My US adventure, part 1

Today, I am telling you about one of my biggest adventures; my trip to the US! It is my biggest one because it was the first time I got to get out of Europe and it was the furthest I have ever been. As you might know, I am a travel lover, but I grew up in a family where staying was always the safest option. Traveling was definitely not part of our lives and that is probably why I got even more interested in it (we always want what we don’t have, right?).

There was no real plan to go to the United States as my first out of Europe trip. To be honest, it was even a last-minute decision we made with my boyfriend. As a big Disneyland Paris fan, I was always intrigued about the one in Florida and when one of my colleagues told me she was going there for a decent price from Berlin, I started looking it up.

The idea was to first discover the theme-park city and make a big trip out of it. Our arrival was in Fort Lauderdale, which made it interesting to stay for a bit in Miami too. But to make it even more worthwhile, we looked up cities around that could be interesting to visit. That’s how we decided to add a trip to New Orleans at the same time! Let me guide you through my most memorable trip (so far).

Florida, the land of alligators, theme parks and bikinis

As said above, this whole trip started at Fort Lauderdale. After a long 8 hour trip (my longest ever), we arrived in the city at night and rented a car. The idea was to enjoy the day right after driving in the Florida countryside, looking for alligators. One of my biggest joys after going to Disney and Universal was seeing alligators in the wild. This might sound cliché, but I wanted to feel a cultural shock while leaving Europe and seeing those big monsters next to someone’s house was something wild enough for me. The drive on the first day was already crazy enough for me, seeing alligators next to the highway, but also seeing a typical neighborhood (I felt like in Wisteria Lane), the yellow school buses (one of my biggest enjoyments during this whole trip), the whole vibe was screaming America like the one I’d only seen on TV. It can sound ridiculous, but it became a core memory for me and even with jetlag, it was an unforgettable first day.

Discovery of Disney worlds

We arrived in Orlando after a full day of alligator-watching in the everglades and along Florida's Turnpike road. Then, a whole new experience started. We booked 3 nights in one of the Disney resorts (the cheapest ones), at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort. Our room was just next to a huge cowboy boot (photo), and the vibe was as unique as I remembered. The next days were dedicated to Disney. We chose not to do EPCOT (don’t hate me) but only Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Now that we know, it would probably have been different. I always had the opportunity to go to Paris easily, and I quickly realized that Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were basically the exact replicas of the ones in Paris. Our best discovery was actually the Animal Kingdom. Everything was new to me (since it doesn’t exist in Paris), the environment was magical (the Avatar world is just incredible) and seeing animals everywhere was incredible (I recommend the safari !).

My favorite park, Universal Studios

For budget reasons, we decided to go to Universal for one day. After reconsideration (again), that was not the right choice. If we were to do it again, we would definitely spend one day less at Disney to use it for the Universal park. My first impression after the whole day: absolutely amazing. We got to arrive early for the opening, to make the most out of it, and I think we did. We started by (literally) running to the Harry Potter world (the one with Gringott) and being able to see the environment almost empty, do all of the attractions without even waiting. It was priceless. We kept going to so many iconic places and attractions; the Simpsons, the Mummy, Hogwarts… (photo simpson) My favorite attraction (ever) was Hagrid Magical Creatures. It is pretty recent and I honestly recommend it. We waited 2 hours for this one (it was the start of Spring Break), but I would wait again to relive it.

Miami, the city of spring breakers and rich people

We ended our Florida trip with a few days in Miami. Our hotel was on Miami beach, the tiny part where everyone usually wants to go. We were a walking distance from the famous beach, which we went directly to see when we arrived. When we went there, (in March), the weather was good but not so warm, and there were a lot of waves. We ended up not even going into the sea and finished in the hotel pool. For our first day, we had the (crazy) idea of renting bikes to go to the mainland. We wanted to discover downtown Miami where there was Calle Ocho, Wynwood walls… I’m gonna tell you something that won’t surprise you at all: this city is not made for bikes. I could probably say that this country is not. For Europeans, it is a big cultural difference too. I have always been used to traveling with my bike safely enough in big cities around Europe. I can tell you that this was not the case in Miami. We had to drive 10 minutes on a highway portion to cross a bridge (we didn’t find any other option at the time that would not be another hour added to the trip, at least), there were never any bike lanes and we had to share the road with (huge) cars, and we didn’t even had helmets on.

Even though the trip was interesting, we didn’t fully enjoy it because of the dangerous feeling we had during the trip. One big problem we faced in the US was traveling without using a car. In Miami, we did feel like we couldn’t do everything we wanted because of that reason. On the other days, we decided to stay on the Miami beach side and discovered another side of the city with the start of Spring Break. I have to say, the city was a disappointment for me. We probably didn’t make the most out of it and the whole experience left me with no interest in seeing it again. The fact that we had a chaotic bike ride, the prices everywhere due to a rich population, the mess of Spring break, made it a very different experience. If you have been there and had another feeling, please let me know (one can always change your mind)!

So, what's next?

If you want to read about one of my favorite parts of the trip, you should definitely have a look at part 2! If you went to the same places as me and have different opinions, I’m always happy to hear about it!