Florida and Georgia: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 of this post if you haven't already.

After leaving the Coca Cola Museum, we walked through the Centennial Olympic Park.

Florida and Georgia: Part 1

I know I'm far from the first person to acknowledge this, but...long-distance relationships suck! Two months have never felt longer than the two that Angela and I spent apart last December and January. Even using Skype almost every day, nothing made up for the fact that we couldn't hold one another or share the same physical space. It gave us both a huge admiration for all the couples out there who've endured even longer periods apart, especially those in the past who didn't have the luxury of high-speed video chatting.

Thank goodness we both have awesome parents who allowed us to share the month of February with one another before our return-trip to Korea. In late January, my mum paid for my flight to Cape Coral, Florida, where Angela was living with her mum and dad. They let me stay at their beautiful canal-side home, the same place we stayed in last March. During those four weeks, we didn't do as much touristy, sightseeing-type stuff as last year; instead, we spent a lot of time relaxing together, and we also helped Angela's parents decorate the house. We did go for a trip up to Atlanta, Georgia at one point though, since that had the closest embassy where we could finalise our Korean visas.

Reunited at last! Here we are on a street near Angela's parent's house, cycling in the sun. February in Cape Coral has its chilly days, for sure, but there's still more sun than England gets in a year (or at least, that's how it feels). It definitely made this winter a lot easier to get through!

Last days in Florida

Just a short post, this one, before we depart for our grand tour of Asia. During our last few days in Florida we've been doing a mixture of relaxing in the pool (again), doing some chores, and frantically finalising the preparations for our big trip.

Cutting the lawn for Angela's parents.

On our last evening with Angela's parents we ate at a Japanese steakhouse. Seems appropriate given that Japan is the first destination on our trip.

All packed and ready with the backpacks I'll be living from for the next six months to a year.

Someone on reddit posted this interesting world map recently. What struck me is that the circle it displays - in which more than half the world's population lives - almost perfectly encapsulates the area in which we'll be doing most of our backpacking. While we may possibly visit some Middle Eastern and European countries towards the end, the main bulk of our travels will take us around East, South-East, and South Asia. The fact that it's the most populated part of the world may be a blessing as well as a curse: these will no doubt be rich, exciting, and happening countries, but also stuffy and overcrowded. Whatever the case, Asia has always been the continent I've been most drawn to, and it's been my longtime dream to travel these countries. It feels great to finally be realising that dream, and it's especially wonderful to be sharing that dream with someone I love.

Having said that, Florida has been great and we'll miss our time here immensely. The near constant sun and relaxed atmosphere were just what we needed after our stressful year-and-a-half in Korea, and I'm so grateful to Angela's parents for hosting us for three splendid weeks in their home. They've been extremely generous, paying for most of our meals, driving us around to see different sights and attractions in the state, and letting us enjoy their swimming pool, canal and other amenities. We'll miss their company a lot.

Tomorrow morning, we take a plane across the Pacific Ocean to Japan, the first destination of our Grand Asian Expedition. Hopefully I'll have the time and energy to keep making regular updates as we travel.

Disney World's Animal Kingdom

On our sixth and final day in Orlando, Angela, her mum and I visited Disney World's Animal Kingdom. This park wasn't open when I last came to Florida in 1996, so it was completely new to me. It felt a lot smaller than the other Disney parks, and seemed to me to be essentially a zoo with a few rides and other features tacked on. Still, it had all of the charm that you expect from a Disney World park, and provided a fun ending to our five-day marathon of theme parks.

Standing on Discovery Island not far from the main entrance is the Tree of Life, the park's main centrepiece.

All different kinds of animals are engraved around the trunk.

One of the first areas we explored was Asia, which is predominately based on Southern Asian settings, such as India and the Himalayas. You can see Mount Everest in the background.

Giant flying foxes.

In the Temple of Tigers.

Gibbons.

Hindu ice cream.

Expedition Everest takes you on a train ride up into the Himalayas, where you encounter a menacing yeti. It was probably my favourite ride in all of Disney World, just for how original and unexpected a lot of it was.

Moving onto the Africa area.

Jung-Soon with her trusted giraffe staff.

On the lookout for gorillas in the bushes.

We saw a bunch of different African animals while on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.

...including antelope...

...hippos...

...Nile crocodiles...

...giraffes...

...and flamingos...

Later on, Angela couldn't resist getting a flowery face-paint to match her dress.

In Dinoland.

Back at the beautiful Tree of Life.

After leaving Animal Kingdom we drove back to Cape Coral, exhausted but satisfied with the dozens of rides and attractions we'd seen over the last few days. Of the three Disney World parks and two Universal Studios parks we visited, here are my top 5 attractions:

5. Test-Track - Disney World's Epcot - design your own car and then take it for a fast-paced test-drive.
4. Expedition Everest - Disney World's Animal Kingdom - a very creative rollercoaster including an unexpected backwards-corkscrew part.
3. Dragon Challenge - Islands of Adventure - combines two overlapping, exhilarating rollercoasters in one ride.
2. Jurassic Park: The Ride - Islands of Adventure - one-ups Disney World's classic jungle cruise by incorporating dinosaurs as well as an awesomely unexpected log-flume descent.
1. The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman - Islands of Adventure - this amalgamation of 3D comic book characters and moving city interiors just keeps on throwing one crazy thing after another at you, making you the star of an elaborate three-minute action scene.

That about sums up our vacation-within-a-vacation. Our time in Florida is nearly at end, so expect one more post before we start our travels in Asia!

Universal Studios Florida

On our fourth and fifth days in Orlando, we explored the two theme parks of Universal Studios Resort, one of which - Islands of Adventure - wasn't even there during my last visit in 1996. The original Universal Studios was one of my favourite theme parks back then, and it certainly didn't disappoint on my recent return.

While we've both really enjoyed our time in Disney World's theme parks, we think Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are superior in nearly every regard: the decors and environments look more detailed and imaginative, the rides are way more exhilarating and state-of-the-art, and the whole place just feels a lot newer and more impressive than Disney World, which frankly feels a little dated at times.

Islands of Adventure is especially magical; we were both so impressed with the new Harry Potter-themed area, as well as Jurassic Park and the Marvel Superheroes district. There are some stunning, otherworldly sets and buildings that have clearly had a lot of time and dedication put into them, and the rides are a cut above any we've found elsewhere (the Spiderman ride blew me away with its interweaving of 3D characters and concrete setpieces). The lines were also a lot shorter here, despite us not using any fast-passes like we did at Disney World. With the exception of the Incredible Hulk roller coaster, we didn't have to queue for more than 20 minutes for any ride, sometimes waiting even less than 5.

All in all, this remains my favourite theme park in the world, and hopefully these pictures will give a little taste of the magic that can be found there.

The entrance to Islands of Adventure, guarded by Pharos Lighthouse.

As soon as we entered we were immediately struck by the fantastical surroundings.

A Dr Seuss-themed area!

The Lost Continent.

But this was the place that we (Angela especially) were most looking forward to: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

The Hogwarts Express.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We were so impressed by the scale of this setpiece, as well as the craft and detail that went into it.

Exploring Hogsmeade.

Drinking butterbeer!

In Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Angela took her time selecting from a range of differently-designed wands owned by various characters in the books. In the end she elected the wand owned by Sirius Black.

Almost as exciting as Harry Potter world was Jurassic Park, based on one of my favourite childhood movies.

At the Discovery Centre.

One of my favourite rides: Jurassic Park River Ride!

After being terrorised by raptors and a T-Rex, we plummeted down a steep log flume section that got us soaked. After the disappointment of Splash Mountain being closed when we visited the Magic Kingdom, this was a more than adequate substitute!

In Toon Lagoon, there was another log flume ride, though we didn't ride this one.

The Incredible Hulk rollercoaster. This one was fun, though the queue was really long and it wasn't anywhere near as awesome as the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster in Harry Potter World.

Entering the city of Marvel's Superheroes.

As well as Islands of Adventure, we also spent some time in the original Universal Studios theme park. Along the way we saw this cool NBA statue.

Entering Universal Studios. The two parks are located conveniently close to one another, making it very easy to transition between them by foot.

Shrek!

Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rock it: despite the two of us being fairly experienced rollercoaster riders, we were both a little nervous before going on this one. That steep climb and drop makes me shiver just by looking at it.

Ah, the film set surroundings of Universal Studios. I remembered these well from my last visit.

At the Twister experience before a tornado tore through and got us soaked.

I was pretty sad that they got rid of the Jaws ride (as well as that old classic, Back to the Future, damn them!) but at least they kept the hanging shark.

A Simpsons-themed area.

A Hollywood avenue.

Universal Studios Resort was the highlight of our trip to Orlando. Both parks blew us away, and I would recommend anyone visiting Florida to check them out, especially Islands of Adventure. Just make sure you get there nice and early if you want to avoid the flurry of Potter fans!