For a little while I’ve been thinking on something new to share with you guys, but for some reason, I never thought about sharing my latest Florida trip. I know it took me a lot of time to finish the post from Arequipa but I will try to round everything up about Florida in one post.
If you don’t know, my dad passed away back in October 2021, 12 days before my birthday, and this was basically the main reason why I ended up flying to Florida. I was happy and satisfied with my two trips to Arequipa but Florida was awesome.
But if you’re wondering why one gets to travel when their parent dies? Well, my dad had this one good friend that who he helped for so many years as well as her parent. And she decided to repay him by inviting me to visit her for around 10 days at her house in Florida.
Plane tickets?
This time I flew with Viva Air. From November 30th to December 12th. This was the second time I flew with them, the first one was to Bogotá, Colombia. The round trip was $530 from Lima to Orlando and a layover in Medellin. This price included their Tarifa Medium that allowed you to pick your seat, have 23 kg checked baggage, a 12 kg carry on and a bag. For me this was the best, because when you go to the USA, most of us get the chance to buy everything we can’t find on our countries or that are cheaper there.
All flights when softly, I really loved the Caribbean Sea views from the second flight.
Where did I stay?
Well, the majority of my trip at my dad’s friend house, and just the last day that we went to Orlando, we stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista. It was pretty decent for what we needed it and it included breakfasts. I don’t know how much it was because I wasn’t really involved in the booking process but I think it was around $100 a night or less, I’m not sure and I would be lying. I just checked on their website and it is around that price. If you want to stay there, I’ll be adding a link so you can book there.
Where did I go?
Well on my first day I literally after landing went to Disney Springs and had lunch there a nice little walk.
Bush Gardens
My dad’s friend is a Florida resident and she got a year pass. It allowed her to have a few free guests and discounts on some things, I don’t remember all the details but I highly recommend you to check the details on their website. You could pay $30 and that allowed you to eat whatever you wanted (again see details). We shared that for hour meals that day. We basically rode all the available rides and some even twice. The water one literally got me soaked as if I went in a pool fully clothed. If you like roller coasters, guys I highly recommend it, and the animals are the huge plus.
Tampa Zoo
We went there because they have something for Christmas at night. Loved seeing all the animals and all the Christmas decorations and lights at night. But to be honest, wasn’t something spectacular. Still had some fun there.
Ringling Museum
They have free admission for the Museum of Art and the Bayfront Gardens on Mondays, so I’m assuming I went there on a Monday because I got to visit that for free. I remember visiting one part of the Circus Museum for free too. Not sure if that part is always free or it was free when I went there, because I’m reading now that now fees apply. Anyways I saw lots of art and learnt a lot about the circus history.
Walt Disney World
Well, this was my 5th time in Disney so, even if I was thrilled to be there is not like I was there with huge excitement. I highly recommend you to buy Genie+ and plan all your rides with time if you can because there’s rides with lines with more than 1 hour. I bought it while I was already there so I wasn’t really able to use it for my advantage that much but its worth it.
We visited Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Magic Kingdom all in one day. Started the day with Hollywood studios were I spent HOURS in lines but was worth it, then went to Epcot, then to Magic Kigdom for fireworks, which were amazing because of the 50th anniversary and then back to Epcot for their fireworks.
My advice is that if its your first time, I recommend you get tickets for 3 to 4 days, so you really enjoy all the parks with all the time in the world. Same advice goes for Universal even though in this case it 2 days will be fine unless you want to go to Volcano Bay. If it’s your nth time then 1 or 2 days should be fine depending on your schedule.
Plan ahead and use all the apps, fast passes, Genie+whatever you can to your advantage because other than that you’ll be spending the whole day in lines. I made a 3 hours line for one of the new Star Wars ride. It was initially less but it kept breaking down so I was 3 hours under the sun.
Lido Beach
I just went there to debut my new Aerie Swimsuit, enjoy some of the sun and the beach. Loved all the views and being able to see real amish people in front of me and not on the tv.
Other places
Here you’ll see some of the pictures from when I went to Ana Maria Beach, Sunshine Skyway Bridge and the little lake behind where my hosts lived and around Tampa and Sarasota in Florida.
Where did I eat?
I’m going to be honest; I didn’t pay much attention to the places I went to eat. Sometimes it was burgers in the cars but I will share the places I managed to save on my stories. All of the were really good so I do recommend them. I’ll try to add some details if possible.
The Waterfront Restaurant
We went there to have lunch after a little visit to Anna Maria Island, where my dad’s friend husband was working. The food was great, I got some tacos (I’m weirdly obsessed with tacos lately so every chance I have I get them) and some fries that were really good.
Inkawasi Peruvian Restaurant
Yes, I could not miss the chance of not eating peruvian after a lot of burgers. I ordered Lomo Saltado and an Inka Cola. It felt a lot like home and it was definitively delicious.
Paris Bistrot
This was our little stop for desser after peruvian food. They had delicious crepes. I don’t remember exactly which one I got but I think it was the Cape Cod one.
Jack Dusty Coastal Cuisine & Craft
This was more of a drink visit and it was the first time in years and years I needed to show my ID. I don’t really remember which exact drink I had but I remember it having gin and maybe berries?
Sonny’s BBQ
We visited this place after a band presentation of her kid. It was really good and I got the Baby Back Ribs. They laughed at me for choosing double fries as my sides, because, your girl loves French fries lol.
More travel
Leave a Reply