The Ocean Country

Salut!

At the moment I’m in the hostel in Miami. Today’s post is wrote partially today and the other half yesterday. So here comes the part of yesterday:
I’m now sitting in the bus to Miami and it’s 1:22h Dutch time (so 6 hours earlier here). We just left at a hotel were the shuttle bus of the hostel dropped us off. Today we leave Orlando behind us and go on to Miami, same climate, just a bit less Disney. :P Because today is a travel day again, we didn’t do any activities today. That is, if you don’t count getting red in the sun while laying in the grass as an activity. Because that’s what we did today. :P Ow yeah, and I checked some mail as well. :P Almost checked out to late, cause we couldn’t get out of bed (probably had to do something with the wine we drunk yesterday :$ ). Anyway, point is, we now definitely left the busy (city)life behind us and started relaxing. But I’ll tell all of that in a bit.

Also surfed the Internet for a while today and read that Sarah arrived in India already. This is when I realized that I’ve been gone for 3 weeks already. And I’m starting to miss home as well as my life in Paris. But, apparently this is only natural according to the book I read today (the Bull in the Zodiac belt prefers to stay at one place it said). Anyway, point is, I miss you guys, but luckily Lin is there to present u all. :)

Then, mum, dad, don’t worry, I’m taking it easy, only the big cities were a bit ‘consuming’. But that will change when we’ll reach Colombia. And Isa, don’t worry, there won’t be a wedding since Lin rejected me. :P

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1) Disney World, everything is bigger in America

After DC and NY we had a plane to Orlando. We landed about 5.30 PM, but it took us almost 3 hours to finally get to the hostel that was about 20km south of the air field (3 busses, and in the US public transport isn’t that good). In the hostel they also had single rooms, and they were only a couple of bucks more expensive then the mixed dorms we ‘normally’ book, so we took a private room. :) But best was the dinner at Bob Evans, cheap, a lot and good, homemade food. :)
Next day we went to Disney World. First to the Animal Kingdom, were we did a safari, so South Africa I can skip from my to-do list for I’ve done that. :P We saw (among others) Lions, Asian Tigers, lots and lots of birds, Nile crocs, hippo’s, giraffes, zebras and more. We even saw the Yeti in the Himalaya roller coaster! Got some cool pics of that, but too much to put online, so I’ll show you all in 2 years. Also in Asia (part of the park) was the Indian river Radja, were I got ‘medium soaked’ and Linda got really (and I mean REALLY!) wet. :P After closure we went to the Magic Kingdom as well (this one is basically the same as the one in Paris). Here we did the Stitch and Monster Inc show and Space Mountain. This last one is 34 years old, so no as ‘turbulent’ as the one in Paris. :P At the end of the day we saw the beautiful firework called ‘Wishes’ and I made mine. :D
On the 12th we started at the Epcot park. Those of you who got the digital postcard, this one was made in one of the rides in this park. Epcot also had a part were there were built ‘things’ from all over the world, so we had a lovely lunch in Mexico this day. And we passed by in Paris, Norway and Japan as well. ;) In the evening we also went to the Hollywood studios and did some awesome rides such as Rock ‘n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Ariel the little Mermaid. :P

A little addition to this from Miami itself:
As I said, I’m at the hostel now, waiting for dinner. Linda is lost. She went to the tourist information with a Japanese girl we met to arrange a day trip to the Everglades tomorrow. I did the laundry in the meantime and just got back. Hope she gets back in time for dinner is at 7PM. The hostel is really great. When we arrived yesterday, we didn’t even notice it was a hostel (we taught it was a night club). It is luxe, even with a terrace and free dinner and breakfast. :D And only 2 blocks from the ocean! So Linda tried the beach today when I went searching for a flight to Bogota, but she came back within 30 minutes because it was too cold. We also went downtown and to Little Havana this morning, but that was a complete waste of time and money for there was nothing to do. :( Tomorrow we’ll do the Everglades then and the day after that… we don’t know. Because our ‘contact’ in the Keys didn’t respond (until after we booked a flight), we weren’t sure we had a free ‘hotel’ in Key West and therefore decided to skip the Keys and fly directly to Bogota on the 17th. Saves us a sh…load of money as well. :) So, at 6.30 AM on the 17th we fly to South America. Will be fun, for check in is at 4.30 AM. :P

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2) The Route

This is my trip:
- 22/01/09 I flew to Aruba to visit and pick up Linda;
- 03/02/09 We went to Washington DC and visited Mariska;
- 06/02/09 We took take the bus to New York and slept in our first hostel;
- 10/02/09 We had a flight to Orlando and did 2 days Disney World
- 13/02/09 Driving to Miami were we’ll do one day Miami city and one days the Everglades, maybe the Keys as well;
- 17/02/09 We will then fly on to Bogota (Colombia);
- 20/02/09 We'll visit Cartagena and Medillin (Colombia) one or more days and then go back to Bogota;
- ??/02/09 After Colombia, we'll cross the border in the direction of Quito (Ecuador) and will also visit the Galapagos Islands;
- ??/03/09 South of Ecador is Peru, were we will visit the ancient Maja Temples in f.e. Macho Picchu and Iquitos and also capital Lima and sand boarding is on the list;
- ??/03/09 A short cross to Bolivia will bring us to La Paz and some salt desert;
- ??/04/09 We will continue to go south and about Santiago (Chili) we'll cross the boarder east to Argentinia;
- ??/04/09 Going up north again in Argentinia (direction Buenos Aires), we'll finally end up in Brazil were we will follow the east coast back north (cities like Rio de Janeiro and Salvador) and then turn west again direction capital Brasilia;
- ??/05/09 From Brasilia we will enter the Amazone for a while;
- ??/05/09 (or begin june) our journey together will end and I will continue west to Australia while Linda goes back to the first point of our journey: Aruba.

Roughly my trip after North and South America will look like this:
- 05/09 (or 06/09) Australia (working and traveling 1 year, maybe with Katie);
- 05/10 (or 06/10) Asia (Indonesia, Philipijnen, Maleisia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, Korea and Japan, maybe with Isabel for a while);
- 11/10 Trans-siberian Railway Peking Express through among others Peking (China), Mongolia, Jarkoetsk (Rusland), Onsk (Rusland), Moskou (Rusland) for 18 days (maybe with Robbert);
- 12/10 Home sweet home, Wingman back in the Netherlands.

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3) My to do list

In one of the first messages I wrote, I said that you could let me do certain things in exchange for money. Here is the status quo:

- Get (naked) on national tele in the USA: Waiting if were on, being taped for Comedy Central and MTV’s the Fashion Show ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
*** (nearly) ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Find a famous place/square and be a street artist: I forgot my jiggling balls every time I went into Paris or other cities. ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
- Enjoy your trip: I will! ~ REWARD: € 25,- by Hans (Thank you Hans!!)
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Shave your head bold: since my mum shaved me twice I'm almost hairless now. :S ~ REWARD: € 3,50 by Sarah H;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Come to the Luna-Tik Switch: since I'm in Maastricht now (and bored) and waiting till 10h, I think I'll manage. ~ REWARD: free entrance as per Erik;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Carry Mickey around the world and tkae pictures in famous places: I WILL! ~ REWARD: A cool photo collection, as per me!;
- Get married in Las Vegas in an Elvis Suite and stay married for at least 6 months: Linda s not interested ~ REWARD: € 450,- as per Erik;
*** FAILED ***

Did I forget one, do you want to add one?? Let me know!!
Do you want to add some?? Let me know!!

NOTE!! I’m running out of quests, please give me some more!!!

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4) Games

A little game for all:

Each person that posts, must repeat the sentence 'I will go on holiday and take with me:', repeat the items of previous persons and add one item of his own.

This is where we left of:

*I'll go on holiday and take with me: my backpack (Inge, afblijven!), my hand cups, Inge's prom dress, Mickey Mouse, a snorkel, juggling balls, 1 under pens, a passport, mama's toothbrush, Linda!, a winter jacket, snow boats, my MP3 player, mama’s bracelet and some dollars to buy breakfast. :P

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Well, that's it again. I’ll keep you guys posted, and don’t be shy to leave some comments behind, to send me an email or something. It will take some time, but I’ll reply!

Kisses, great love and more from the one and only Wingman aka Ralf and a hug from Mickey!!!!