Chronicles of Florida (part 1)
The Bauzee, the spring break party and the drive to Miami
Arriving at Orlando
I landed in Orlando at around 11 on Friday morning. Orlando is different from all other places that I have seen in the US - there are so many water bodies across the city, and all around it, that give the place a blue and green landscape.
Bau was there to pick me. Bauzee, as we all fondly called him, was with me at IIT. Incidentally we never met after IIT – a good 4 years… but nothing seemed to have changed. I was waiting at the departure area, while Bau was trying to locate me in the arrival area. And all the time I was wondering why people seem to be only leaving Orlando… and for some reason, no one has come to receive anyone (and was beginning to feel special for a while)… till I realized that it was just me!!
We went to a nice Thai restaurant for lunch, whereafter, Bau dropped me home, and went off to office. He had asked me to download directions for some must-see places around Miami and Keywest… all I could manage was falling asleep.
Friday Night at Daytona
Evening we drove off to Daytona, which is around 60 miles from Orlando. The streets there were packed… end-to-end… roads with cars, and sidewalks with people – spring breakers, to be precise. Finding a parking space was a pain – and we were plain lucky to find a public parking space within 30 odd minutes.
Now I had heard so much about ‘Spring Breaks’ in the US that I really wanted to know what the halla was all about. I think it turned out to be far more than what I had imagined. It was wild, to say the least and I would never use the word ‘wild’ for anything that I have seen or done in my life, and I don’t think the term ‘wild’ should be used for anything anywhere in India (atleast of what I have seen). Full of college crowd, the place went nasty as we progressed into the night. And then there was this concept of beads… For some reason, the party lasted only till 2.
Anyways, we walked along the beach for another hour or so… and reached home around 4, and by the time we slept it was almost 5 – we had plans to start the drive to Miami no later than 7 in the morning, to ensure we make it there well before noon.
Drive to Miami
Woke up at around 8:30… by the time we were ready with the packing etc… it was almost 10. Then we took off. There is something special about driving in the US. The smooth roads help you enjoy the ride through the green and blue picturesque countryside. You don’t feel any roughness even on hitting 100 mph. Ohhh yes… we had bought a police gun detector from Walmart the evening before. It is supposed to detect the presence of traffic cops… so that you can slow down, and avoid getting speeding tickets – which is an unnecessary expense of $130-$200 (depending on how much you exceed the speed limit by - the speed limit being nice ly and clearly specified for every part of the highway). The idea was to return the detector to Walmart after the trip… :-p
We covered the 300 miles to Miami in about 5 hours.
Arriving at Orlando
I landed in Orlando at around 11 on Friday morning. Orlando is different from all other places that I have seen in the US - there are so many water bodies across the city, and all around it, that give the place a blue and green landscape.
Bau was there to pick me. Bauzee, as we all fondly called him, was with me at IIT. Incidentally we never met after IIT – a good 4 years… but nothing seemed to have changed. I was waiting at the departure area, while Bau was trying to locate me in the arrival area. And all the time I was wondering why people seem to be only leaving Orlando… and for some reason, no one has come to receive anyone (and was beginning to feel special for a while)… till I realized that it was just me!!
We went to a nice Thai restaurant for lunch, whereafter, Bau dropped me home, and went off to office. He had asked me to download directions for some must-see places around Miami and Keywest… all I could manage was falling asleep.
Friday Night at Daytona
Evening we drove off to Daytona, which is around 60 miles from Orlando. The streets there were packed… end-to-end… roads with cars, and sidewalks with people – spring breakers, to be precise. Finding a parking space was a pain – and we were plain lucky to find a public parking space within 30 odd minutes.
Now I had heard so much about ‘Spring Breaks’ in the US that I really wanted to know what the halla was all about. I think it turned out to be far more than what I had imagined. It was wild, to say the least and I would never use the word ‘wild’ for anything that I have seen or done in my life, and I don’t think the term ‘wild’ should be used for anything anywhere in India (atleast of what I have seen). Full of college crowd, the place went nasty as we progressed into the night. And then there was this concept of beads… For some reason, the party lasted only till 2.
Anyways, we walked along the beach for another hour or so… and reached home around 4, and by the time we slept it was almost 5 – we had plans to start the drive to Miami no later than 7 in the morning, to ensure we make it there well before noon.
Drive to Miami
Woke up at around 8:30… by the time we were ready with the packing etc… it was almost 10. Then we took off. There is something special about driving in the US. The smooth roads help you enjoy the ride through the green and blue picturesque countryside. You don’t feel any roughness even on hitting 100 mph. Ohhh yes… we had bought a police gun detector from Walmart the evening before. It is supposed to detect the presence of traffic cops… so that you can slow down, and avoid getting speeding tickets – which is an unnecessary expense of $130-$200 (depending on how much you exceed the speed limit by - the speed limit being nice ly and clearly specified for every part of the highway). The idea was to return the detector to Walmart after the trip… :-p
We covered the 300 miles to Miami in about 5 hours.
posted by Animesh Kumar at Thursday, March 23, 2006
4 Comments:
hi - just stumbled upon ur blog. You seem to be having a lot of fun in the US. Esp the free-fall.
Do travel to the west coast too !
Cheers.
I bet ur trip to bombay and bauzee half inside the local train and half outside...and train moving at 20 miles per hour was equally wild...I hope u have similer stories of florida,in the pipe line.Do write abt babez also(if any).
Verbaltone: thanks for the note. Yep, west coast is next in line... sometime soon.
Bala: yep - that trip was hilarious. Sure, will write more when I get time. you could have done without the 'if any' - in Amreeca, there are just one too many!
i think in the US when its party time, people just chil, chil chil...without thinking why chil!
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