Spring Break 2009

Hey All.

I came back from my spring break holidays yesterday or the day before. One of my friends and I went to Las Vegas, Miami and Orlando for total of about 8 days. I had a fantastic time even though I came back with a cold....

I met up with my friend at Vagas. He was quite exhausted. He just had 10 hours of plane trip and 3 hours at the airport waiting for me. His luggage was lost as well. So we had to wait for that to come for extra 1.5 hours when I met him.

At Vegas, we stayed at Circus Circus. I think the same place that Pat stayed at when he was at Vegas. It was located at the northern end of the strip. the room was huge! and it was so cheap. After we settled in, we decided to walk around the strip. It took about 15min to get out of the hotel though, going through the casino and stuff. the hotel itself was quite huge. we walked a very far away, walked passed Mirage, Bellagio, Monte Carlo and so on. We didnt feel like eating a buffet so we decided to go into Denny's. hehe his first proper meal in US was Denny's... that was interesting. I liked Denny's in Japan but not the ones in US... They are kinda gross... But anyways. after we had a meal, we kept on going south down to about MGM and New York New York. There were so many people along the strip. quite drunk in fact. We got quite tired so we decided to walk back to the hotel. we walked for about 4 hours... poor my friend he was jet lagged too...



The rest of the stay in Vegas consisted of me feeling sick at Hilton buffet and Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon was awesome. I wish we could stay there for a few more days. we only visited the west rim, which is the closest to the Vegas and more about the Indian tribes and stuff. the views are meant to be better from South/North Rim. But still. It was just so awesome.
Also at Vegas, we went and saw Criss Angel magic show. we got the cheapest ticket and somehow ended up sitting quite close to the front. They were trying to fill up the seats or something. It was quite an experience too.

From the Vegas, we flew to Miami over night. We got to the hotel at 9am and we decided to walk along the beach. the temperature there was really pleasant. 25-30C or so. it was a little bit cold to get into the water but it was just really nice to be able to lie on the beach. I got quite tanned actually. We only had 2 full days (1 night) in Miami, which I was really sad for. I guess we didnt do anything other than shopping and walking along the beach. It was so relaxing. we could slept in and everything. We only stayed at South beach area in Miami, didnt even go to the downtown. there were a lot of restaurants and things to do.　As it was a spring break period, there were many uni kids there. It was kinda lame. too much drunkenness. But other than that, we had a very pleasant time. I also wished there that I could stay longer. I am so coming back.


From Miami, we took an overnight bus to Orlando. The bus was frigging cold. I think we had about 1 hour of sleep the most... It was ridiculous.I swear the bus driver just didnt want to fall asleep while driving so he turned up the air-con max... I guess this is called greyhound...

First day, despite our tiredness, we went to the magic kingdom in Disney world. It was a bit of a disappointment actually. it was exactly same as the Tokyo Disneyland... But I enjoyed it anyway. I am still disappointed about Pirates of Caribbean though. They have now Jack Sparrow in there... I liked the old one so much better. At the end of the 1st day, we had a little bit of a surprise. When we came back to the hotel at about 12 midnight to check in (we were gone for the whole day), the hotel told us that they do not have our rooms available.... WTF? it turns out that its their mistake and they were transferring us to their sister hotel which is 5 star hotel or something. A limo took us there and everything. It was a little further away from the Disney and universal but so much closer to airport. They have a quite cheap shuttle bus going back and forth each parks anyways so it didnt matter too much. The hotel was gigantic. hey had 4 pools, 245 acres of gold course or something and a volleyball court.. It took us ages to walk from an elevator to where our room was... It was divided into 5 wings or something... but the bed in the room... ahh so good! It was just so awesome.

Second day, we went to the islands of adventure in Universal Resort. They had massive rides and everything. It was quite awesome. I liked Spider man one. It was quite interesting. and also the dragon one. Its a roller coaster. at some stage you really feel like you will crush to some other carriage that are in the coaster at the same time. Speaking of roller coaster, NY NY had a quite impressive roller coaster as well. I was actually seriously impressed.

Third day, we went to the Hollywood Studio in Disney world. They are based more on seeing stuff over riding stuff. they had many Disney shows. We went and saw Beauty and the beast. It was quite cool. it went for ever though. 45min or so? There were 3 proper rides (if you count Star tours as one of them,,, which was SHIT!). one was called tower of terror! I loved it. one of my favorite rides ever! and the other was called Rock'n Roller coaster or something. It is collaborated with Aerosmith. The concept of it was quite cool. They were playing aerosmith music throughout the ride, which I got quite distracted with. But they have crazy maneuvers too. they accelerated up to 50km/h or something in no time and they twist and turn. It was nice. But nothing is as good compared to Fuji Q highland... but anyways.

Then on fourth day, we left the hotel early to catch flights to different destinations. It was kinda sad to see him leave. but now he got to Japan safe and sound so all is well :)

It was quite an epic spring break for me. For all the places I went, I could have spent at least 1 week. It was quite good. Now I am starting up the uni again. only 5 weeks until the exam weeks. I am seriously stressed. I have to start putting some effort in....

I cannot wait to come back! 50days or so, I believe?

Kumi
xx