By car in sunny Florida. Driving Florida: An Interactive West Coast Route Driving Sunny Florida

June 11th, 2013 , 12:35 am

The road to Key West is scenic to the limit. Down from Miami is a string of Florida Keys connected by bridges and Highway One. Well, imagine: seven miles of the bridge, the sea to the right and left, in front Paradise Island, music, open roof, everything. A rare coincidence when dreams did not even cover half of what happened.
We stopped here to rest, and finally look at what we took. And also get the instructions and understand how this roof opens:

Key West (point B on the map) reminded me of the town from Palahniuk's novel "The Diary" - two-story wooden houses are buried in greenery, it smells of the sea, tourists walk neatly along the narrow main street. The houses are old, you turn off the main street and you find yourself in a village where chickens run across the road and a 1970 Ford pickup truck stands in a rickety barn. It is the southernmost "continental" point in the United States. Cuba is 90 miles from here. Less than before Miami. Photofact:

The hotel and house close to this painted barrel with a queue of tourists to take pictures do not lag behind and are called "the most southerly house" and the most southerly hotel "respectively:

It's good here:

And when everyone went to meet the sunset at the southern point (there is such a tradition in Key West), we were on the northern one:

Breakfast on the terrace of the hotel (by the way, a small guest house with 12 rooms with an elderly chatty and very helpful hostess):

Here we correctly predicted that one night would be enough, and went back in the morning (the old Seven Mile Bridge in the photo) and the new one in the background:

As evidenced by the corresponding plate:

It's a "recreation area", folks. You are driving along the highway, tired, moved out, rested, had a bite, looked at the birds (there is a marshy nature reserve around). Can you imagine something even remotely reminiscent of ours, next to the sign 7.11? Alas. And there is such beauty, you don’t want to leave:

Next on the plan was Naples (point C on the map). Wildest wilderness. If you need to forget about everything, and white light unnecessarily is the place:

Nevertheless - there is a wide beautiful half-empty beach

with seagulls and pelicans

and the whitest fine sand

for holidays with children, by the way, suitable.

We arrived at Nuples, met the sunset, slept, drove on to St. Petersburg, which everyone simply calls St. Pete (point D on the map). Although it turned out that our place is called Madeira Beach, and the coastal towns imperceptibly pass into each other
Here we thoroughly stopped for 3 nights, did nothing and did not go anywhere. In the evenings we sat on the balcony and looked at the Gulf of Mexico.

The beaches here are just as steep, but there are more people, more decent rest, all sorts of cafes around with shops.
But the coolest thing is still sunsets:

There is a category of hotels where they give you a room and that's it, then go by yourself. You can, of course, call to clean the room, ask for more portions of coffee for the coffee machine, but get the food yourself. Here you have a microwave and sometimes even a stove, here is a mixer, a juicer and a dishwasher, or here are restaurants half a kilometer away. And no one touches, no one knocks in the morning "cleaning". I went to Walgreens, bought fruit, yogurt, cheese and all kinds of other food, filled the refrigerator, and you eat everything on the sly. Bliss.

Well, then we went to Orlando (point J on the map, and not really Orlando, but Kissimi, well, so much the better).
In this area - all the entertainment on the planet, a dozen theme parks, of which we were in one - Universal Island of Adventure (dot, sorry, G). It was chosen because of the presence in it of the thematic zone named after Harry Jamesovich Potter. The very first attraction - "Hulk". Roller coaster.

Olya proudly shows her index finger and little finger in the Marvel zone, now superheroes will ride motorcycles from behind. I am not lying.

And I got into a fight with Dr. Doom and resigned myself to defeat

The show is amazing, by the way. The castle is like a real one, the pictures really move and talk, and, of course, in addition to the price of the entrance ticket, you will leave a lot of money for souvenirs and food with a view of Hogwarts. Or Jurassic Park.

The next point is the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral (point I on the map).
Interesting, very, nothing to add, I liked everything:

There were plans to go a little further south after the Cape and swim for the last time, but the rain changed our plans and we had to return to our Kissimi.
And the next day we handed over the car and flew to New York.
The described segment took exactly one week, although now it seems that we spent two and a half there, no less. Many impressions, great car, good weather.
Stay tuned, dear ones.

Photographs taken by the author used in the design

December 21, 2000 from snowy and frosty Rockford at night we go to the "sunny state" of Florida (as it is written on all the numbers of local cars).

I don’t remember the way there - the road fragments that I watched awake were rather monotonous. Monotonously stretched snowdrifts under 2 meters along the roadsides, overturned cars in ditches, Vadim monotonously swore when the car turned around and skidded with a lateral gust of wind. The fluffy snoring on my neck, rolling over from side to side, gave me no doubt that our path would be safe.

In Tennessee, about halfway to Florida, what we call a "roller coaster" began - we drove into the spurs of the Appalachians and got into three-dimensional space, moving sharply up and down and simultaneously to the right and left, and turning 90 degrees on On a narrow mountain road, local reckless drivers, including huge refrigerators, passed at a speed of 130 km / h, rushing past us with a whistle and a roar.

Having entered the southern states, we got into the annoying sun zone, and although it was below 0, it blinded and, as it were, asked: "who do you work for?" State of Georgia met familiar places from "Gone with the Wind": Atlanta, Nashville. We whistled through Atlanta from south to north through downtown (city center) with its skyscrapers and interchange bridges - for the first time I drove a car along a 7-lane highway, getting confused in lanes, trying not to stray from the right direction, so I didn’t see any special beauties. The edges of the road were lined with pine trees, shaped like a Christmas tree, with soft needles like a larch's and as long as a cedar's.

In less than 15 hours, we drove into Florida, where palm trees, crocodiles, dates, oranges, bananas, etc. are like dirt.

Florida is shaped like a gate without the left crossbar, with the corner facing northeast. Accordingly, on the right - the eastern coast, the Atlantic, on the left - the Gulf of Mexico, the western coast. If you drive all of it from north to south, you will run into a chain of islands located in an arc with a total length of 192 km. All the islands are interconnected by a road that connects the islands with the island by bridges, the longest of them is 11.5 km.

Florida is an agricultural state that provides all of America with citrus fruits, juices, jams and vegetables all year round, from 6 am until late at night. It is also the land of tourists and pensioners; the season there lasts from September to April, since summer in the tropics is not for everyone.

And also in Florida there is the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome, and anyone who is not too lazy to get up early in the morning can watch the launch of the ship.

Having entered Florida, we immediately felt a change in our thoughts - everything there was conducive to idleness - the contours of palm trees on the iridescent horizon, cottages, frivolous people who prefer to drive around in snow-white cars in T-shirts and shorts, and the temperature is close to +20. True, the vegetation has not yet pleased with the variety - all the same pines, with a sloppy undergrowth of palm trees, but citrus fruits with dates, and bananas.

Our first night was in a completely dirty motel. We really wanted to wander around a small town with houses in the Spanish style, so we stopped not far from it.

The town of St. Augustine turned out to be the oldest settlement on the coast, it was founded by a certain Don Pedro in 1608, to whom there is a monument on central square. Then the British conquered it, then the Spaniards, then...

In short, a small mossy stone was left of it, on which a sign hangs, and everything else - Spanish-style houses, narrow cobbled streets, a piece of the fortress - was made for tourists, of whom there are many, especially in summer because it is more comfortable than in the south, climate. Now they sit on a tram decorated with lanterns and ride along the festive streets with music, imagining the history of the conquest of America.

What was especially interesting for me there was the ocean and land, indented by channels parallel to the coast; a picture immediately arose - a Spanish caravel, brig or whatever, enters the harbor on tacks, and the population of the port town froze in anticipation of a surprise.

Cape Canaveral

The next point of our program is Cape Canaveral. It was at least strange to look at the place where the Shuttle was launched from.

Actually, I imagined the spaceport as a large, scorched desert, with rockets on the horizon, but here it turned out to be the opposite - a large nature reserve where alligators, many water birds, cranes, herons, pelicans, deer, etc. live. And only in some places are visible structures related to space.

Well, we saw the Shuttle, from afar, the rails along which the Shuttle was taken to launch, too, and the launch site, well, very far away, even the international space station through the glass. In the museum it was possible to touch the moonstone through a crack - such that the fist did not come out back.

The territory of the space center is simply huge, even moving by bus, from one object to another, we spent almost the whole day. On the walls of all space services there is a huge inscription: "Earth is the cradle of mankind, but..." K. Tsiolkovsky. This inscription instilled pride in our fatherland.

On this day, we had a kind of overnight stay - we went to the campground (a specially designated place where you can put up a tent) and in the dark, among the palm trees, we searched for it for a long time, based on an unclear scheme. We searched for a long time, because at first an armadillo ran across the road to us (a bad omen). We found a campground, but without drinking water, which is very uncharacteristic for America.

For some reason, there were no fools to spend the night there, but there was a lot of exoticism and a feeling of vague anxiety from spending the night in a completely deserted, incomprehensible to us tropical swamp forest - it’s good at least at this time the crocodiles are sleeping.

Orlando and Disney Land

We decided to go to one of the Disney World parks with feeling, really. We chose for a long time which one to go to and settled on the main one, with Mickey Mouse, princesses, snow whites, etc. Disney parks in Orlando 10-15, different in terms of theme and saturation.Somewhere more spectacles, somewhere attractions.The common thing for all is the parade of Disney heroes at noon and a huge fireworks display in the evening.

Usually people come to Orlando (the city where the parks are located) for 7-10 days, stay in a hotel right on the territory of one of them and have fun until the end, moving from one to another. One entry to one park costs about $50. A subscription for several days to several parks is somewhat cheaper, per day. We decided to stay at a campground with a tent, about 40 minutes from Orlando.

In the very first, nearest park, failure awaited us - they say, we have places, but we won’t let you in, because your cat has no documents (according to Florida state law, animals cannot be taken out into nature without being vaccinated against the encephalitis tick) - why They did not require a similar vaccination from people (we would have had the opposite).

There was a weekend with Christmas (Christmas) ahead, it was impossible to get to the veterinarian, and in another park we deceived everyone by hiding the cat under a sleeping bag (Vadim suggested in the trunk), they took him to the park, where he quickly mixed with the vaccinated cats.

In the evening it turned out that there was nothing to see in Orlando itself, with the exception of one of the streets, Internetional Dr., which - sparkling and shiny - we drove for half an hour, but we could not help but stop in one place - by the will of a sick imagination ( what else to surprise the jaded people?). A house was built there in the reverse perspective: it seems that, having bucked, it will collapse either on you or on a neighbor. This building houses a museum of all sorts of nonsense called "believe it or not."

Early in the morning we were on our way to the coveted World when we got into a traffic jam of the same fools who decided to have fun at Christmas. Basically, these were filthy expensive cars from Canada, Alaska and other northern regions.

From this day I expected a lot of entertainment, horror films, horror stories, yokan in the spleen, but I got, basically, queues, slightly diluted with simple attractions, noise, hubbub, fuss. (To tell the truth, I didn’t go to the difficult ones myself, being afraid of something). Anya and Vadim liked it much more, because by the end of the day they found an absolutely amazing attraction, long and interesting.

By this time, it was possible to show me anything, even Martians, I could not perceive this, I was a concentrate of fatigue and precipitated, striving to sit down or lie down on anything, therefore, taking pity on me, we did not wait for the festive fireworks of minutes 15, but I sincerely believe he was great. One of the attractions in the park is to ride a paddle steamer around the rides.

But I got the biggest impression of Florida in the park where we spent the night. The tents were set up near a rather picturesque river. Walking, we saw a poster that somewhere nearby there is a source. Deciding to get water for tea, we went for a walk with a canister in our hands. Approaching a large forest lake, from which, in fact, this river flowed, we realized that the canister was useless here.

It turned out that this hot key, beating from the depths (no one managed to dive deeper than 40 m), that this water is completely devoid of oxygen in the place where the springs beat, but that it is warm to swim there even in cold weather, and that there is a huge sea animal monati, which is for the winter , from October to March, sails into this river. He is very kind and lazy, similar in size and muzzle to a walrus, and with a tail to a beaver.

When this key was described in the last century by an English naturalist, he mainly drew attention to the crocodiles with which all the banks were laid.

Through the tropics to the swamps

And we rushed on, anticipating the beaches of southern Florida and the wonders of the tropics. After Orlando, endless citrus plantations stretched along the road, among them a mixture of lemon and orange, orange and tangerine, orange and grapefruit, and just different varieties, different sizes of native citrus paradise.

Prices for this gushing abundance of fruit bite hard. The main reason for this is an even greater abundance of tourists who really want to spend money on pleasure. We were an exception, so we carried fruits, vegetables and food with us in the trunk, and with them a gas stove, dishes for ourselves, dishes, canned food and a toilet for the cat, in general, you can’t list everything. With all this, the whole trip for three of us cost us $ 1,300.

South Florida began at the latitude of Miami. A significant part of it is occupied by swamps. Rather, it is a huge lowland flooded by the waters of the ocean, overgrown with grasses and trees.

The trees there are wonderful - the famous mangrove forests. They grow right in the water, equally well in both fresh and salt water.

If we imagine a squid with a branched head elongated in the form of a trunk, the ends of the tentacles of which are in the water, and the beginnings are in the sky, then we can get the concept of a mangrove tree. Their cheerful company with intertwined tentacles will be a mangrove forest.

It is impossible to walk through such a forest either on foot or by boat. The coasts of the seas of southern latitudes met travelers with mangroves - it was impossible to land on such a coast.

But in these thickets, birds (in particular, flamingos) and amphibians (alligators) feel at ease, and lobsters crawl along the bottom and sea turtles frolic.

One of the ten most famous national parks in America, Everglades, was created on these swamps, where you can make friends with an alligator, as well as a cougar, deer and other trifles at any time.

Here you can also go on a 10-day hike along the water trails to enjoy the richest world of birds and get away from the close proximity to 28 species of mosquitoes that consider these swamps to be their home. The main rule of safety in the swamps is not to feed the alligators so that they do not later confuse you and the food.

We had a dream - to live on an island where you go to the right - the Atlantic, to the left - the Gulf of Mexico, and all around are palm trees, coconuts, tangerines, friendly natives. At the same time, they believed that we were the most intelligent and quick-witted, having arrived New Year meet in Florida. It turned out that this is the lifestyle of Americans, but they are even cooler - they spend the winter in the south, and in the summer they go closer to Canada, where fishing, mushrooms, berries, in general, are migratory birds on wheels.

True, these wheels are more comfortable than ours - they have a house of a couple of rooms with a kitchen, shower and toilet. Basically, however, retirees live like that. But the rest are not stupid either, so when we tried to get a life in one of the three island campgrounds, it turned out that there were no places, and in one of them, with the most wonderful beaches, places were booked right up to April.

But we were very lucky (as it seemed at first), and we found a small but cozy camp of these very mobile homes, where for 30 dollars a day you could put up a tent on a patch with fungi topped with thatched roofs, on the very shore ocean. The beach, however, was dotted with decent-sized lime blocks with the remains of ancient marine plants and shells (as it turned out, a huge coral reef is made of such limestone, but more on that later).

The first day, or rather the evening, was a complete idyll - warm, sunny. Someone swam with a snorkel and a mask, some of the pensioners went out into the ocean on a yacht to fish, and we, sitting at the entrance to the tent, survey the water surface of the ocean and make plans for the future.

In the dark (and there day and night last about 12 hours), the people, armed with strong lanterns, went to observe the inhabitants of the seabed. We saw only a few stingrays, which, lazily moving the tails of their round tailed body, slowly moved in search of food. Away from us, several people saw a small octopus, but we did not have time to get to it.

Not far from our snout stood a galvanized table with a hose from which fresh water flowed. After a successful catch near this table, the pensioners cut the fish (they took several pieces of fillet from a huge fish). Everything else they gave to the pelicans. Pelicans vigilantly watched this table, and as soon as someone approached it, they descended in a cloud, some right on the table, trying not to miss a tidbit. Once they attacked Anya, who decided to wash pears there.

The weather in Florida is a capricious lady, especially in summer, she loves to fly in with a squally wind, then to sweep through with a hurricane. The last hurricane of 1988 left behind so much destruction that they even decided to immortalize it with a monument.

The words always seemed romantic to me: wind on the sea, swollen sails, foamy surf, wave, but when our tent began to depict an inflated sail, folded in half under the pressure of a damp wind, and a wave began to flood the entrance, I, taking the cat's armpit (according to his tousled it was impossible to understand in any way that he was Matroskin the cat), went to spend the night in the car, forgetting about romance.

In the middle of the night, Vadim and Anya decided to drag the tent away from the oncoming wave, and then the Russians, a husband and wife who came from nowhere, came to their aid, who settled in the neighborhood. Since the world is very small, they turned out to be programmers from Zelenograd, studied with Vadim at the same institute, and the lady was even on the same stream, and it turned out that they had a lot of mutual friends and acquaintances. They also had a common dream: to celebrate the New Year in the ocean with a bottle of champagne.

The rising wind did not subside until our departure; by the New Year we were left alone on our patch with our new acquaintances - not a single American could withstand the onslaught of the weather.

Miami

Our life went on as planned.

After watching a movie about Miami Beach, we decided to check how good the beaches are there - they turned out to be really not bad. Miami Beach bulges like an appendix from the flattened and stretched along the coast of Miami City.

This is specifically an American resort with hotels, cafes and restaurants, and an endless strip of coastal sand, in which watchtowers of lifeguards are stuck. After low tide, all sorts of things remain on the beaches - sponges, tubular algae, red algae that look like corals, hard, like wire, algae that look like lacy fans. Beautiful huge shells and starfish are to be found on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

In the south of Florida, there are many "Latinos", in particular Cubans, so Cuban shops and cafes are found everywhere. We went to one of these cafes for coffee. I had a bit of a shock when I saw Espresso coffee poured into a thimble - it was quite hard to see it on the counter. It was sublime coffee, bitter and strong as a sip of alcohol, and just as scalding.

A large number of southern temperament of people leaves an imprint on the style of driving on the roads. If here, in Illinois, any fool like me is gallantly let out of the line at the intersection, waiting patiently until I figure out where I need to go, then here I had to look both ways, dodging suddenly jumping cars and let impatiently honking reckless drivers pass ahead.

In local reserves, life flows slowly. One of them, which includes not only land, but also most of the ocean, is called the Coral Reef Park. People come there to see what is there, in the depths. This can be done by scuba diving (by renting one), or take a glass bottom boat tour.

The reef is located at some distance from the coast, and since everything there is a protected area, ships move in the same fairway, indicated by flagged buoys. Because of the cool weather, we went on a boat.

The coral reef in Florida is huge limestone shoals smoothed over the centuries - we did not see a single coral there. But there swam a shark, huge sea turtles, stingrays and, of course, exotic fish. There are a lot of people who want to see the reef - while we were waiting for our turn, we took a canoe for 2 hours and swam among the islands overgrown with mangroves and indented coasts, also made of limestone.

Key West

The quintessence of Florida is Key West. This is the most remote island from the mainland, located on 120 miles of the only road connecting the islands with the rest of the world. All of them here have the common name Keys, and each, except for its own name, adds this short word "key" to itself, which means a reef, a shallow, and also a key.

I think all these meanings fit them in meaning, since the islands are made of limestone, from the same as the reefs around the shoal, and they are also the keys with which, in particular, the Cubans penetrate into America, sailing on makeshift boats , boats, etc. The shortest distance to Cuba from Key West is 90 miles or 140 km.

As you know, the tropical climate is relaxing. Key West has always been inhabited by relaxed people, whose main occupation was the appropriation and division of the property of stranded ships. This was legalized by a special permit, according to which they, however, had to save the unfortunate victims.

The only one honestly earning money on the island was the lighthouse keeper, who, I think, was paid extra by someone to give signals in the right direction.

After hard work - transporting the natyrenny to his home on special boats, which had a huge hold, a mast and nothing more, the people walked through the taverns, which, due to demand, were like jellyfish in the sea.

Ernest Hemingway lived and worked on this island. Now his house has become a museum, where everything remains as in life, even the descendants of his cat have survived, which have multiplied up to 50 pieces and filled the house, yard, garden. To support their active life, there are several bowls of food in the yard. Cats, it must be said, are for the most part shabby and completely unsuited, not matching in color with the progenitor.

It is said that it was Hemingway who started the tradition of making a daily tavern cruise on Key West. Now he has a lot of fans from all over the world. This eternal Fiesta attracts so many people here that it is almost impossible to find a place to park. Drug addicts, gays, hippies and people who perceive life easily and freely found shelter here.

Every day a holiday is arranged here - seeing off the sun at sunset on the western coast of the ocean. After that, everyone has fun further along the surrounding taverns. They create a monument to him miraculous. True, this holiday is not for such boring people as me - neither to drink properly, nor to fill someone's face.

That's all, except for the way back, which brought us a few surprises - we were delayed for 12 hours because of the cat, who got tired of sitting in the car and slipped out near Atlanta at 6 o'clock in the morning. While he was hiding in the bushes, we patiently waited, from time to time appealing to his conscience, but he did not come out until the evening. When you are completely hungry.

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Hello my dear readers!

I haven't shared my travel experience with you for a long time. In fact, I don't even know how interested you are. But my trip, from which I returned the other day, is so remarkable that I cannot remain silent.

I will once again be very "original" and say that thoughts are material. The universe is helping. And so she decided to help in the implementation of my sixth wish out of a hundred written for this year (yes, 6 wishes have already been fulfilled! :). She also decided to combine all this and fulfilled the desire of my friend Ira, who not only wanted to fly to Florida, but to do it with me.

And now, by a happy coincidence, we have the opportunity to fly together on vacation. We chose essentially the weekend - from Thursday to Monday. And ... flew to Tampa. You may, like many others, ask why Tampa and not Miami. And I immediately want to get ahead of this question. If you've traveled around Florida, seen those endless beaches, palm trees, ocean and the beauty of the rainforest, then Miami may seem like something miserable to you. There are also beautiful places there, but in general - expensive, sometimes dirty and dull for a lover of nature and relaxation. Miami is mostly for party people. And I love Florida for nature, cleanliness, the ocean, peace and tranquility. Tampa was also chosen for several other reasons. There is the Busch Gardens amusement park (which we never got to for reasons of cost savings), and in the city of St. Petersburg, which is very close, there is the Salvador Dali Museum. I was lucky enough to visit him during my first trip to the States.

Since I am a supporter of independent travel and as much as possible budget holiday(if you need to save the budget), then Ira and I decided to try the couchserfing site. I've heard a lot about it, a lot of my friends use it. I didn't have any experience. Usually I traveled with my ex-husband. This was not very convenient for us. In this case, we booked inexpensive but good motels through booking, as well as rooms or apartments through airbnb. It never occurred to me to try it myself. And renting an apartment or a room seemed safer. Why not take the risk together? I have been on the site for a long time. I chose a few people, submitted requests, and also posted a trip announcement. The first to respond was a young guy who lives in Clearwater, Saint Petersburg. He saw my announcement. Mauricio, 26 years old, lives alone, offers a separate room (I want to make a reservation right away that I was intentionally looking for housing with a separate room). I looked at his photo, read his profile. And although he had no reviews, accepted the invitation. I don't know if it was right or not. But this is Florida, not New York, and everything looked very nice.

Maurizio, our host, was kind enough to use his lunch break to meet us. When we entered the apartment, we were speechless. It was a luxurious apartment overlooking the lake, from which the fountain beats. The apartment is new, bright and spacious. Instead of a thousand words, just look at the photo.

Mauricio left for work, we stayed at home. Since we did not yet have a car, without which in Florida there is no way, we decided to enjoy the moment. Because the weather (+27 degrees Celsius) and the place itself were conducive to relaxation. Mauricio was kind enough to buy us another air mattress in a private room on the second floor of the apartment, as well as fruits, vegetables, drinks and everything else. As a sign of gratitude, we decided to cook him dinner, which we ate together in the evening. Then he took us to Downtown St. Petersburg for a nice rooftop. The holiday started out great. I think it's understandable how happy we were.

The next day we decided to rent a car. We got up at 7 am (we continued this tradition on all subsequent days), had breakfast. And Mauricio took us to a small local airport before work, where we rented a car. From Friday to Monday, the rent was $170. Satisfied and mobile, we went for a walk.

I won't describe every day in detail. I will say that this trip not only exceeded my expectations, which in fact were not there, it just became unforgettable. First, the companion is very important. Ira and I, in fact, never communicated too closely. Very little. And it's one thing to drink coffee and chat, and another thing to live together, solve problems that arise, put up with stressful situations, without which it is impossible solo travel. It is also important to be able to share joy. And here we coincided 100%, complementing each other. We have similar interests: we love food in all its manifestations (from an inept appetite and love of food to walking around the supermarket, studying labels and smelling everything), we also have the same tastes in food and almost the same hedonistic approach to life :); we do not trudge to parties, alcohol parties and companies; both love silence, the ocean and nature; felt quite comfortable surrounded by retirees in Florida; not picky and not whimsical. The list can, of course, continue, but the essence is clear. Nobody pressured anyone. There was never a dispute about where to go and what to enjoy. There was no quarrel. But how else can we better understand each other? The main thing is to be able to put up. I am also a crowd-pleaser by nature. So I was glad that my ideas were met with enthusiasm. And this is because Ira likes the same thing. Everything is very simple.
I don't know if you believe in the zodiac horoscope. I believe for the most part. On our first evening in Florida, we sat on the balcony with the host and talked about various topics. Then Ira asked Mauricio about his zodiac sign. He asked the same question. Hearing that Ira is a Virgo, I remembered that each sign has an ascending sign (ascendant) and that it affects the first sign. My ascendant is Virgo. I would never have believed in these things if it were not for my Streltsov nature, mixed with the sign of Virgo. I am a typical Sagittarius. But the desire for systematization, planning, career building, practicality, and even some attempts to save money are not at all characteristic of Sagittarius. Well, and also this "sharp" language ... Ira and I could make fun of ourselves for hours, over photos on the Internet or passers-by. Good and to the point. But it was impossible to stop us :) Ira said that she was an atypical Virgo. And it was easy to notice in the same scattered things as mine, as well as other points. I had some suspicion, but I didn't express it. And the next day we somehow returned to this issue again, and I offered to calculate what kind of ascendant Ira has (links can be easily found on the Internet). And who do you think it is? :) Yes, it's a Sagittarius! For many, this may seem naive. But in this sense, I'm such a girl :)

Secondly, miracles happened to us in the truest sense of the word. We were lucky at every point of our trip. Usually on trips, whatever one may say, but there are some difficulties or roughness. But not at this time. And the biggest luck, which can not be called otherwise, was a snow storm in New York. I will talk about this in a little more detail.
On Monday we had to leave Florida and fly to New York. Even on the first day, we realized that we had chosen a very short period for this heavenly place. Naturally, we enjoyed every moment, but didn't want to leave at all. Well, here it is, absolutely! On the way to the airport we were sad. There was a complete rejection of this situation. The day before, friends from New York began to send information about an approaching snow storm. We did not take it seriously, but we did not want to return from the sun to the snow. We discussed how stupid it is to fly to New York just at the moment when the weather is going to be very bad. If they had known, they would have chosen more days. I randomly flashed thoughts that it would be possible to change the ticket. But we couldn't lose money on it. So we cherished secret hopes. When it became known that we might not fly to New York, we reassured ourselves that perhaps these would be new adventures. We were flying through Cleveland so we could explore it. But what is Cleveland if you can stay here? Arriving at the airport, we decided to act aggressively. It immediately became clear that flights to New York were cancelled. Of course, they cunningly tried to direct us to automatic check-in, but I insisted that we want to talk to an airline employee. After waiting for our turn, we bombarded the woman with questions. She tried to find us other tickets. She offered to fly to Newark. It's in New Jersey. It is expensive to get from there, and in connection with the situation there would still be a risk of staying there overnight. And of course, we madly wanted to spend this time in Florida. After much trying to find out something, the girl timidly asked us if we could stay here until Wednesday. Hiding our delight, we answered, "We think so." And now we have tickets for Wednesday and two more days in paradise!!! You will not believe it, but it seemed like real magic. Especially later, when we found out that there was no storm either. Immediately at the airport, I submitted requests to new hosts, we rented another car, which cost us $ 70 for two days. Waiting for answers from our new benefactors, we went to our favorite cafe to drink coffee and enjoy the beauty of this world.

By the way, here is our machine. Very playful. We fell in love within a few days.

We decided to find a second host in Sarasota, because this place was not only my favorite, but also won Irina's heart. And what was my surprise when the host turned out to be from those parts where I lived for 5 weeks on my first visit to the USA! We went to a chic house where the guy who sheltered us lived with his parents.

I could not believe that out of all the people who are on coachsurfing, I came across this particular area. I don't know about you, but I believe in signs. I could not even think that someday I would be back in this small Florida village. And so Ira and I walk around the places of my, so to speak, military glory. I showed you the beach and the pier where I spent so many great times. And we even visited the lake on which I rested. This is such an amazing life!

In the end, we left finally rested and completely satisfied. In the full 5 days we managed to:

And many other small events.

I hope my story was interesting and possibly useful for you. Now I am full of strength and energy for work and new achievements. I have some fresh ideas that require tremendous energy. I'm already planning my next trip :)

Here you can see whole story, which is created by Google together with my phone absolutely independently. It turned out very clearly :)

All the sun, heat, positive!

It seems that quite recently I was in California, looking at the Pacific coast. Most recently, he changed Louise Malibu to Sonic, who remained nameless. It turns out that two weeks have already passed, and during this time I have traveled six and a half thousand kilometers.

The other day I got east coast America and entered the state of Florida. Oh, there are a lot of interesting things here! But I'll start with what every tourist sees at the entrance to almost any American state.

1. Almost always, especially if you are driving on the main highway, when you enter a new state, you will meet a tourist center or simply a "Welcome!" Center.

2. It looks like a recreation area that is constantly found on highways, at least once every 100 kilometers. Here you can at least go to the toilet and sit on a bench, take a break from driving.

3. The welcome center differs only in size. Here, the entrance sign of the state line is duplicated so that people do not stop on the highway, but can be photographed against its background, without exposing themselves and other drivers to safety.

4. Another difference - in the tourist center there are specially trained people who will tell you about the state and interesting places, answer your questions. Here you can find out about all the interesting events that will take place this month.

5. At the stands - free information. Hundreds of booklets about parks, entertainment centers, museums. There are special books with coupons where you can find discounts on all these entertainments, hotels, restaurants. You can take as many booklets as you like - they are free.

6. Here you can also buy soda and snacks, sometimes they sell ice cream. All machines accept bank cards, and a special machine gives change if you have a large bill.

7. And of course, in such a center you can always find a clean toilet, drinking fountains and garbage dumps where you can throw the garbage accumulated along the way.

8. The first Florida city I visited was Panama City Beach. This is a kind of local Gelendzhik, a city built specifically for beach tourists and living only at the expense of tourism.

9. The town consists of one main road running parallel to the sea. Here is everything that a vacationer may need.

10. There are a lot of elevated crossings so that people can safely cross the road.

11. There are huge high-rise hotels, there are small houses. The average price of a hotel (houses are cheaper) is $400 for two for a week. You can book at least for tomorrow.

12. You can come without anything at all, you can buy any clothes or a swimsuit right here.

13. And here is the beach with white sand!

14. Formally, each hotel has its own beach, but the coastline is not fenced in any way, there are no fences. You can swim wherever you want!

15. Every beach has a shower to wash off the salt water, but for some reason there are no locker rooms. Apparently, they are not needed - everyone changes clothes in the hotel. Well, I, in the old fashioned way, changed clothes in the car :)

16. No one walks along the beach and shouts "Baklava, pies are hot, beer is cold!!!". Kind of boring :)

17. The beach is regularly patrolled by a special beach police. The guys keep order and are ready to help if someone drowns. There is a special rescue surfboard in the trunk.

18.

19. And strange guys with metal detectors walk along the beach.

20. The beach is divided into two parts by a large pier extending into the sea. Here you can watch the aunts in swimsuits, and officially, for 25 cents.

21. You can sit and admire the sea (and bathers from afar).

22.

23. Here, on the pier, fishermen gather.

24. There are a lot of fishermen, each has a special refrigerator cart on wheels and a folding chair.

25. Someone fishes for themselves, and someone to live.

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27.

28.

29. A fish is caught here like this!

30. A family can be fed for a whole week. Interestingly, do Americans know what an ear is?

31. From Panama, I went to the very south of the state, and at the same time to the southernmost point of the USA - the city of Key West. About him next time!

I remind you that you can follow my movements in real time!

We invite you on an exciting journey through sunny Florida! Our managers will help you to choose a comfortable and suitable car for you. During this tour, you will be able to independently visit many cities and attractions, as well as incredibly picturesque and interesting places: famous chain coral islands, Everglades National Park, "manatee capital", "East Hollywood", numerous beaches and much more.

Driving in sunny Florida

Tour duration: 12 days/11 nights.

Tour itinerary: Miami - Key West - Everglades National Park - Naples - Sarasota - Crystal River - Silver Springs - St. Augustine - Orlando - Miami.

Hotels according to the program:

The cost of the tour per person based on double occupancy in a Deluxe room:

Florida, USA

Included in cost:

• accommodation in a hotel of the selected category;
• detailed instructions on a self-driving program.

Additionally paid:

• international flight;
• resort fees hotel (paid locally);
• entry tickets;
• food and drinks;
• porter service;
• accommodation in hotel parking lots;
• tolls on toll roads;
• ferry tickets;
• car rental ($45-50 per day, including taxes and compulsory insurance depending on the car category, unlimited mileage);
• additional fee at the place of car rental;
• fee for returning a car in another city (if necessary);
• personal and other expenses not included in the price.

Notes:

• Managers will select a convenient option for you to rent a car, depending on the place and time of its receipt, as well as the category of car.
• Renting a car usually does not include the cost of gasoline, additional insurance, taxes and fees, or a child seat.
• Additional fees may apply if the driver is between 21 and 24 years old.
• All tourists planning to drive must have a valid international driver's license.
• The cost of any paid but unused services is non-refundable (nights in hotels, car rental).
• Children under 10 years old sharing a room with two adults participate free of charge (using the number of beds in the room).
• You can find out all the conditions and cost of renting a car for specific dates from the manager!

Florida, USA

Tour program

Arrival at Miami Airport - the main and most fashionable resort not only in Florida, but in the entire United States of America as a whole. It is infinitely loved by thousands of travelers for its mild climate, luxurious sun-drenched beaches and an incredible variety of entertainment. Show business stars, famous businessmen and financial magnates live here.

IN international airport You can pick up the car prepared for rent and go to the hotel.

On this day, an unusual adventure awaits you - by car you can get to the southernmost point of the USA - Key West. You will drive along the Overseas Highway (US1), pass 32 islands and cross 42 bridges, being only 90 kilometers from Cuba.

You will see the famous chain of coral islands often referred to as the Keys. The first one is, of course, Key Largo. It houses the only underwater park in America, John Pennekamp Coral Reef, named after the famous writer.

Arriving in the city of Key West, of course, you will be able to visit its most famous resident - visit the house-museum of Ernest Hemingway. In addition, it is highly recommended to ride the local streets by train and walk along the path of the pelicans.

Day 3. Key West - Everglades National Park

You will drive again past the Key Islands, heading north on US1. We recommend that you schedule a stop and go kayaking along the picturesque Florida Bay. By the way, it is better to book such a walk in advance.

After - another 10 miles to the north, and you will find yourself in an amazing eco-corner of the planet - the Everglades natural tropical complex, which occupies the southern quarter of the Florida peninsula. Nature untouched by man reigns here and you can meet animals whose species have long been considered disappearing from the globe. You will go for a walk through the vast park area on an airboat and, perhaps, during the trip you will be able to see the rarest representatives of the fauna, and even predatory ones from afar - including from alligators.

Key West - Florida, USA

Day 4 national park Everglades - Naples

You will continue on your journey to a quiet beach resort near the Gulf of Mexico - Naples. You will find yourself at the affectionate warm sea, among people living a leisurely and measured life. They do everything for their own pleasure - in the morning they run at the edge of the surf or do exercises in the fresh air, play tennis and golf, stroll along the beautiful embankment, watching the smooth water surface (even the sea here is almost always calm!).

Do not miss the opportunity to sit in local cozy restaurants and stroll through the shopping malls, recharged by the amazingly relaxing atmosphere of this resort.

Day 5. Naples - Sarasota

On this day, you will continue your road trip even further north - to the city of Sarasota, which is famous for its magnificent beaches of Venice and Fort Myers. You can stop and relax a little by the sea.

After that, we recommend visiting the winter residence of the legendary inventors and entrepreneurs - Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. If you want to see the tropical barrier islands of Captiva and Sanibal, then it would be better to change to a bike or even ride through the mangroves in a kayak. We will tell you where you can rent these vehicles.

Day 6. Sarasota - Crystal River - Silver Springs

On this day you will go to Crystal River - a city that is considered to be the recognized "manatee capital". Here, large herbivorous mammals, quite rare in the world and even endangered, live in large numbers and love to swim in local waters. Many manatees also live in the area of ​​Homosassa, which you will pass along the road. Continue driving to the town of Silver Springs.

Day 7. Silver Springs - St. Augustine

You will arrive in Silver Springs where you can visit the local park. The first adventure action movie about the life of the adopted son of monkeys, Tarzan, was filmed on its territory. In addition, you will have time to ride on a glass bottom boat on the Crystal Springs River. It was here that in 1513 the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the "fountain of youth". Do not miss the opportunity to see this fountain covered with myths and legends!

Silver Springs - Florida, USA

Arrival in the oldest of the currently existing cities in the United States - St. Augustine. You will have a whole day for leisurely strolls through atmospheric streets that have preserved Spanish architecture and a touch of antiquity, as well as relaxing on the magnificent local beach. You will have enough time to sail on a boat to Anastasia Island and see the famous striped lighthouse. It was built at the end of the 19th century and now a museum operates on its territory.