Staying in the Orlando Area

This month my layovers are in Orlando, and we stay on International Drive. While my preference for hotels is the Disney Resort Hotel chain, since my company is paying for it, we all know that beggers can't be choosers. International Drive is actually a great place to stay for all the activities in the Orlando area. It is just a trolly ride away from Wet 'n Wild's water park. I was able to purchase a $49 year long pass, only good on week days, but perfect for my long layovers in the Orlando area. The trolly ride is only $1 each way and runs up and down International Drive every 20 minutes of so. There is a Ponderosa which charges $4 for an all you can eat breakfast. The coffe is $2 more, and not really that good, so I just take the coffe from my hotel room and order water for my meal. If you load up on enough, it should even take you through lunch time without another meal. The water park is a great value on the pass, and since Ocean World opened up a new water park, right down the street, I imagine that the drop off in business has prompted them to offer a good deal like this. Best thing is, the lines are almost non-existant for the rides, since I guess everyone is over at the other park. For me, a water park is a water park, unless it is Disney, which I consider much higher quality, but for ease of access from our International Drive layover hotel, it is perfect.

New Orleans Mardi Gras

I am writing this a little after my vacation to New Orleans late last month. I wound up in the middle of what is really Carnival time, but is refered to genericly as Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is really the day of FAT TUESDAY, when the big parages are held, but for the tourist, I feel that anything that leads up to the actual Mardi Gras date will give you a little taste of the true parade. I went to New Orleans not to sure of what to find after the distruction of Katrina passing through just two years earlier. My original plans were to go camping, as I like to do, but then changed my mind when I realized that any nice parks may still be severely damaged as a result of the hurricane. I instead went online to chose a guest house and found a small bed and breakfast by the name of Burgendy House, so called by the color of the paint outside. My arrival into New Orleans was uneventful and picking up a car and navagating the streets was quite easy, even without a GPS. I think that the reports of the hurricane damage were so over played that it is easy to think that the whole city is destoyed. This is not the case however, and the city as a whole seemed to be funtioning quite well. My first stop after checking into the B and B was a walk into town to see the dog parade. Quite funny and cute. This years parade theme was Indiana Bones and the Raiders of the Lost Bark. Some of the costumres were quite cute. I was very hungry so I asked someone behind me where the nearest ^good^ place to eat was. The locals, as I found out, are quite happy to help you out, probably as a need to get some life back into the city. They recommended a popular grease kitchen that specialized in hamburgers, just up the road. This was the Clover Grill, a place where your food is cooked under hubcaps, yes, hubcaps. The burgers were very good, dripping and well worth the $20 for two with a shake. Yum!!! What I loved best was the music, a steady stream of 80s classics that kept the beat as fresh as the food. A further look around the French Quarter, stopping in some of the shops and a walk along the waterfront afforded some great entertainment from the local street kids. We stopped in at Cafe Du Monde for the beignets and coffe, which are supposed to be a must do. I quite enjoyed it. They are covered in powdered sugar and wondered how that was going to look on my next cholestorol test right after a burger at the Clover Grill. Dinner was at a nice restaurant, which I am having a terrible time remembering the name of. I will include it later if I can round up the name. Dinner was good, but the service a bit forgetful for a high priced, fancy restaurant. The wait staff were very apoligetic for their oversights and even brought us a free appetizer, even though we hadnt complained. We simply gave them the benefit of the doubt and under the idea that the city was trying to get back on its feet. The next day was a day trip out to the planation homes. About a 1 hour drive that will make you think that you are just lost in the middle of nowhere, you will eventually happen upon Desrehan Plantation. Cllick here for directions...(http://www.discoverourtown.com/Refer.php?link=www.DestrehanPlantation.org) This is the house where Interview with the Vampire was filmed and well worth a visit. The price of admision is about $15 at writing. The tour is included and quite interesting. There is a restaurant on the property which was not too bad but was better enjoyed since I was able to look out the window at the beautiful grounds while having lunch. There were a few more plantation homes in the area, but at $15 each I decided just to look from the outside and take the long ride back into town. On my third day, I decided to do the Hurricane Katrina tour. While it sounds a little macabre, it is quite often done, just as people make a visit the 9/11 grounds in New York City. What I think is holding people back from visiting New Orleans is that they think from news reports, that the whole city is destroyed, which is far from the truth. Actually, I had to follow a driving map, and got lost once, looking for what distruction there truly was. The ride takes you through several rough areas of town and interestingly some areas, which were completely spared, even though they were just a few blocks from the distruction. I felt that it was important for me to try to let people know that New Orleans is not in the horrible mess that the new media would lead you to think. Another interesting drive that we did was through the mansions of New Orleans, in the Garden District. We parked the car and simply walked. Seeing the beautiful homes in many different architectural styles was a postive image that not all of New Orleans was taken by the hurricane.

Holland Park London

Happy 2008, I just got back from a fantastic walk around Holland Park in London, where I am once again on a layover I managed to pick up a Podcast on a walking tour of London, which had a 1 hour walking tour of Holland Park. I took the tube over to the park, however, for those of you on an "Oyster Card", the card that you use as a pass on London transit, the Holland Park exit is in zone 2 as opposed to Nottingham station, which is in zone 1, so it is cheaper to get off at Nottingham station and walk to Holland Park, which is about 10 minutes away. The podcast can be found on the iTunes site for ipod, and is quite interesting, however, I found myself getting a little lost in the park due to the signs not being too well posted on directions, while follwing the podcast. That aside, the walk was nice and took about 1 hour. I actually saw a fox, which I was surprised to see running around the park. The park was originally the grounds of a house, actually a mansion, that was destroyed in WWII. The remaining areas of the house that were salvaged were turned into a youth hostel, also known as the Holland Park youth hostel, run by the YHA and a restaurant which was made out of a separate area of the mansion that was salvaged. I have actually stayed in the youth hostel, and it is supposed to be one of the most famous and widely used youth hostels in London. It is a fantastic deal, and was about maybe $30 a night, at that time, around 2002, -with- breakfast included, per night. A great deal for London, and the breakfast is a FULL breakfast, not just some cereal and toast. It was quite interesting staying in what was once one of the wings of a grand mansion. A walk around Holland Park will take you to some murals that were painted in the last few years, that depict the Holland Park mansion, as it was in the 1870's. A restaurant is also located in this area, although no one seemed to be there when I went by late at night, and I was left to wonder if the restaurant is only open during the day. Also, please be aware of the closing time of the park, which is at dusk, depending on the time of year, obviously it will vary. I found myself trying to get out of the park after closing and had to hop over the fence to get out. I misjudged the distance to the ground and fell on my behind when I fell, so be careful!!! I had dinner at a McDonald's nearby, but as the pound is so strong against the dollar, my "value meal, came out to be close to $8 U.S. for a Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries and a coke. I have yet to really find a good deal on restaurants here in London, even though the food is quite good, I really suggest trying the supermarkets, where you can buy groceries at closer to "US prices", than eating out.