long haul flight in nearly exactly 2 years was even easier than I remember. They even brought round little ice lollies! And after only just making it in time to board our transfer flight I had a free Starbucks coffee, the dream.

 

On the first full day we headed out early to Magic Kingdom. 

Cue the awkward family photo 😂

We rode the new mine train ride, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, Carousel of

Progress, Big Thunder Mountain twice and Space Mountain twice. And we came home before 4pm ready for a rest! But not before a stop at the ice cream parlour.

For the rest of the night we swam and went to Taco Bell.

The next day we set off for Animal Kingdom!

We rode the Safari in the morning and again in the afternoon and got to see Black rhinos, baby elephants and sunken hippos.

There has been several bouts of unexpected rain since we arrived but that didn't stop us riding the Everest mine train or seeing The Lion King and Finding Nemo shows.

Jet lag has finally hit me today so I'm ready for a well-needed rest!

I'll update again soon!

Em x

I'm Back and I'm Heading Back

It's been almost 2 years since I set off on the life changing experience of moving to Mississippi for 5 months and this Saturday I'll be traveling back out to the Country I call my second home. However, this time I'm spreading my wings a bit further and exploring some more touristy areas as well as revisiting the place where I left my heart. 

I'll be starting off with a magical 3 weeks in Orlando before an even more magical reunion with my bae Hillary in Mississippi. 

Then I'll solo it over to LA where my UK bestie happens to be visiting with her fam so we will obviously be causing havoc as always. After a short stopover with my bro's gf, we join a bus tour stopping off at key locations in the West, inc partying in Vegas and camping at the Grand Canyon.

We finish in San Francisco, plan to hit the town for an extra night before sobbing goodbye at the airport. My last US stop will be in New Jersey/New York where I get to see this cutie! You might remember Taylor from the last post I wrote on here. We met while she was studying abroad at my university in the UK and I finally get to see her again in her hometown which is toooo exciting! 

I can't wait to get traveling. Reuniting with my 3 best girls will be incredible and I'll get to experience much more of America.

Here's to ticking all States off of my 'To Visit' list!

I hope to update y'all while I'm there

Speak soon

Em x

A Day at the Races

So number 1, it's been a while. I'm no longer Em in the States but Em back in Reading and I am missing it still every day.

Number 2, this still kinda fits with the theme because I am trying my hand out at being a Study Abroad student in the UK.

Meet Taylor.

A sweet sweet girl from New Jersey, studying in Reading and I have given myself the role of being her friend and mentor here in the UK.

On Friday, we went to Ascot to see the races. Now I work here, but never get to actually see the races happen so this was just as exciting for me.

We dressed up all fancy, got straight on the drinks (well I did, I'll teach Taylor the British way soon don't worry) and explored to racecourse.

It was such a beautiful day, we watched 5 races in total and mentally won 2 of them.

I just loved seeing the horses though.

We really had the best time and soaked up the whole atmosphere.

Maybe I'll write more about what we get up to on here. We have some plans in place for the next few weeks.

Speak soon (probably)

Em x