flying, the beach, Harry Potter & more flying.

I just want to start off this part two with saying: I love flying. I'm a huge nerd and love planes/air travel and being in different airports and travel in general. So when I made my flight plans, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.

After the concert Sunday night, Connie and I went back to our hotel (around 12:45AM) for what turned out to be a 2.5 hour nap. My flight out of Harrisburg was at 7AM and Connie drove an hour and a half to Baltimore to catch her flight (way cheaper to fly out of there on Southwest for her), which meant I was dropped off at the airport at 4:30AM. I then flew to Detroit where I had a 3 hour layover, which turned out to be the most relaxing part of my day. I found a Delta charging station at an empty gate and set up shop there with my 3DS (Animal Crossing is an addiction, don't judge), iPad, iPhone and Starbucks. Because my Dad had bought my flight for the concert using a frequent flyer award ticket, it had to be round trip. So from Detroit I flew back to Memphis. I then had ~2 hours to kill before my next flight back to Atlanta (then to Tampa), so I grabbed a healthy lunch of Villa pizza, a fruit cup and a water - which was super budget friendly at $16.50.

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As I'm waiting for flight 3 of 4 for the day, storms rolled through Memphis which included lightning. Because of that, they had to keep the ground crew/passengers safe and wouldn't let them deplane for about 20 minutes. Which made us delay. At first I panicked, but double checked and saw three more flights out of Atlanta to Tampa that night so I felt better about possibly missing my connection. As I'm waiting to board in Memphis, I get a call from an 800 number which ended up being Delta telling me that my Atlanta to Tampa flight would have a 30 minute delay. I only had an hour layover in Atlanta, so that extra 30 minutes would help my sprinting through the airport.

We finally get to Atlanta, board and then sit for another 30 minutes. Turns out there was a maintenance issue with the plane. Cool. I finally land in Tampa at 9:20PM. If you're keeping time, that is a total of 14 hours of travel and probably around 18 hours of being awake. I was exhausted. But I was finally at the beach, so all was well. We stayed at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Clearwater Beach and it was awesome. The hotel wasn't on the beach exactly, more of an inlet, so we had to walk a block to get beach access. Which is whatever, it doesn't kill anyone to walk a little (especially after everything I ate on vacation... PIGGY). We ended up having a suite and it was awesome. I slept on the couch in the other room (separate from the beds) mostly the whole time because my Dad snores and I am apparently a light sleeper now.

Holiday Inn Dolphin, because it's Florida

Tuesday was a full beach day, and although I'm use to the humidity of the south I probably didn't have as much water as I should have had that day and felt a little sick halfway through. I ended up going back with my Mom who also didn't feel well, and I headed down to the pool after I got her upstairs. And I obviously got a tropical adult beverage because I was on vacation, damnit!

Sharks, drinks and the pool.

What more could a girl ask for?

Wednesday was the day dedicated to Islands of Adventure/Harry Potter World. The park opened at 9AM, and we knew there'd be a crazy line so we decided to get there around 8ish. It was also a ~2 hour drive from Clearwater Beach, so we left around 6AM. Which meant I was up since 5AM. I did fall asleep several times in the car, but that really doesn't help. We got to the park at like 8:15 and waited in one of the several lines. They actually opened the gates at 8:45ish, which was nice so we could get in and run to the back corner where HP World is. We rode everything, stood in line around Hogwarts for 2 hours for the Forbidden Journey ride (which was really good, but I don't get why it was a 2 hour wait...), and ate at Three Broomsticks for lunch. I obviously had to get Butterbeer and just as a recommendation - get the slushy version, not the fountain drink version. I didn't try the fountain drink version, but my sister did before so she knew to get the slushy. Also, I think the souvenir drink mug was only $1.50 more, which obviously I got.

My childhood summed up in one picture.

They were selling Pumpkin Juice too, but I didn't get any.

Also, these kids weren't even alive when the first movie came out. GTFO.

So good. Seriously. 

I even gave myself the worst brain freeze of my life chugging this sucker down.

Totally worth it though.

Thursday and Friday were both more beach days and surprisingly I didn't burn at all. On Friday I got some heat rash on my forehead and my nose is still a little pink and raw, but overall it was a success. We also visited my Great Aunt & Uncle who live in Clearwater Beach Friday, and it was so nice to sit with family and eat, laugh and talk about life and family and everything else.

Saturday was travel back all to our respective homes (my parents still live in Pittsburgh [my real home] and my sister lives outside of Harrisburg, PA). It was sad to say bye to them. I was just home in May for my cousin's wedding, but it's still hard to be apart from your family for even a few months. We're still trying to figure out holiday plans, but I have a feeling I'll be spending at least one (if not both) holidays alone this year. Bummer. (Someone come visit me!!!!)

My travel Saturday was pretty basic - I connected through Atlanta and got back around 6:30. Of course because I never addressed my "Low Tire Pressure" issue my tire was basically flat when I got back. I sat in the lot and reinflated it, and I'm just hoping I can keep it going until I go in again for an oil change. My car dealership's garage mechanics know me by name now, and that shouldn't be a good thing. Right?

Overall, it was an awesome vacation. I'd love to go back and be on vacation forever, but that's unemployment and I really don't want that. Back to work today and back to regular life. I think with fall coming around it's time for me to purge my apartment. That'll be an adventure all in itself....