Universal and IOA: Orlando, FL

I made the video of my trip to Universal in Orlando. Check it out.

So I finally went, I have lived nearby for a couple year and I just now went. I have gone for HHN but it isn't the same since half the rides are closed up for the haunted houses.

And I went to IOA for HARRY POTTER WORLD. Yes, it was amazing. Yes, it was packed. I had butter beer and it was delicious. A carbonated butterscotch is the best way to describe it.
 Since it was Memorial Day weekend the lines were long but manageable. The Forbidden Journey was a 75 minute wait and was worth it. Took you through out the castle and it was amazing seeing everything that my imagination and the movies had put together. I was extremely excited. Even though I had my cast boot on I was a trooper and we went to the two parks and all the good rides. We had to steer clear of the water rides because of my cast boot. :(

Good rides (based on opinion and if it was worth the wait)
Universal:

• Revenge of the Mummy
• Simpsons

IOA:

• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
• Hulk
• Adventures of Spidermam

We also went to a couple shows like 

• Shrek in 4-D
• Disaster (was alright, was cool that it was interactive) (more funny than scary)

For food:

Margaritaville- Great service, the food was not that good. My burger was alright and the conch fritters were okay (I am Bahamian raised and spoiled). My friend liked his meal, which was jerk chicken

Hamburger Mary's- in downtown Orlando. Can I say OH MY GOD, this was delicious. My burger was amazing and the mac and cheese fried balls were heavenly.

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Ways to study for the GRE

There are 3 ways

Number 1: actually studying, not fun! Most helpful.

Número dos: through osmosis. Not helpful.
- Book doubles as an umbrella!

Numéro trois: to cry while holding the book. Least helpful of all.
- Allows you to channel all of your broken hopes and dreams unto a book.

Well to all of studying. Good Luck!

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Shopping Haul

Okay honestly I love shopping. I have a lot of clothes and it is SUMMER in Florida. This means it is really time to store away those jeans and pants and only wear shorts.

Now I don't have any shorts that fit me well anymore, so I went shopping.

This is my haul for 5/17/2013. Yes this is late don't judge me.

Okay so I love sales, but I also love buying items that flatter my assets.

I got these shorts from Macy's for 29 a piece with a coupon on 2 separate purchases. Normally I would think it was too expensive but it's so hard to find shorts that flatter me so well so I went back and bought my favorite colours. For me this was my splurge

American Rag

Calvin Klein

This I also bought from Macy's and with the coupon when I bought the blue shorts it was practically free. I have been wanting to buy a lace sleeveless top, this one is well made and isn't see-through. WIN! The coupon are the ones that you get in the mail for being a Macy's cardholder. They're quite good. Although you can't use it to buy Sperry's anymore. :(

American Eagle

This was on sale and it's Medium although it looks huge, I bought this for 12 bucks! Such a cute lounge around top. I can imagine me drinking a cup of sweet tea with this and some yoga pants on. Sweet Southern Comfort.

Now I got these 4 from TJmaxx. I am a Maxxinista! This was on clearance and it has these little bows on it! Cute! Then I have been looking for luggage tags and these were 3.99 for both, I don't have time to make any at the moment so these will suffice. Then a new water bottle, since I will be doing work in the field when in Europe I need more than 1 water bottle. Then I bought this luggage scale to make my life easier. 

So that's it. I hope you enjoyed. I'll see y'all later!

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Frugal Eating on Vacation

           As some of you may know I had a kitchenette in my hotel room last weekend. And with good reason, it is a good idea to always get a room with one or even a microwave and fridge.
          Before you leave depending on how long you are traveling you should stop at your local grocery store and buy cheap and easy food items as well as snacks. For me I will always lean for sandwiches. (I can't say no to a good PBJ or Turkey sandwich) These items are good to have so that you  don't have to buy overpriced and unhealthy foods at the restaurants. Trust me your wallet will thank you.
           If you still want to go out and not eat in your hotel, you can always make a picnic. Everyone loves a picnic.  That's why sandwiches are a great idea, also food items you can make easily like potato salad, cole slaw, any items you can make in your simple kitchenette or hotel room. Sometimes you don't have a stove or availability of utensils and pots to make fancy dinners. Last I checked we are not the Prince who will have eggs benedict made on a hot plate in a dorm room. Unless you bring your own hot plate then you can but that is all you honey.
          These items I would recommend the most based on my personal experience

•  Bread
• Deli meat
• PBJ
• Jelly
• Some fixin's for you sandwich like maybe a premade salad and you add the lettuce and dressing to your deli sandwich for flavor. (Hey don't judge me I am a college kid)
• Mayonnaise
• Potatoes -Some stores allow you to buy individual .
• Coleslaw mixings - I know there are prepackaged mixing for this, I have bought this before
• Some snacks - chips, peanuts, bananas- try to stay as healthy as possible. Bananas are easy cleanup and can be bought individually.

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On-the-go wardrobe

Hello my dears:

Sooooo.
    I was speaking to my father today and he asked if I had started packing. It was in that moment I realized that I had forgotten that daunting task. I have to pack for 6 weeks; the most I have ever packed for. When I went to Montana last summer I had packed for 4 weeks and just reused certain items, but brought plenty enough undergarments in case I didn't have access to a laundromat, all that packed into a carry-on and a backpack.
     This time will be a little different, in part that it is an excavation, so I have to think about the clothes I will be wearing onsite and the clothes on the weekend. I essentially need different sets of clothing: work and for lack of a better word, fun.
     Now I am a notorious list maker.I love lists, I love planning, I love being given opportunities to do such a thing. This is why for the next trip with my friends I have told them I am making an agenda for us so that we can actually hangout at the same time together since we only see each other once a year.
     Anyway down to business. Luckily I am at university because I accumulate so many t-shirts, I don't have to buy one. You know those old ones that you sleep in and you got it from that club you went to one meeting to. Yea those, I've got 2 drawers full of those. I also never get rid of clothes, so my closet hanging space is quite tight, it's a wonder it hasn't exploded yet. BOOMMMMMM! Okay, my point is that I have a lot of old clothes, PERFECT FOR A DIG AND SLEEPING. ZZZZZZZ. So I pack all of those.
       Then for the weekend I need my decent and cute clothes. Now I have to think about the fact that people don't dress the same as in the States. I can't wear my daisy dukes and low cut shirts. So fashion has to be thought about. Now since I come from a semi-preppy background. Most of my clothes is preppy and mostly Tommy, Ralph and so on and so forth. I think I'll be okay. But sadly the weather is different than my normal Florida/ Bahamas weather. It will be raining a lot and not so warm. It'll be like Fall again. YAYYYY! Not.
      So I will be doing a video of things to take for a 6 week trip. But for now I will make a list. A very long list.

• Toiletries like toothbrush, toothpaste, makeup, makeup remover, loofah! I plan on buying soap and shampoo/conditioner over there to save weight and space. Since they'll most likely be left there.
• I'm bring a swimsuit. Just in case, you never know. Don't judge me I am Bahamian raised and go to school in Florida, I have a whole drawer full of swimsuits.
• Clothing- I am bring 2 pairs of gloves for sightseeing. 
• Scarves- they do wonders for outfits and can change an outfit up. So one less outfit to pack. You have to think about the space you have in your suitcase and want to bring only basics. I usually choose 3 colors and use those as a base to make my on-the-go wardrobe. See I incorporated the title. Fancy Schmancy. 
• Shoes- I will only bring 1 pair of heels- black. They go with everything and in case my buddies want a night on the town. I will bring 3 pairs of boots, one for hiking, one for fashion (jockey), and one pair of rain boots. 3 sperrys, 1 flatt, 1 pair of flipflops, 1 pair of slippers.
• In case I get invited on a date by a cute European. Ohhh la la! I will be bringing one night-time dress. But I will also bring 2 dresses for sightseeing and for going out with my friends.
• 2 raincoats, my anorak, a cardigan, and a jacket.
• Shirts- now this is the fun part. Since I have packed a lot so far, I will be mixing and matching. If I put a shirt over my dress it doubles as a skirt. A cardigan changes an outfit, scarf changes an outfit. Now add all of those together you have a new outfit. See what I mean about mixing and matching? So I'll pack maybe 5 shirts since I will only being wearing those of the weekend. I could go into how many probabilities I have of outfit but I won't.  Stick with basics: basic styles and solid colours. Or at least not too flashy, we want to look classy and fit in. Or as a Brit would say, 'Posh'
• Now pants, I'm sticking with regular jeans. Eh boring I know, but basic.
• Accessories: Bobby pins, Hair bows, headbands to keep your hair out of your eyes (great if your hair is dirty!), ribbons! Ribbons are great because you can use it to cinch your waist and to make a unique outfit!

Anyways I hope this list gives you an idea of what you should bring. I haven't decided on my colours yet, but I will get there when I begin the process. Also I think this list makes me sound as least touristy as possible, they're easily pickpocketed over there. Lucky for me I have spidey sense!

I'll see y'all next time. :)

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Daytona Travels- Drill Nationals/ ISIS

The video I posted on YouTube. Subscribe for more travel videos! 

There will be more coming!

http://www.youtube.com/user/onebahamababe?view_as=public

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Video Trouble

So here I am trying to edit my video from Daytona and it just crashed when I was done. And for that I won't finish it until tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the trip to hold you over. :)

Where the Daytona 500 is raced!

 At Bubba Gumps, my friend and I shared this. It had seafood hushpuppies, shrimp, fish, fries, and coleslaw.

View from the Plaza Hotel facing the city.

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How-to: Jet Lag

So I have been thinking about how I am going to cure this jet lag. I have heard many ideas on how-to by my friends and family. While the most jet lag I have experienced is a 2 hour difference, which believe me you can feel it.

Here are some tips that I have compiled:

1. A week or so before your trip try to sleep on that time. So when you arrive you're rested. For example: if the time difference is 5 hours, then go to sleep around 5pm your time so your sleep schedule will line up with theirs. Then wake up around the time you'd be waking up, for me I would have to wake up 2:30 am my time because I would be waking up at 7:30 am their time.
2. Keep hydrated. You may think that you should drink a lot of coffee during your travels. Wrong. Drink some but drink a lot of water. Stay hydrated my friends. :)
3. When you arrive in your destination do not do things you would on your schedule, many airlines arrive in Europe from the U.S in the morning. Do not go to your hotel/hostel and sleep, stay awake. Besides you may be too excited to sleep ;)
4. There is also another thing my friends told me about, don't not to eat a lot of fried foods, eat healthy. I feel this would go along with staying hydrated. Fried foods, despite them being wildly available and cheap especially in the U.S, they can make you feel ill during the travels. He told me that eating fruits was the best idea.
   

I will update this list with more tips! I'll talk to y'all soon.

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