Woke today and ready to disembark after breakfast. Linda had sorted our baggage tags so we could all get off together at 9am as ours was 11am and we would have missed the transfer coach back! We went through immigration etc - needed to show our ESTA's (visa's) here this time, then found the coach. We were lucky as the bus had broken down on the way to get us but the cruise connections company we used, had another there ready to take us, so no waiting around. We hopped on that and drove to one stop where 6 of us got off and onto another lovely bus and we had it all to ourselves the rest of the way- now that was easy travelling!
Loren the driver had travelled NZ extensively as he used to own a travel company, so we had a good talk on the way home about it all. Off the bus back in Tampa and taxied home. We chucked our clothes into the washing machine then straight out to lunch at a mexican place, as we were all having withdrawls after leaving- we had all been eating so much on the cruise as you do :-) . The food was authentic & delicious, washed down with a couple of icy cold beers.
Home made tortilla chips etc
Then we went to Walmart as had a list on my phone, of stuff we wanted to get. They have 3 big stores just in Tampa and there is so much choice here compared to back home. All the gadgets you can easily get here that make life easy and are inexpensive- many of which we just dont have.
Spent an hour in there but didnt see any Walmartians/weird people at all, kinda disappointing after seeing all that Daily Mail usually show on FB haha!
For dinner tonight we went to hooters for something light - just like the shorts on the waitresses lol!!
Had beer & chicken wings, again the food is a lot cheaper over here, Graeme got a couple of t-shirts to say he had been there and done that! Then home to pack properly and c.r.a.s.h. For the night!
Day 19-
Had a great sleep last night & Linda and Bobs house feels like home :-) . We had brekky then they drove us to Clearwater beach down the road, which is one of the top10 beaches in the world and we can see why. Very fine white sand like talcum powder & a long flat straight beach line. They have bright orange beach umbrellas with chairs and yellow cabanas all for rent. The colours are a great contrast to the whiteness of the sand.
Splashed around and walked the beach then we went to Frenchy's on the beachfront for their famous grouper (Groper to us) sandwich. Very fresh as they have their own fishing fleet. It has a great vibe and again, very affordable in comparison to what we would pay in Oz/NZ. Enjoyed a lovely hour or so there, then we drove through other areas of Tampa- there is so much to see and do here and all a very comfortable lifestlye.
We have jandals tans since being in the States!
Back for another quick Walmart stop for a couple of things for the girls and myself - do you know that they have So many chapstick flavours here and they are only $1 each instead of the $4+ we are used to.! then back home to tidy things up for our flight out to NYC tomorrow. We have decided to post home some stuff as you pay for your luggage as you go here on domestic flights and we now have a few heavier/bigger things, so will post them home as we have 6 more flights to go still!
Out - again! For dinner, this time to an American deli and restaurant that makes authentic reuben sandwiches. They are massive! I could only manage half but Gray rallied and got his all down! Went home and I went for a big walk aorund the block. The houses here are all neat as a pin and it is a lovely area we could easily assimilate into. There were little squirrels bounding around me, stopping and staring at me with their cheeks stuffed with nuts!
No comments:
Post a Comment