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I can honestly say that the drive from JFK into New York has got to be one of my favourite journey’s anywhere, once I see that skyline I get goose bumps and am so excited to be visiting again. I love the frenetic pace of the city, the noise, the architecture and visiting central park blows me away. I decided to surprise my family with a Limousine transfer from the airport which really started the trip on a high.
There are so many things you must see and do in New York but it will depend on how much time you have. However you must walk or just sit and watch the locals in Central Park, view or visit the Statue of Liberty, go up the Empire state building and also the Rockefeller centre if time permits. Ground Zero and the new memorial garden, you need to make reservations to view this. Stroll around this area, Battery Park, Wall Street and walk across Brooklyn Bridge and look back to the skyline. Museums worth a visit are for art lovers the MOMA, Guggenheim and the MET also the American museum of natural history.
After three days sightseeing, shopping and fighting the crowds we flew down to Miami beach for a couple of days on the beach and also an airboat ride in the Everglades. The beach is fabulous, beautiful white sand and even though we were on the Atlantic the sea was really warm and clear. One evening we explored the now restored Art Deco area where we ate in a superb Mexican restaurant and then wandered around the beautiful buildings we then proceeded to walk back to our hotel along a wooden boardwalk skirting the edge of the beach. Being chased by an amazing electric storm did make for an interesting evening and later sitting at the pool bar watching the sky and listening to the thunder, it was seriously loud.
The airboat ride was great fun, only a short thirty minute drive from Miami to the Everglades. We then joined a boat with a few other noisy Americans and were soon racing over the water through the reeds and viewing crocodiles and alligators as we seemed to fly along. We all thought it was very thrilling.
After a couple of days we drove up to Orlando which took us about five hours, again through another mighty storm, this was July after all, so to be expected.
This was my fifth visit to Orlando but I absolutely love the theme parks so it was just as good if not better than before. The boys were older now and could go on all the rides plus this time we didn’t have to queue up, autograph books and cameras poised with every single character they spotted. They were too cool for that sort of thing now.
We settled on a villa this time and with two teenagers this worked very well as they had their own rooms and could hang out in the pool till late if they wanted. It also had its own games room and Wi-Fi which worked very well with my Facebook loving children. It was also in a great location with only a 15 minute ride to Disney.
The most crowded park was in the Harry Potter area of Universal studios as this is still a relatively new attraction; the attention to detail is breath-taking as was the new ride. We drove down to Busch gardens one day which took just over an hour but well worth it as the rollercoasters are the best in Florida if you like that sort of thing (which I do). But I have to say I still love Magic Kingdom where it all started, the walk up to the castle is still as magical as ever. Top tip though is always get to the parks early, I mean really early, at least thirty minutes before they open so that you can be parked and then take the transport or walk to the entrance. This is particularly important for the Magic Kingdom where you take a bus from the car park to the first entrance and then either the monorail or steam boat to the main entrance; this can be a lengthy process on peak days.
We travelled during the Summer holidays which was at times very hot and busy but if you maximise your time by early access, using the fast pass plus Disney stays open late.