Florida

Hey everyone,

And welcome today's post on Florida! Florida is known as the sunshine state of the US and is always been a popular holiday destination among people all around the world. Florida, especially Orlando, is of course known as the 'home' of all things fun and exciting, for younger people and even older people. Disney World, Universal Studios and so many more amusement parks are located in Florida, making it the dream holiday destination for people with a love for rollercoasters and magic. I have been to Florida three times, with one of the reasons for that being that my little brother’s godparents live in Georgia, making it easy for us to meet them in Florida. I really enjoyed each time I went and even after being to Disney so many times, it never gets boring. The first time we went to America in 2007, we spent most of our time in Georgia, and we only went to Orlando for a few days to go to Disney World. The second time we went in 2010, we spent most of our time around the Orlando and Tampa area, going to many different amusement parks. The third and most recent time I went in 2013, we spent most of our time in Miami, but also visiting Orlando. As you can tell, I spent most of my time in America in Orlando, so a lot of the places I will be writing about will be located there. But without further ado, let’s get to what you can actually do in Florida?

Sunrise in Miami

As you all probably already know, the number one thing you have to do in Florida is go to Disney World and Universal Studios. I completely agree with the statement that you have to go to Disney at least once in your life. Disney is one of my absolute favourite places in the world, because it is such a happy place and everyone is so friendly (cliché, I know). Going to Disney is such an experience and it is suitable for people any age. There are rides and shows that are for all ages and the show especially are very fascinating no matter your age. However, whereas Disney is more for the ‘younger’ people, Universal Studios is the place to go if you’re looking for exciting roller coasters and amazing stage sets. As you can already tell from my previous post on London, I am a diehard Harry Potter fan. The Universal Studios in Orlando have a Harry Potter Land, which is full of gadgets and buildings from the Harry Potter movies. They even built a full size model of the Hogwarts castle and a small version of Hogsmeade (the village next to Hogwarts).  In the Harry Potter Land, you can taste butterbeer, buy a wand, go to Honeydukes to buy candy and take pictures with students from the French witchcraft school. The only downside to these amazing theme parks is that they are pretty expensive. But as long as you pick a good day to go, I can guarantee that it will be completely worth it. For ticketing prices on Disney click here and for Universal Studios click here.

Disney Hollywood Studios

Hogwarts Castle in Universal Studios

Hogsmeade in Universal Studios

The Hulk ride at Universal Studios

Another thing I would definitely recommend doing in Florida is going to a national park/an alligator park. These parks give you the amazing experience of getting to go very close to alligators and other animals that live in wild in Florida, like some gorgeous birds. My family and I went to a park called Everglades National Park, which has both an alligator farm and obviously a national park. In the alligator park you could go to an air-boat ride that takes you through the park in the water with the alligators. They also offer an alligator show where they let you hold baby alligators and show the basic structure of an alligator. They also have a segment where they feed the alligators and it's really cool and scary to see the way these animals feed and how fast they can swallow huge things. The Everglades park was also very beautiful, and there it was even scarier to see the alligators actually in the wild, whereas in the alligator farm the alligators were behind fence. Overall the experience was really cool and I would definitely recommend going. The tickets and more information on the park can be found here. Of course there are other national parks and alligator farms, but this is the one I went to and I can tell from personal experience that it was really good. 

Alligators 

More alligators waiting for their lunch 

Alligators at the national park; the look very fake but when you watch them closely you can see them blinking.

Because I've talked about things in Orlando, now onto things you can do in Miami. Miami is obviously famous for all their spring break parties, but assuming that most of the people reading this blog are families who have children, you wouldn't be interested in that. Of course, you can check out beaches like Miami Beach during the day and  the road next to the beach and you can feel like your are in CSI: Miami ;) But I would definitely suggest staying extra careful especially around night time, because Miami can be very dangerous. Also the Miami skyline is definitely something to see. 

Miami skyline at night

The view from our hotel

South Beach

Ocean drive next to the South Beach

So this is what I consider as must sees in Florida. Of course, there are so many more things to do in Florida than just this, but this is what I personally did and it was really fun. Florida is a perfect holiday location for anyone looking for a mixture of fun activities and relaxation.

Thank you so much for reading and remember to leave your comments below in the comment section. 

Have a lovely day,

Karoliina 

Germany

Hallo!

And welcome to today's post on Germany! Germany is one of the most popular countries in Central Europe. I have been to Germany several times, visiting different cities and places each time, such as Munich, Dresden, Europa Park and Legoland. The reason that I have been to Germany so many times is that when my family and I lived in the Czech Republic, it was only about a two-hour drive to the border of Germany and for example, a  four-hour drive to Munich. In this post, I will talk about places to see all around Germany, so keep in mind that you cannot just walk to all of these places in one day :) If you want to make the most out of your trip to Germany (or Central Europe in general), I would definitely suggest renting a car. This way, you can drive to more locations easily and won't have to worry about getting on the right bus or tram etc. You can easily rent cars from companies like Hertz  and Europcar. For more information on this click here.

The first place in Germany I will talk about is Europa Park, which is located in the South of Germany in a Rust , close to the French border. Europa Park is a huge amusement park, divided into 4 different sections. Europa Park is an excellent place to go, especially if you have kids travelling with you. The rides they offer are for both, younger and older people, making the target audience of the park very large. The general atmosphere in Europa Park is very lovely and the lines to the rides weren't as long as you would expect. If you're a rollercoaster lover like myself, you will be happy to hear that the rollercoasters in Europa Park are really good and long, and definitely worth it. Europa park is the most popular and also biggest amusement park in all of Europe. For more information on tickets and location you can click here. Below, you can see some pictures from when my family and I went to Europa Park in the autumn of 2011. Since then, the park has changed a bit, but you can get a picture of what it's like.

It was Halloween when we went, hence all the pumpkins :) 

Another must see place in Germany is the Neushwanstein castle located in South-West Germany in Hohenschwangau, near Fussen. The castle is an 19th century Romanesque Revival palace, the a shy king Ludvig II. When I went there, it was a very snowy day so we couldn't really see the castle properly, but even from what we saw it was amazing. The castle is on a hill, and from what I can remember you have to walk quite a bit to get up there, but it is definitely worth it. Today, the castle is one of the most visited castles in Europe. For more information on the castle and prices to get into the castle, can be found by clicking here.

This picture is from the internet, but you can see more clearly what the castle looks like and the stunning environment it is located in.

As you can tell, the day was very snowy so the pictures didn't turn out that well. 

The last thing I would recommend doing is just going into the different cities (like Munich, Dresden, Berlin and Frankfurt). All of these cities have amazing shopping destinations and things to see, such as the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Dresden Frauenkirche and many more. Personally, I have been to Munich and Dresden and very much enjoyed both of these cities. Whilst you're going around and shopping, you will definitely have to stop for a wiener-scnitzel ;)

Dresden

Munich

Hopefully this post gave you an idea on what to do in Germany. Of course there are many more things to do and places to see, but this was just what I would recommend from personal experience. Sorry for this post being so short, but as always, leave your questions and improvements in the comment section below.

Thank you for reading and Happy New Year 2016 to all my readers!

Karoliina