Florida - The Sunshine-State

On first August my family and I, were going to Florida, but at first we had to fly from Linz to Frankfurt, the biggest airport of Europe. We had to wait for one and a half hour before our plane was leaving for Miami. We flew with a Boeing 747 from Lufthansa, which is one of the most important airlines in Europe. After nine hours flying we arrived in Miami. Then we were looking for our bus, which should take us to "Alamo"-Car Rental, where we got our car for the next two weeks.

Our first hotel was the "Castillo del Mar Resort", which was at Miami Beach. The Street was called Collins Avenue and there were only hotels and restaurants for about 4 km. The first night wasn't so good because of the time-difference. On the second day in Miami we drove to Key Biscane, to see the famous Tennis-Stadium, and then we decided to go for a sightseeing tour through Miami. It started at Bayside Marketplace, a shopping mall. There we could see the "Hard Rock Cafe" of Miami. At the sightseeing tour we saw some really interesting things like the Holocaust-monument or the "Torch of Friendship" in memory of John F. Kennedy.

On 3rd August we drove to Cape Canaveral to see the "Kennedy Space Centre" and the "Spaceport USA". At first we went to the "Rocket Garden", where you can see a lot of rockets and satellites. Then we saw a Film in an "IMAX-theatre", and at last we went for a tour to "Spaceport USA". We saw a building, which is 3 times lager than the "Empire State-Building". From a view-tower you can see three launch-pads and a radar station.

After this exciting trip to Cape Canaveral we arrived in the evening in Kissimee, near Orlando, where we stayed at the "Ramada Plaza Hotel". At first we didn't know what to do first, because there are so many adventure parks like Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, Wet'n Wild, Water Mania and so on. At first we went to Disney World, to the Magic Kingdom, one of five Theme parks in Disney World. After we had seen the most of it we left after 10 hours fun.

Next day we went to "Water Mania", which is a gigantic swimming pool with 37 exciting slides. After a few hours bathing fun we went to Sea World, where you can see whales, dolphins, penguins and sea lions. One of the best attractions is the "Terrors of the deep" building, where you can see sharks and many other frightening fish. While you are going through a tunnel, which is in the middle of water, sharks and fish are at a distance less than half a metre. As last we went to the night show of "Keiko" the killer whale. It was fantastic, when "Keiko" splashed off the people which were sitting on the first 14 rows.

At the last day in Orlando we visited E.T., the great White Shark and King Kong at the "Universal Studios Florida". We also visited the "Hard Rock Cafe" Orlando.

After this four very tiring days we went to Naples, where we stayed at Gulf-Shor-Drive 11000 Vanderbuilt Inn. Three days of relaxing to be fit for our last station.

After this we went to Everglade City where we went for a boat tour through the Tenthousand Islands. Some dolphins played with us and we saw some manatees and some osprey and of course many pelicans.

Maybe you wonder why we haven't seen alligators? Because that was salt water and alligators only live in fresh water. So we drove some kilometres to a fresh water area, where you can see alligators just one metre away from you.

After this interesting trip to the nature of the Everglades we went to Key West, the last station of our holidays. The way to Key West is going over bridges and big and small islands called Keys. The longest bridge, the Seven-mile-bridge is 11 km long. Key West is the southernmost point of continental USA. At Key West there is one Street, which is named "Duval Street" where all the people go to because of the famous bars and Liquor Stores, like "Sloppy Joe's Bar" and so. Key West is famous for its reefs and so we decided to go on a Glassbottom-boat- tour. It was fantastic to see the corals and fish. We even saw two sharks.

After this beautiful trip to the Florida Keys it was time for getting home again. We spent our last night in Florida at The "Fairfield Inn" Miami, which is only half a mile from the airport away, so you can hear aeroplanes all day and all night. On 14th August we boarded our plane to Frankfurt and had to say good bye to Florida. On August 15th at nine o'clock in the morning we arrived very tired in Europe again. After shopping in the duty-free shop and sleeping in the departure hall we flew back to Austria.

I liked the trip to Florida very much. We saw a lot of things and had a lot of fun. The only thing I want to change the next time when I go to America is that I would stay longer at the places and that I would feel more of the life their. We only visited the places where a lot of tourists are but I want to know the life style there better. For everybody who has never been to America: go there and enjoy it!