International Drive

Tuesday 8th July


Tuesday morning and another  glorious day in Orlando.

The outer parts of the city where I was situated is more famous for the big theme parks such as walt disney world and universal studios.

Today gave me the opportunity to experience some of the sights that the world famous international drive has to offer. My hotel was located just beside the 'wet n wild' water park and an indoor sky diving center..... Only in Orlando!

I had earmarked a couple of museums that I wanted to check out along the way, the first of which was the Titanic artifact exhibition and the bizzare 'Ripley's Believe it or not' museum.

The area around my hotel was plagued with roadworks which would make getting around that little bit harder because some of the bus stops had been moved. I later found out from a trolley driver and fellow Jeff Gordon fan that they were widening the road putting in bus lanes all along iDrive to make bussing it more convenient
I had bought an iRide trolley pass for the day for $5 which allowed you to get whenever you wanted along international drive, stopping at over 20 locations, really useful.... Or so it sounded.

They were supposed to stop every 20 minutes and when I did eventually find a bus stop that would take me south to where I wanted to go I ended up waiting 40mins in the searing heat. 2 bottles of water that I had didn't go very far.

Eventually arrived at the titanic museum a little later than planned however most of iDrive is open until midnight each night.

The museum itself was very good. Decked out (shameful pun) to look like parts of the ship and packed with fascinating artifacts,  not the least of which, a massive section of the ships Hull which was carefully brought to the surface from titanics watery  grave over 2.5 miles at the bottom of the Atlantic.

There was also a feature which allowed visitors to touch the Iceberg, not the actual one of course,  to give them the impression of how cold the waters were on the night of the tragedy.  Still feeling extremely warm from the temperature outside I gladly took this opportunity..... With both hands.... And arms!

A very worthwhile visit!

Next up was the ripley's museum,  this was just a few stops down on the trolley route so rather than wait until the year dot for a trolley I decided to walk it.

What a fascinating place this was.... Full of oddities and interesting objects from shrunken heads to a cars made entirely from musical instruments and much more.  Another worthwhile visit and bigger than I expected it to be.

After this it was back to the hotel to cool off!  Got back and watched a bit of the football..... Saw the score was 5-0 to Germany and thought my eyes had deceived me with all the heat.

Made plans for the evening and discovered there was a nascar sports grille nearby up by universal studios.
Once I had figured out which bus to catch I headed up there... Only to find it was actually in the grounds of universal studios itself so I took the opportunity to have a proper look round and take some pictures before heading to the nascar sports grill for some dinner. Very nice it was to... Except my waitress was wearing a Jimmie Johnson shirt!

A great atmosphere in the park with music playing, everyone having fun,  theme park rides all around,  glad to have made this trip in the evening.

When I left on the bus to head back to international drive I got caught in a florida rain shower.... I was soaked from head to toe.

Fortunately it let up. A bit and the humidity dried me off somewhat.  Still headed back to the outlet stores a bit wet but not too bad after I wrung my socks out!

Got a pair of Levi's for bargain prices up there before heading back to the hotel later on in the evening.

I have to say I have really enjoyed my time in Orlando,  covered pretty much everything I wanted to,  got soaked and sunburnt but loved every minute  of it.

I head off to Dallas on Wednesday,  a whole different types culture and list of new things to see. It is here that I continue my travels with Jacob who is flying in from Chicago,  it will  work great to meet up and carry on with the rest of the tour together.... Watch out America!