jsmla
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 4,498
Who: Just me, Jennifer-45, on my first solo trip to WDW
Where: The road
When: January 25-26, 2006
Well, the month passed quickly. Scott and I went to Bandera and Lukenbock (sp?) and hung out with a bunch of cowboys, drunks, motorcycle people and Willie Nelson wanna-bes. Scott had a ball. Lizzie's dress survived Winter Formal and Scott survived clubbin night. Sam squeaked out a B average thanks to a course on the Louisiana novel in film. (Truly. That's an actual course at LSU. And to think, you wasted your time taking calculus.) I kept the trip low profile at home and looked to the DIS for advice and reassurance. One kind person took pity on me and offered to drive up for a meet-up one day while I was there. I thought this was really nice of her but kind of scary for me. I'm terrible in social situations and even worse at meeting people. What the heck, this is a trip for trying new things and if I'm too awful she'll have her car with her.
Mais les vrais voyageurs sont ceux-là seuls qui partent
Pour partir; coeurs légers, semblables aux ballons,
De leur fatalité jamais ils ne s'écartent,
Et, sans savoir pourquoi, disent toujours: Allons! Charles Baudelaire
(But the true voyagers are only those who leave
Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons,
They never turn aside from their fate
And without knowing why they always say: "Let's go!")
Okay, so I stole that one from Impressions de France. Sue me.
1/25/2006
So, I'm all ready to go. Car's hoed out and packed up. One nice thing about traveling alone, I hardly have any luggage. DH and DD pack like they'll never see civilization again. It feels nice just to throw my carry-on and a little ice chest into the car and be done with it. I'm driving to my parents' house for a day or two before setting out. It's a quick drive over. Scott has loaned me his satellite radio for the trip and it's really neato. My parents are happy to see me, sort of. It seems they're expecting my Aunt Georgia tomorrow. Now Aunt Georgia and I don't get along (I told you I was bad with people). Aunt Georgia had six kids. When we were little she was the kind of aunt who rushed into the middle of a childish broo-ha-ha and ended it by hitting whomever happened to be standing closest to her. With her shoe. Upside the head. Whether you were doing anything wrong or not. I don't like Aunt Georgia. Time for plan B. $35 and a little time on internet secures me a room at the Sheraton Safari located just down the way from the Crossroads. Not perfect, but better than an evening with Aunt Whack-a-Niece. Dinner and an evening of parental hovering follow. Dad goes over the car (it's fine), Mom fusses over whether I'll lock up securely (probably will) and eat properly (probably not). At 10:00 we call it a night. I have a big day tomorrow.
1/26/2006 (barely)
It's 2:45 am and I am wide awake. Wider than wide. I'm wildly excited and extremely nervous. I'm about to spend over three days completely alone. I don't think I've ever spent more than one night alone and now I have three days. I'm gonna please myself. Eat whatever I want (junk) whenever I want (3 am) and listen to whatever lame station on the radio I want (show tunes), sing if I like (I do). I can even get up and head out to Orlando at 3:30 am if I want to. I just bet you wish you were traveling with me.
I'm kind of glad that I left so early. My family is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and my parents live on the North Shore of Lake Ponchartrain, Katrina country. I haven't been able to avoid Slidell but have yet to see Pass Christian or Gulfport and I think I'll keep it that way for now and drive through in the dark.
I have a really smooth drive. The satellite radio is very, very cool. Scott is such a sweetie. He reset all the buttons for me. All dork radio. I have 2 NPRs, BBC World, PRI, show tunes and a station he calls The Sucky 70's. I even have Orlando traffic and weather. Orlando's sounding nice. Lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's with only one day of rain. I stop in Tallahassee for gas and breakfast (peanut butter crackers and a diet coke). I also call Scott and wake him up. He can't believe I'm already in Tallahassee. Scott's not an early morning kinda guy.
Passing through Lake City and Ocala is hard. We usually stop for lunch in Lake City and always visited the Disney Welcome Center in Ocala. The Welcome Center is gone and I'm missing the kids. This is the part of the drive where we all get excited about being almost there. I pop in a Disney CD but that just makes the loneliness worse so I switch to show tunes on the radio. Hairspray is on so I turn the volume waaaaaay up and chase the lonelies away with Big, Blonde and Beautiful.
Even with the time change I'm on Disney property by 1:30. I'm the first one to spot the Earful Tower this trip. It's kind of a hollow victory, but I made it! Over 600 miles on my own. Well, anyway, I'm impressed.
The good things:
Packing light
My own radio
Leaving when I felt like it
Setting my own schedule (My silly family insists on regular food and bathroom breaks!)
The not so good things:
Having no one to share the excitement with.
Where: The road
When: January 25-26, 2006
Well, the month passed quickly. Scott and I went to Bandera and Lukenbock (sp?) and hung out with a bunch of cowboys, drunks, motorcycle people and Willie Nelson wanna-bes. Scott had a ball. Lizzie's dress survived Winter Formal and Scott survived clubbin night. Sam squeaked out a B average thanks to a course on the Louisiana novel in film. (Truly. That's an actual course at LSU. And to think, you wasted your time taking calculus.) I kept the trip low profile at home and looked to the DIS for advice and reassurance. One kind person took pity on me and offered to drive up for a meet-up one day while I was there. I thought this was really nice of her but kind of scary for me. I'm terrible in social situations and even worse at meeting people. What the heck, this is a trip for trying new things and if I'm too awful she'll have her car with her.
Mais les vrais voyageurs sont ceux-là seuls qui partent
Pour partir; coeurs légers, semblables aux ballons,
De leur fatalité jamais ils ne s'écartent,
Et, sans savoir pourquoi, disent toujours: Allons! Charles Baudelaire
(But the true voyagers are only those who leave
Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons,
They never turn aside from their fate
And without knowing why they always say: "Let's go!")
Okay, so I stole that one from Impressions de France. Sue me.
1/25/2006
So, I'm all ready to go. Car's hoed out and packed up. One nice thing about traveling alone, I hardly have any luggage. DH and DD pack like they'll never see civilization again. It feels nice just to throw my carry-on and a little ice chest into the car and be done with it. I'm driving to my parents' house for a day or two before setting out. It's a quick drive over. Scott has loaned me his satellite radio for the trip and it's really neato. My parents are happy to see me, sort of. It seems they're expecting my Aunt Georgia tomorrow. Now Aunt Georgia and I don't get along (I told you I was bad with people). Aunt Georgia had six kids. When we were little she was the kind of aunt who rushed into the middle of a childish broo-ha-ha and ended it by hitting whomever happened to be standing closest to her. With her shoe. Upside the head. Whether you were doing anything wrong or not. I don't like Aunt Georgia. Time for plan B. $35 and a little time on internet secures me a room at the Sheraton Safari located just down the way from the Crossroads. Not perfect, but better than an evening with Aunt Whack-a-Niece. Dinner and an evening of parental hovering follow. Dad goes over the car (it's fine), Mom fusses over whether I'll lock up securely (probably will) and eat properly (probably not). At 10:00 we call it a night. I have a big day tomorrow.
1/26/2006 (barely)
It's 2:45 am and I am wide awake. Wider than wide. I'm wildly excited and extremely nervous. I'm about to spend over three days completely alone. I don't think I've ever spent more than one night alone and now I have three days. I'm gonna please myself. Eat whatever I want (junk) whenever I want (3 am) and listen to whatever lame station on the radio I want (show tunes), sing if I like (I do). I can even get up and head out to Orlando at 3:30 am if I want to. I just bet you wish you were traveling with me.
I'm kind of glad that I left so early. My family is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and my parents live on the North Shore of Lake Ponchartrain, Katrina country. I haven't been able to avoid Slidell but have yet to see Pass Christian or Gulfport and I think I'll keep it that way for now and drive through in the dark.
I have a really smooth drive. The satellite radio is very, very cool. Scott is such a sweetie. He reset all the buttons for me. All dork radio. I have 2 NPRs, BBC World, PRI, show tunes and a station he calls The Sucky 70's. I even have Orlando traffic and weather. Orlando's sounding nice. Lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's with only one day of rain. I stop in Tallahassee for gas and breakfast (peanut butter crackers and a diet coke). I also call Scott and wake him up. He can't believe I'm already in Tallahassee. Scott's not an early morning kinda guy.
Passing through Lake City and Ocala is hard. We usually stop for lunch in Lake City and always visited the Disney Welcome Center in Ocala. The Welcome Center is gone and I'm missing the kids. This is the part of the drive where we all get excited about being almost there. I pop in a Disney CD but that just makes the loneliness worse so I switch to show tunes on the radio. Hairspray is on so I turn the volume waaaaaay up and chase the lonelies away with Big, Blonde and Beautiful.
Even with the time change I'm on Disney property by 1:30. I'm the first one to spot the Earful Tower this trip. It's kind of a hollow victory, but I made it! Over 600 miles on my own. Well, anyway, I'm impressed.
The good things:
Packing light
My own radio
Leaving when I felt like it
Setting my own schedule (My silly family insists on regular food and bathroom breaks!)
The not so good things:
Having no one to share the excitement with.
