Whilst occasionally being questioned about the state of my homeliness, I've actually been living it up in quite fine style the last few days. It's been cheap hotels, basketball games and even a golf resort for this backpacker so far. Luxurious days ahead of some rough and tumble months to come.
Wednesday nights basketball game kicked off with a few drinks at some random downtown bars until I found one with people that were actually willing to have a bit of a chat with this lone traveller, a couple of pints and even a tequila shot later it was time to head to the Amway Center to watch my boy Ryan Anderson put the Miami Heat to the sword in the first half, and my other boy JJ Redick finish off the job in the second. Dwight Howard was good all night as expected, and for the Heat, only Dwayne Wade showed any resistance. My seats were nowhere near as close as the ticket price may have indicated I should be, but I did randomly get seated next to two terrific young college kids, Kyle & Michaela. A few more beverages and we were basically best buddies for the rest of the night. Drinks after the game at the rooftop bar on top of the basketball arena was a good, if not slightly overcrowded/priced way to kick off our new found friendship. Numerous bars in the downtown area were visited, all of which had crazy cheap drinks because it was game night, and because well, that's just how cheap grog is in the states!
Cab driver obviously saw me coming and absolutely rorted me on a prepaid fare. Back to the hotel about 3am. Thursday was ouch.
When plans to go stay with my new friends fell through late Thursday I went with my original plans of heading down to stay at a hotel with golf course about 30kms(?) out of Orlando. I took the bus and probably started the journey a little late, at 6pm. After a couple of bus changes, an unexpected trip to Animal Kingdom (wrong bus!) and about a 3km walk at the other end, I got to Mystic Dunes golf course and resort. At 10pm.
Safe to say they don't having too many people here a) walking through the front gates, and b) bringing only the pack on their backs. It's certainly more a resort than a hotel, and I'm currently living amongst retirees and families on disneyworld holidays. I have a villa that comfortably sleeps 4 people to myself, and the hardest question I've had to ask myself so far is which pool to swim in. Closely followed by "is it ok for a 27 year old to use a waterslide?". The latter of which conundrums was made infinitely more difficult by two near octogenarians who decided to have a go.
I resisted the urge.
Today consisted of tackling one of the hardest golf courses I've ever played on, and now preparing to start the real adventure in my trip. With an 850am flight to Guatemala tomorrow morning, I'm not sure when my next update will come, but rest assured I'll be having a blast learning Spanish and seeing more of this amazing world we live in!!
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