Were going to Miami.....according to Will Smith. Luckily Colin had the song on his ipod which was in the boot and we decided to only play the song when Sabine was with us. We headed as far south as we could go and drove straight to the airport to collect Sabine. We were a bit late but luckily so was her flight so it worked out perfectly. It was fairly overcast as Hurricane Ike had detoured and missed us going straight across Cuba to Texas but we were getting a bit of bad weather. We headed down to South Beach and found the hotel. Lovely hotel situated only 1 block back from the beach. We went for a walk and the water felt beautiful, I couldn't wait to get in. We went to Big Pink's for dinner and it was great. A typical American diner and the choice was beyond belief. So much food and the servings were immense. And turned out it was a local hangout for the Miami Beach Police department with many officers (plain clothed) coming in to eat. Then a relaxing evening.
The next day we were off to Kennedy Space Centre. There was supposed to be a launch but due to the hurricanes it had been cancelled. Oh well we still wanted to look around. We missed the last tour at 2pm by 10mins but were able to go around the main complex. We went on a simulated shuttle launch and went inside a real life shuttle. Looks to look at and we saw a 3D Imax movie narrated by Tom Hanks about the moon. Then it was time to drive the 3hrs back to Miami. A swim and brief rest and we had dinner at local place Sabine & I found called Fresh on 5th. It was great for freshly made to order salads & sandwiches. Then it was a bit of pub crawl along the main drag. It was lovely to sit outside and watch all different types of people walk past. Lots of fun.
Next day we headed off to the Alligator Safari park in the Everglades. It was awesome! We had a 40min airboat ride and our driver gave us a bit of history when we were out amongst it all. Apparently they are in drought so most wild alligators were in a different part as there was more to eat there. But it was beautiful and the boat was so much fun, I kept thinking about Horatio on CSI Miami!!! We did end up seeing 2 wild alligators. We got back to the park and then they had an alligator talk and we got to see 4 of the biggest alligators ever! Then I got to hold Snappy. He felt like sausages before you put them on the barbie. You almost wanted to hug him until you saw the razor sharp teeth. We then wandered around the park viewing all the gators. What a fantastic experience.
Back to South Beach for more swimming before we headed out for the night. We walked around checking out all the clubs before we finally decided on an Irish Pub!!! We met a couple of girls and chatted to them for a bit, then we headed off to the night club Mila recommended....Mango's!! Oh My Goodness!! It was so much fun, the girls were dressed in spandex bra's & knickers and doing the mambo/tango/rumba whatever it was on the bar. The blokes were half dressed doing the same moves. It was totally crazy and hilarious. We had an amazing time and at about 3am decided to head home. Steve was still enjoying himself so we left him there.
Next morning I was up early and out down the beach after breakfast. This was going to be my last chance before we flew out that evening. The weather was perfect and the water was divine. There was a strong rip so decided to head in. Wish I could have stayed, I love the beach. It was back to the hotel to shower and check out. Sabine & I were downstairs waiting for the boys and they came down a bit late. Steve had super red eyes and Colin was feeling pretty sick! he he he The afternoon was spent lying on a couch out the front reading my book and snoozing. About 4pm it was time to go and I was really sad to leave as it was perfect.
We got to the airport and said goodbye to Sabine as she was getting a different flight back. Finally our flight was announced and sadly we had to go. Luckily this must have been a newer plane as the seats were bigger and we had on demand videos. Up we went and when they were serving dinner we went through some extremely scary turbulence. It was so bad the flight stewardess had to sit down too. People were spewing everywhere, it was really scary. I had to watch Sex & the City to try to take my mind off it. Luckily if finally stopped (an hour or so later) and it was smooth sailing from there. Made it home in time for my bus back to Portsmouth and finally walked in the door at 1pm.
What a trip.
Well it's Christmas Day! What a wonderful day. A lovely sleep in then it was off up to Cambridge to Claire & Annabel's for Christmas lunch. Freddy, who is 3 months old, is so cute! Dina was also there which was great. A lovely lunch of turkey, vegetables, sausages, cabbage. Delicious!! After lunch it was dessert, apple tart, banana bread and carrott cake, all of which I had made the previous night. I was totally stuffed! It was delicious.
Mila gave me a mini (car) key cover, dvd (stardust), Shea butter (which smells amazing) and a book - Watching the English. I have been after this book for 6 months so was a great suprise.
It was a lovely day, especially as I was away from my family. I did speak to my folks for a bit which was nice. And Andrew, Fiona & Lucy webcammed me aswell after I got back from Cambridge. It was lovely to hear Lucy shout out Merry Christmas! A fantastic day, and now I have the week to look forward to, doing NOTHING!!
On Sunday I headed up to Cambridge for Christmas carols at Trinity Chapel for the Red Balloon charity. 
I had lunch with Mila at the Slug & Lettuce, then we were off to meet up with Colin, Arran & Naomi for the carols. It was lovely to be in an old building with candle light. The choirs were lovely and it's always fun to sing along.
looking at all the stalls. I think there must have been more on the Saturday. I bought some fudge, orange chocolate & mint chocolate. Super tasty.
After the markets we were going to go to the zoo but it 
was pretty miserable and we decided to do stuff instead. We ended up at the British museum. I really like that place. We spent 3 hrs there wandering around and even ran into my friend Scott. After a cuppa tea we headed off to Oxford Street as Marianne needed to update her reading. We stopped at Waterstones and I picked up 3 new books to read as well.
Another weekend, another party to go to. Saturday morning after a lie in, it was off to Cambridge for a Halloween party at Mila's. I got dressed before I left so was hoping no one would look in my window and see a bloody nurse's outfit!! It was pouring with rain so the scene was set for a creepy night. I got to Cambridge at about 6ish and went to pick up Colin, who looked super scary in a mummy outfit. The rest of the
blood was applied to my face and then got a text from Mila asking us to go to Sainsbury to get some lemonade for the punch. Well i wasn't going to walk in there by myself. So Colin and I trawled the aisle's of Sainsbury looking for the lemonade and in typical English style no one stared except one little girl who I think was worried I was hurt.
Off we finally made it to Mila's to be greeted by an extremely scary (cobwebby, spidery) house. So much food and punch on hand, with spooky music and sounds in the background. T
here were witches, devil's and a character from Clockwork Orange, a ghost from Scream, a zombie & black fairy.
getting it to work then on to the dinner was crazy, especially on the tube! But alls well th
at ends well. Made it to the restaurant and Nat was so suprised when they brought it out it was worth the effort. Great food followed by a major sugar rush with the cake!
d up 
leaving at 1ish, which to the London crew was extremely early but I was feeling tired. Nearly fell asleep on the night bus but Mila was there to nudge me awake so we didn't miss the stop.
ay and they were ready to head off once we got there. Can you believe the bar sold us drinks to go!!!! How bizarre. I've never heard or seen anything like it. As you can see from the picture I was most amused.
After leaving Slo-vannah behind we headed south down the interstate for 5hours! It was a slow and monotonous journey but we finally made it to Disney World. A few wrong turns and we arrived at The Wilderness Lodge Resort where our cabin was ready for us. Each hotel/resort is a mini town in itself. The place is HUMONGOUS!!! After we checked out the cabin we headed to the marina to get the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. It was late afternoon but we were told we shouldn't miss the parade and fireworks over Cinderella's castle. And it was fantastic. It's just like in all the pictures. Ever
yone was so nice and friendly, weather perfect and I was super excited. We had some dinner then managed to stick a ride in the Haunted House in before the parade. I had been pre warned by Colin that he gets frightened easily but luckily it wasn't too scary for him. As the sunset the parade started and all of Disney's characters came out to play! I loved seeing Ariel, Poseidon, Chip N Dale, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Daffy and many more. What made it even better is that there were kids everywhere and they were so excited too. The atmosphere was fantastic. After the parade passed by we walked over to Cinderella's castle and took a seat on the concrete directly in fr
ont and on the dot of 9pm Tinkerbell sailed from the top window down! It was incredible, she must have been a couple hundred feet up in the air and going down a zip line in the dark! Then the fireworks started, and breath taking is the only word. They were in time with the music and there were so many of them! It went for a good 20mins before we then had to head off back to the campsite for the night.
hoose from you didn't know where to begin and our server was so bright and bubbly for such and early start we thought there might have been something in the water. After filling up we were off to the Animal Kingdom to start. What an adventure! We went on the safari park ride and saw about 10 different types of animals which usually are found in Africa. Then it was on the water ride where we got soaked totally and had to go around for the re
st of the morning nice and wet. We headed up Everest on one of the newer rides in the park and it was so much fun. I heard for the first time Colin screaming like a little girl and it was pretty funny! We stopped off in Dino Land and went back to prehistoric times to rescue a dinosaur then it was time to leave the Animal Kingdom and head to the next park. On the way out I managed to get my picture with Timon!!!
Epcot was the next port of call and sadly a bit disappointing. We though a specific ride was there but got our parks mixed up. The boys went on a fast car track thing, I decided against as we had just had lunch and didn't want to have to experience it twice. There was much more to see and do in Epcot but as we were quite time restricted we made the decision to head to Disney Studio's.
a huge Star Wars fan you will love it. Next it was over to the serious ride......Aerosmith's Rock n Roller Coaster. This is the ultimate ride!!! If you want a shot of adrenaline this is the ride for you. By far my favourite ride ever. It w
as so scary you should have heard Colin! loved it, 2 thumbs way up! There was another ride which was an elevator which went up and down at random but I had just had an icecream and didn't think it would stay down so we all passed on that ride.
Last park to visit was The Magic Kingdom again. We headed over to the legendary Space Mountain ride in Future Land. It was quite funny to see this area as back in it's hey day it must have looked super high tech! Now it is just amusing. Space mountain was a great ride because Colin was in the front car by himself and all I could hear where girly yelp and squeals coming from him during the ride. I couldn't stop laughing! 
