the holiday plans of the unorganised!!

[bex7583]

hello

me and my family are going on our first trip to florida!!
we are
mum-becci- 27
dad - anthony 25
joshua- 7
arron-5
lucy -4

well after over 2 year of pestering anthony about going to florida he finally agreed. he has had many reservations about this holiday
- he wasnt 25 so didnt want to pay the young driver surcharge on a hire car
- cant go untill we have paid our credit card debts off ( 5 year ago we owed over 20k)
- kids too young
-too expensive

ok so i admit( not to his face) some of those were sensible reasons not to go anyway now he is 25 and the kids are older and even better tall for there ages and i have been saving /and reducing the debt at a considerable rate

i cancelled expensive phones ,sky tv, sold my car so now not only am i almost debt free ( amazing what a disney holiday can motivate you in to doing) i had a nice little stash for our deposit saved up !!

i spent ages pricing up various options and packages and finally got a price he was happy with at just £5200 but then something funny happened and when i went to book the flights an extra week just added itself on by accident

so now we have 3 weeks 22nd aug 2013 til 12th sept 2013!!
i have also booked 7nights at port orleans riverside with dining an and 14 days tickets
and 1 night in miami

my problem now is i want to do everything !! literally sea world , gatorland, miami, key west , universal , busch gardens, dinner shows, cruises, airboats... and so the list goes on

i got some guide books thinking these would be helpful but no i just found more things i want to do horseback safaris, national parks, kennedy space centre, daytona speedway

so now im faced with the task of eliminating things from this list

 

[bex7583]

the main decision in faced with now is what to do with that sneaky 3rd week!!

in my head at the time of booking the idea was spend 2 weeks following our onsite stay somewhere on i drive and maybe a couple of fays in clearwater

now thanks to the pesky guide book and lonely planet im thinking i have to drive to the keys , i want to go there more than orlando now which is silly as this was to be a trip to disney for the kids!! but been sooo near and not going torments me

i already totally messed up the budget by adding sneak week and a naughty dining plan upgrade hopped in my booking

i find hotels i like then look on tripadvisor and it sets my head spinning does a hotel on my budget with good reviews even exist ?

i have no idea why i added to dining upgrade as i hate making reservations and we had agreed we were happy with the quick service but it just seemed too good a deal , im a sucker for a bargain !!

 

[bex7583]

I CORRECT MYSELF IM NOT EVEN 27 IM 29 HAHA SEE HOW HARD THIS DIY STUFF IS FOR ME I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW OLD I AM !!

 

[bex7583]

this week im trying to make a decision on what to do in week 3

possible options are

1 night in miami, 3 nights on idrive, 3 nights at clearwater

cancel the miami hotel and stay 7 nights on idrive ( this is the most budget friendly option)

1night miami , 6 nights i drive and just do a day trip to the coast

1 night miami, 1 night key west, 2 nights islamorada, 1 night fort myers and 2 nights clearwater ( this is what i really want to do but it just adds quite a lot on to an already expensive trip and will we have time to enjoy the places as we are moving so much

or not make any plans and just hit the open road ( this is dhs idea) im not convinced it sounds fun but im worried we wont find accomodation for 5 easily

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I'd like to suggest visiting HoneyMoon Island for your 3rd week. It is a great beach/national park. There is miles and miles of beach with tons of shells. YOu can rent beach equipment, there is a nice cafe'.

The island is located north of Tampa.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/honeymoonisland/

You could go to Buschgardens if you are going to spend a couple days on the coast.