a tribute to Intrepid Suntrek

I'm impressed. I'm longing. I'm speechless. I'm restless. I'm in love with Intrepid Suntrek. Too many things happened in a short time, but I will try to write a story about all of it.

Let's start from the beginning...

When my hostfamily and I left the house around 5.15am on Saturday morning of March 12 I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen the next hours, the next days, the next week. On the highway we passed a bus who was lying on its side beneath the highway. I didn't pay much attention to it. When I arrived at the LaGuardia airport one hour before the 7am scheduled departure time of my flight to Miami I was still hoping to pass the security checkpoint without checking any luggage in. I had my small carry-on suitcase with me and a bag with my sleeping bag. Well, being optimistic doesn't always work. They forced me to check in my carry-on suitcase which cost 25,- $! :-(

A short time later I was sitting on my window seat being a little bit scared because I didn't fly for six months. The plane left the gate, almost ready to take off, but suddenly we had to move back to the gate because of technical problems. The woman next to me was bored and started checking the recent news on her iPhone. When she said "oh my gosh there was a bus accident on highway 95 around 5.30am with 30 victims and 13 of them died" I felt how I got pale in my face. After one hour of trying to fix the plane we finally took off to Miami where I fortunately arrived safely. :-) When leaving the plane I felt the heat of Florida on my skin, yeah! But it took me one hour to find the hidden baggage claim and my carry-on suitcase, aahh! I took the shuttle bus, stored my luggage in the hostel in the heart of Miami Beach and started walking around enjoying the sunshine. :-) By the time I reached the beach I couldn't resist to lay down and go swimming in big waves and turquoise looking water. :-) As the clouds started hiding the sun I decided to check in into my room noticing that the whole group for Florida Express (name of trip) was placed in a 12-bed dorm room with just one small bathroom, hahaha! :D I met the first people I was going to travel with for the next week and my adventure started! Rachel and James from England, Svenja from Connecticut (a German au pair like me) and me spent the evening together walking around in the art deco district of Miami Beach and having dinner there. Spring Break! That means big, muscly and black playboys and many plastic barbie girls, argh, what a superficial society! But it was fun anyway to watch them. Back in our hostel room we met three other travellers of our group: Michael from Munich in Germany, Kathrin from New Jersey (also a German au pair) and the British guy Kevin who was definitely the oldest passenger. ;-) Sitting entirely happy on the upper mattress of one of the six high sleepers Kathrin told me "I've met our leader already and he has long blond hair!" I got really curious to meet him: Casey from Kansas! :-) I already knew it would be an amazing week on the road!

bye bye gray New York City!

reflection of the plane

Miami Beach at night

On Sunday morning (yes, we were able to share the small bathroom) Svenja asked me if I would come with her to the beach for just a few minutes. I'm glad I agreed. The morning sky looked absolutely awesome and I could get some of the best pictures I've ever taken. At the 8am meeting in the lobby we met the two missing boys of our group: Marco from Germany and Alan from Australia. Happy about leaving Miami Beach we hit the road to Key West and I could sit in the front on the passenger seat of a big van, haha! :-) Totally excited about seeing the Florida Keys we reached Key West in the early afternoon. I had booked a trip in advance to see wild dolphins being optimistic to be able to do it (and it worked this time). Many thanks to Suntrek and especially to Casey who dropped me off at the meeting point and picked me up afterwards! I saw dolphins, snorkelled and watched the beautiful sunset. Yes, I assume Key West is the only place at the east coast of the USA where you're able to watch the sunset over the ocean. :-) Some of the other travellers did snorkelling on a catamaran or watched the underwater life in a glass bottom boat. After going out for dinner we spent the night in a hotel in Key West.

sunrise :-)

wow!

Casey, Michael and Marco loading the trailer

dolphins

sunset is close

no more words to say :-)

We had some time on Monday to experience the cute downtown of Key West for shopping, yeah! I found an adorable ankle bracelet with shells on it for just 1,- $! :-) Afterwards we did some food shopping for breakfast and lunch for the upcoming days. On our way back to the mainland we stopped in Key Largo to enjoy the beautiful bay. In the evening we reached the hotel in Florida City and our whole group went out for dinner and playing pool. I really have to admit that our group made the whole trip unforgettable! Of course you can travel and visit thousands of beautiful places but it makes a huge different when you can share your experience with people who see and feel the same as you! We always had fun and never argued about something. Especially Casey was always talkative, smiling and happy. His organization worked perfect for us! :-)

shopping in Key West

I found Spongebob and his family ;-)

the Intrepid van

idyllic

pelican

parrots

Key Largo!

me playing pool

Tuesday was the best day ever (for me)! We hit the road to the Everglades. At a small farm we stopped to have a break with drinking milk shakes, hanging around, talking and watching animals. I loved that place. As far as I remember the farm was located at a crossroad. In all four directions you could only see endless streets and wide, open nature. The perfect place to take some pictures of something I always wanted to do: Standing on a road seeming to hitchhike, yeah! :-D

As we were driving to the Everglades to find a place for an airboat ride we already saw some alligators lying around at the river. The first time Svenja screamed "There's an alligator!" everyone's face turned to the side, haha, what a funny moment! ;-)

I have to admit the airboat ride was the activity I loved the most. Driving with high speed over wide water, passing tropical plants, looking for alligators – I was totally impressed! There was an interesting wild life show afterwards. They showed us more alligators and frogs and scorpions and some snake-looking animals (I forgot the name). We stopped for lunch at a preserve area and walked a few minutes deeper into the covert. This was where my camera took its last pictures because I left my charger at home!!!! AH! :D But there was some other funny moment also: We put four cameras on a railing to take pictures with a timer. While we were all standing together, waiting and smiling, two of the cameras fell down. All of us started screaming and laughing and in of those moments the two other cameras took a picture! PERFECT! :-D

In the evening we totally enjoyed the KOA campground where we were going to stay for the night. Six of us had fun playing in the pool with a game ball. The remaining four people sat around the pool being also integrated, so it was a whole group activity again. Guys, I loved this time! Later that evening we stood around the campfire eating hotdogs and playing several party games like "Celebrity Head", "Fuzzy Duck" or "7's". :-)

yeah! =)

animal farm. do you see the huge turtle?

rainbow tree

Casey, Rachel, Michael and me on the airboat

loved the Everglades!

another airboat

where's the alligator? hehe

location

more alligators

everyone's laughing because of falling cameras ;-)

nice walk in the covert

Passing Fort Myers on Wednesday we drove to Sanibel Island, a small island in front of the mainland with a huge National Wildlife Refuge! You can do canoeing there but we just decided to drive in the van around stopping sometimes for looking around and taking pictures.

We had our lunch break close to the Thomas Edison House in Fort Myers. I was fascinated by the largest Banyan tree in the world which was standing there!

Afterwards we hit the road for a long drive towards Orlando, but we stopped in Kissimmee for checking in in our hotel. It was a hard time to find the right one because there wasn't just one with the name "Quality Inn". That's why we got late to dinner. Completely tired we all went to bed then. ;-)

Svenja and me posing in front of the Banyan tree

Thursday! Disney World day! Ha! :-D It was a long but absolutely funny day in Magic Kingdom. Casey dropped eight of us off right before the opening at 9am. We stayed until 11pm to be able to see one parade and the fireworks at night.

We all stayed in our group of eight people (except Kevin who left early to go back to the hotel) almost the whole day. We lost us after a small show in front of the Disney Castle, but due to the "Fast Pass" we found us again two hours later. What's the Fast Pass? Well, some of the theme activities offer a fast check in. You take the ticket that you got when you entered the park and insert it in a machine in front of the specific activity. You receive a second ticket which tells you when you can come back to enter the fast line, so that you don't have to wait in the normal, longer line. Despite Spring Break we made the best of that day and it worked perfect! :-)

It was also a really hot day and James, Alan, Kathrin and me started having water fights, haha. :-D How did that look like? Uhm, James asked for my bottle of water. Thinking he's thirsty I gave him the bottle. Five seconds later I felt water running down my back, aaahhh! :-D Thank you, James! :-P No, I don't admit that I tried to make you wet earlier when we were sitting in a white-water ride, hehe. I had my revenge when we were sitting in another boat. The boys were placed in front of Kathrin and me. So we had enough time to pour out two whole bottles of water above them because they couldn't run away, hahaha. :-D

cuddling Tigger and Pooh in Disney World :-)

John F. Kennedy Space Center was planned for Friday! We took a launch simulation of a space shuttle and reached the universe in just a few minutes, hehe. A bus drove us around the big area of NASA and we saw some famous places. I can't believe that we spent almost the whole day there. There's so much to see! We also enjoyed watching a 3D movie, but almost everybody fell asleep, haha. A second night on a KOA campground was waiting for us in the evening. The four girls in our group got one big cabin with bathroom, kitchen and music player! Perfect for our last night together!

Campfire, talking, playing games, watching movies, just hanging around. I'll never forget this time!

area of NASA

our group :-)

Early on Saturday morning we started driving back the long way to Miami Beach. We stopped for a few minutes at Cocoa Beach and took some funny jumping pictures. ;-) We passed Fort Lauderdale, but in consequence of Spring Break it was impossible to find a parking spot. That's why we drove back to the Clay Hotel in Miami Beach, the same hotel where our adventure has started. It felt weird to end where it all began. I couldn't believe that one week was already past. The time went flying by and everyone was sad being forced to say goodbye soon. Fortunately most of us stayed one night longer and so we all met again for spending the night together. Tired of a long and exhausting week, but not willing to say goodbye we tried to stay awake as long as possible...

It definitely was the best time I had while travelling. Intrepid Suntrek made it possible. I'm missing this worriless and adventurous time with such an amazing group. Casey was the best leader I could ever imagine. I'm glad Intrepid Suntrek chose him for that trip. I can't wait for my next adventure in California in July this year and I would love to get Casey as our leader again!!! ;-)

Last but not least thanks to Svenja who took the last five pictures I published here! :-)

Hope you all had fun reading this story! I really recommend the trip "Florida Express" offered by Intrepid Suntrek!