Saturday, November 04, 2006

I Really Must Go to Florida.

Everyone in the UK has been to Florida. And half of them have also been to LA.

For many of the people I spoke to, this is their only experience of America. Disneyland, palm trees, sandy beaches. This is not the America I know.

I have never been to Florida. Never been to Disney Land or Disney World. And I think I could go my while life without ever going to those places because, as most of you already know, I hate people. And the places have a lot of people.

I don't mean you, dear readers. I mean I hate people I don't know. The people that cut in line, and talk loudly on their phones, and take up two parking spots just for the hell of it. The people that you'd probably find a lot of at theme parks.

And yet, I feel like I have to go to Florida at least once, even if we skip Disney World. Because I'm curious about what people see when they visit. If this is the only place in the U.S. that the Brits visit, what is their impression of our country?

Obviously, it's a warmer and sunnier place than Ohio. But what else is its great allure? Maybe someday I'll make it to Florida, and I can ask all of the Brits staying in our hotel to explain it to me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You MUST go to Florida. It's awesome. I went to Disney World in 91, and it was getting out of control then. But I would like to go back. I'll probably tag along when my sis and b-i-l take the kids. And the Keys--beautiful.

You can visit me when I finally stop talking about moving there and actually move there.

Amy said...

Florida's nice, but I haven't been there in ages. The weather and the beaches are better than Ohio, but nothing beats Hawaii.

Let's see... My family went to Daytona Beach on Spring Break almost every year between '82 and '88, and then we went again in '90 or '91. (Since we are pack rats, we still have the red plastic "Spring Break 84!" McDonald's cups to prove it.)

We did a lot of different stuff down there besides theme parks, but I know we hit Disney World, Epcot, MGM, and Busch Gardens. I prefer roller coasters to Mickey Mouse, fake Europe, and zoos, though, so give me Cedar Point any day.

The movie stuff was okay -- I think we saw the Indiana Jones show, where the fake boulder runs down the track and almost mashes the guy, and we saw the house that they used for the exterior location shots on The Golden Girls (which was still on the air at the time, I think). Oh, and I got my photo taken with the Ninja Turtles, which was cool.

I don't think I've ever been as far south as the Keys. I know my parents and my sister went to the west coast of FL one year when I was in college -- I think my spring break was the week before my mom's & sister's, so I got screwed out of the trip. I'd like to go to Sanibel Island, which is famed for its seashell collecting.