A Much-Needed Trip
At the end of March 2019, my family faced one of the worst times of our lives. My grandmother passed away from lung cancer and extreme COPD. Although she was dealing with these health issues for a bit, it was unexpected and a very hard time for the whole family. Along with the grief we faced and continue to face, we had to deal with responsibilities regarding her death along with our everyday life responsibilities.
After the funeral, cleaning out her house, and a lot of tears shed my mom and I knew we needed a break from life’s responsibilities. So, with almost no planning, we booked a flight to Orlando, Florida (leaving less than 12 hours later) and packed our suitcases.
I lived in Morgantown, West Virginia at the time and headed for my mom’s house in Pennsylvania at 3 AM that morning in an effort to arrive at the airport a couple of hours before our flight took off for Florida.
After landing in Florida, we purchased a rental car and headed to the hotel we booked only hours prior. I am usually skeptical of booking cheap, unfamiliar hotels because they are always hit or miss. In this case, our hotel situation was a big hit! We arrived at a beautiful resort and, to our surprise, we were welcomed with our 3-bedroom with jacuzzi tubs, 3-bathroom, full kitchen condo for only $85 plus tax a night.
On our first night, we ate at a delicious pizza restaurant called Giordano's. After a late dinner, we decided to head to bed after a Walmart trip, some time in the jacuzzi tub, and a glass of wine.
On our first full day, we decided to go to Disney World! We have been to Disney World a few times previously but never in early April. We mutually decided to go to Hollywood Studios and the weather was beautiful. Because it was off season, we got to ride almost every ride, see most of the shows, and road the Tower of Terror at least five times!
The next morning, we headed to Sea World. This was my first time ever visiting Sea World because I am not an advocate for the captivity and abuse of animals. I decided I needed to visit once in my life, so I can fully experience Sea World for myself. I also felt better about visiting because Sea World promised not to have any more killer whales beyond the three current whales the reside in Florida.
After Sea World, we spent the evening at Disney Springs. This was my favorite part of the whole trip because I love the vibe of Disney Springs. I love live music, the atmosphere, and the shops around. We ate at a restaurant where we got the best sushi I have ever eaten. After spending about an hour listening to a live band and some much-needed shopping, we headed back to the condo for a late-night dip in the pool.
At this point our trip was successful! The only issue we ran into was the fact that our flight was leaving from Tampa Airport because we thought we were going to take a train to Tampa and stay there for a few days. Due to loving our condo and spending time in Orlando, we decided to stay in Orlando and drive to Tampa the morning of our flight. Because we planned to take the train, we only rented the car for 2 days and after trying to rent it for the next few days, the rental car company tried overcharging us for the convince. We decided to return the current rental car and rent another car from a different company for the remaining days. This inconvenience was actually a great outcome because it was less expensive than the previous car and we were put in a brand-new Buick Encore.
After receiving the car, we decided to head to the beach. Cocoa beach was the closest one to Orlando being about 45 minutes away. We arrived and sat on the beach all day. This day was very relaxing and much needed. We got a few souvenirs and had dinner at Red Lobster because we had a gift card (haha).
Our spontaneous trip was coming to an end. It was Friday and we needed to drive to Tampa Airport to return the rental car by 12:30 PM. We caught our flight back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and had to return back to real life that evening. With all of the being said, do not be afraid to take that spontaneous trip. Being open to new ideas and going with the flow will allow you to make a lot of new memories.
