Florida: Adding Days to Disney Trips

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[00:00:16] Nasreen: Welcome to another episode of Time to Talk Travel. We are going to be talking about Florida today. And not necessarily the part of Florida that most people think of when they're going, Disney, Orlando, that entire area. For a lot of families and travelers, they're trying to maximize that trip to the Sunshine State by adding on another destination. Maybe they're driving and they need to break up the drive. Maybe they want to add on a beach vacation at the end and get a little more bang for your buck, or maybe it's cheaper to fly into another airport. So today we're going to share some of our favorite spots to go before or after that Orlando trip in Florida to maximize that time and Des I'm going to lead off with you because you are from Florida. You are the resident expert here. Go for it.

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I have a lot of friends who love that.

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[00:01:27] Desiree: Vero Beach is north of West Palm and south of Melbourne. It's southeast of Orlando. It's about an hour and a half from Orlando on the Atlantic coast. It used to be where the beach was. The Dodgers, LA Dodgers had spring training. So that was a major draw for a lot of people there. They don't do spring training there anymore.

The beach is the draw there. It's just a very small quaint town. The rules are no buildings over four stories. You're not going to see all the condos sprinkled around in a lot of the other beach side cities or the coastal cities.

There's even a Disney resort there that is not Disney. A lot of people will go down to Vero beach, even for that from Orlando.

There's a museum for sunken treasure where Mel Fisher has actually pulled up treasure. There's all kinds of fun stuff but it is not at all your amusement park, big condo feel. But I can go on and on. I'll, I figured you guys want to add something. If you want me to talk the full hour, I can go regionally

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In the North. January, February, you're still wearing jeans and a jacket. We shall go farther South and change your wardrobe. right

now it'd be stinking hot.

Melty, melty there. Be prepared for that too.

Like they are a big state. Where are we starting here? What portion of it?

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Let's break up the state by quadrants .

If we start in the Northeast, that's Jacksonville beach. I learned to surf in Jacksonville Beach because it's not ridiculous waves. You can take surf classes there. You've got Ponte Vedra, Amelia Island, St. Augustine, Vilano beach. St. Augustine is a great one if you want to feel like you're in Europe without going to Europe. During the holidays at Christmas, they light it all up.

It's beautiful. That's a great spot.

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[00:03:35] Nasreen: That's the area and the things that I love, right? The history- Fountain of Youth, the old buildings, the food, forts. St. Augustine is great. They also have a great culinary scene. You can take brunch cruises on catamarans and lay out and tan and be fed on the water. So there's a ton of options in that area for sure.

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Then when you come down across from Orlando ish, if you're just driving due East, a lot of people head to that area, Cape Canaveral. There's a port there, Port Canaveral. A lot of cruises leave from there. You've got NASA Kennedy Space Center. If you have anyone in your family that's into space whatsoever, it is a must stop.

There's the Cape Canaveral National Seashore, so you still have a beach. If you can do the tour at Cape Canaveral you'll learn all about the Space Center and the program. It's worth it and it's easy. Incredible. A lot of people will book trips specifically to watch a launch. If you do, be sure to give yourself a couple of days before, or a couple of days after the supposed launch, because weather will cancel launches day after day down there.

I have seen people heartbroken because they've saved for years to go down there and watch a launch and. Built the whole trip just to do that.

Try to give yourself a little bit of time. If you can start your trip the day before the launch and then give yourself a couple of days after, because it does happen where they have to wait the next day, and it might be a week, sometimes it might be more.

Sadly. So plan other things to do while you're there.

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and

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Have either of you done West Palm?

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. I remember the food being really fantastic there because you're getting closer to Miami. So there are some areas in towns right around West Palm that start to have really good Cuban food and good coffee. So I remember that.

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You're looking at 20 cocktails usually. So Jensen Beach is my little stop right before we get down into that. And it's a teeny tiny town and my kids sail there every year.

So we spent about, I don't know, four or five days. And I always end up there on St. Patrick's day for the parade. And it's a hoot. It's like literally just the locals doing their own golf carts and like town, America parade, and we sit right on the corner on the patio and it's fabulous.

Just those little spots, just don't drive past them and, go to the big one, stop in some of those little towns. They're super cute.

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[00:06:58] Maureen: it doesn't flow so well. The traffic between

and Miami

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[00:07:04] Maureen: Give yourself a lot of time. Check Waze on that one. But it's not far if traffic is good. It's what, maybe 45 minutes? So

from Lauderdale to Miami, but it can also be like two hours.

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So like the Eau de Palm Resort and stuff like that's across bridges from mainland Florida on the little strip. And going down that long strip on that one road can take a while. It's almost trying to drive from one end of Galveston to the other. And you look at it and you're like, it's a little island, but why did that take so long? So you have things like in that same area as Jupiter Island with the blowing, they have the blowing rocks park. I remember going there, but that was a long time ago. I,

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[00:08:06] Desiree: There are some really neat things too. In Miami, there's Coral Castle which is have you done that,

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[00:08:13] Desiree: Oh, I did it in high school with my high school boyfriend.

Coral Castle is a man built it for the woman he loved and all the furniture is built out of the limestone that he did it himself over.

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[00:08:27] Desiree: Yeah. Labor of love. Lots of music videos get shot there. You do Coral Castle. You keep on cruising down. If you want to go all the way to the Keys, you are driving like Nas said, you are on that road forever. People think, Oh, it's just an hour South of Miami. No. That's just a tip. You might get to Isla Morada, which is super cool too.

If you were into the Bloodline TV series, they shot Bloodline down there. Talk about amazing things, great fishing, great, what, you could stay at Hawks Cay, go all the way down into the Keys to Key West, that will take you hours, it's way on down, then you have the Fort Jefferson, I think it is, down the the National Park way at the end that you have to take a ferry to, great, there's so much to see in the Keys.

The sunset celebration every night, as the sun goes down. Key West to me is phenomenal for a lot of reasons. It's a lot of fun. I don't think it's a place you really want to take your kids to hang out. You can, it's not like it's not family friendly, but it's more fun. It's more like a big old party.

You, you do the crawl down Deval or whatever.

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Sit on the beach with a rub in your hand. Yeah, not chasing kids down.

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[00:10:07] Maureen: You were going to say that.

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[00:10:11] Desiree: That's what my daughter

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So,

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[00:10:22] Maureen: tons of cruises beyond that, that go out of

Fort Lauderdale and Miami there

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[00:10:27] Maureen: And I've spent a ton of time in Miami. My kid goes to school there. He's going to be going into his final year next year. And That city is like I said, it's crazy expensive, but man, there's some fun things to do there.

Some of the world's best restaurants. The beaches, everybody wants to go to South Beach. I would visit it. I wouldn't stay on South Beach, go have a cocktail. People watch. Maybe don't stay too late. You just got to have your wits about you. But like you were saying, like Coral Gables and Coconut Grove and the little areas outside of downtown Miami have just lovely shopping and restaurants and beautiful spots not in the core of South beach and Miami beach.

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A lot of Miami people come up for the quieter feel. So you. Get some Miami vibe,

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[00:11:29] Desiree: oh yes, I did that in South Beach. Yeah. There's just, there's a lot to love about Miami. The culture, just all of

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[00:11:37] Desiree: I had an adopted grandpa. My grandparents had passed away when I was born. My best friend's grandpa, grandpa Cinco lived down in little Havana and he would sit there and play dominoes on the street.

You can still see this. It's just such a cool vibe.

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And then this guy came over and totally taught her how to play dominoes just by saying, no, No, throwing

back

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[00:12:19] Maureen: it probably was. And then right across the street from there is a place called ball and chain. And it's awesome. It's always got live music going every day during the week. You can go and you just get your little salsa on and have a blast. El Cristo up the streets it looks like a dive and these are my favorite restaurants to find. Trust me, you can go super fancy in Miami, but if you can find the local dives, that's in any other place, it's the best. So it's El Cristo and it's got amazing Cuban food. And oh yeah, the coffee.

Oh I love it there. Absolutely love it there.

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I'm like boom. I got it. But there's some fruits that I have seen in the Miami area that I didn't know existed before I went there.

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[00:13:33] Maureen: Yeah. So just to keep our geography going if you're in Miami and you're down to the keys, then you're down there now. In that other section, there's a whole lot of, not a lot. And so the drive from one side to the other, say you're going from Miami to Tampa, you actually need to make sure you have gas. Do not get out of your car

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I was not expecting it. It didn't have a lavatory. It had the seat. That in the back that folded up and was a toilet and you pulled a shower curtain around you because it was only a 20 minute flight and there was no cockpit door again, curtain. My earring came out of my ear when they started the propellers and we were all standing next to that plane.

Like I tell you, it was the weirdest flight experience I've had, so I started driving cause I'm like, I'm not going on the death plane. I'm going to drive.

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[00:14:35] Nasreen: I went through Alligator Alley instead. So the things to, obviously, yes, Maureen was 100 percent right on the gas and everything. The other thing is to be careful when you're driving. I used to do a lot of my driving in the evening and into the darker hours because I'm not in accounts then. The alligators come up onto the road because it maintains heat. Think about an iguana laying on a heating rock . That's what the alligators do. Don't save the drive for like sundown late because they will come up to the road then and they are not fun speed bumps.

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[00:15:09] Maureen: the

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that whole south section of Florida. It's the Everglades. It's a swamp. Like this, that was their

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[00:15:17] Maureen: what I

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[00:15:17] Maureen: there's gators and nothing.

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[00:15:19] Desiree: You're driving through the Everglades. Yeah.

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It was not a natural train of thought for me. I thought, Oh, there might be alligators. I don't want to break down and get out of my car, but I was not like, Oh, they're warming their bellies on the pavement.

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[00:15:52] Maureen: little tiny Babies.

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[00:16:03] Nasreen: It's bizarre. It's just one of those things you have to be prepared for in the timing, or you may not realize it might not be the best time saving effort because you're going to have to drive slower and really pay attention. So if you're going from Miami, you head across and you end up near Marco Island.

Or if you're going from Fort Lauderdale, you're going to go across and end up near Naples, basically. And I've spent a decent amount of time in and around Naples, Fort Myers.

I traveled down off of a Disney vacation to see the Red Sox in spring training and got a hat Signed and all of that fun.

both are towards the tip of Florida, but on the Gulf coast. Essentially almost straight across from, again, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

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[00:16:48] Desiree: We started here. Yeah.

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[00:17:28] Maureen: actually did them on the beach in Miami Beach. And, yeah, they’re some of my favorite photos. And now I don't do any photos here. I do photos everywhere else we go.

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We did horseback riding in the ocean there, in the river. It's super cool to ride a horse in the water. That was.

Don't do that

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[00:18:13] Desiree: No, they don't. It's just, it's old Florida to me. It's special.

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I love the area. Let me clarify. I love Tampa. St. Pete is one of my favorites, St. Petersburg, but Clearwater is touristy. It's definitely, and it's busy. There's tons of fun things to do. It's just crammed into square blocks. It feels

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[00:18:39] Maureen: Golf and I don't know, all the bar hopping and it's just a different vibe.

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I feel like that's more of what you get up in the panhandle as well, but let's stay with it. You, is there something you wanted to say about Tampa Naz? Tampa is pretty cool.

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Anna Maria Island from there is, if you're looking, if you're going to Florida and this is your once in a lifetime trip to Florida, you're doing the big Disney trip, you're going to do a beach trip, the whole family's going, . Anna Maria Island is that white sand beach experience in Florida where you get it without going out of the country.

It looks like you're somewhere else. I know Dez, you said that as well, but it really is those white, sandy beaches, unspoiled, gorgeous, beautiful pictures, relaxing beach vacation, going back to the beach. Old fashioned beach vacations, for lack of a better term. And so that entire area is beautiful, but then I think a lot of people write out what that area on the Gulf Coast looks like.

They do start above Tampa and only look at, Above Tampa for clear water and everything. But again, Fort Myers, great place to visit Naples. I think they were just named the best city to live in the U. S. Now, I'm not sure I'm on board with that to be very honest, but there's a lot to do in that area.

And then that entire coastal area has the circus museum. Is it the Ringling museum? I think it's the one with the circus

guy.

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[00:20:07] Nasreen: Okay, Sarasota and then working your way up to Tampa. Tampa has Cuban food and things like that you don't expect. There's cigar factories like

old cigar factory. Yes. Ybor City and food and just a lot of experiences, including the zoo and Bush gardens . There's so much to do in that Tampa area . I don't remember Tampa having that much stuff when I was originally traveling to that area, and now it is a destination in and of itself.

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Sorry. Tampa. Yes. Go for it. Mo

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It was awesome. And honestly, St. Pete is one of the places that I would consider retiring to. It's got a great sort of, I don't want to call us old by any means, but a little bit mature scene, a little bit. Calmer than the Miami scene, but still awesome restaurants and cafes and shops and things just to sit out and have a beautiful drink next to the water.

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club is gorgeous and there's tons of art fairs and the farmer's market every Saturday is incredible. The flowers and the food and everything. There is a ton to do if you put in all of those things from, mini putt to a, a cruise on the bay.

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[00:21:39] Nasreen: I am always fascinated by some of the really unique things to do. The places where you can see the manatees or the mermaids. Is that Weeki Wachee? Is that where the mermaids are?

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Do you want to keep going up now? Cause now if we keep motoring up, then it's more of that vibe that Nas likes, Crystal River and all the way up into the curve around St.

George and Apalachicola,

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[00:22:23] Maureen: I can't say it.

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[00:22:51] Desiree: Apalachicola is where they invented the icebox. The refrigerator, that's what we call it. So there's a museum for that there.

There's a lot there. I used to live in Panama city beach and worked for a TV station there. So our reach went all the way over into Apalachicola and then over to like Fort Walton on the other side. And so we covered a lot of that. There's St. George Island. There are a lot of really neat places to see all through there. Port st. Joe used to smell horrible because of the paper mill there, but that's gone. It's nice. , they don't have the condos that you see so much of more in Panama city beach and the others, it's more of that older vibe, in my opinion, small town it's,

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A lot of connection with the land and local ingredients, and it just has a very different vibe than that area of the coast for me otherwise. Nope.

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And that is

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[00:24:27] Desiree: Oh it is what it is. I, when it's what you grew up with it's where the meat's mostly in the tail, where, you go north, it's mostly in the

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[00:24:34] Desiree: what

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I think we know why one might be a little, I don't know which one's tastier. Again, I gotta do it side by side, but I feel like this is The beef versus the wagyu beef that got like the massage and the beer. Of course, one of them is going to be happier.

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[00:25:06] Nasreen: main lobster.

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[00:25:17] Maureen: What do you guys think about Panama city beach? Cause that one gets an interesting rep sometimes. Because it's known as a spring break party town. Friend of mine owns a condo there and it's gorgeous. And as long as we don't go at those times of year, it is amazing. It's a beautiful

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And yes, Panama city beach took a beating. It recruited for a while MTV to come there and shoot spring break. And they made a lot of money off it. And then they really regretted it because The families didn't want to come anymore. I will tell you most from up here in Atlanta, when people go down, a lot of people do avoid Panama City Beach.

They want 30A is what it's called. The whole ritzy area of it started with Seaside, which is

A must see by itself. But 30A has Rosemary beach, which feels like Italy. It does. It feels like Europe all over again. It's a whole different vibe than what you'll see in Panama city beach here if you're not staying in Seaside, it's just not okay.

It's just, but it's expensive overpriced. And to me, it's all the same water. In Panama City Beach, you're going to have the condos and the tchotchke, the golf courses, whatever, but that's fun for the right group and in the right age, I had a house there forever.

I lived there as a news director for the TV station. I loved it on that side of the bridge, but even on the Panama City side, they've done a lot of work revitalizing and making the whole scene, Andrews Bay area. Really nice.

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[00:26:59] Desiree: Panama city beach. Yeah,

The bridge connects them both, but you can take a boat out of either . There are air force bases, Tyndall's on that side of the bridge. Eglin's over here by Pensacola or by Fort Walton beach. And then as you head even further West, Fort Walton's nice as well.

Pensacola right there on the border. That's where the Navy blue angels train. And you can go out there on a sailboat and be lying there, watching the blue angels over your head back and forth. It's a different vibe, but it's also really special.

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[00:27:31] Desiree: Navarre. Navarre.

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There was a lot to do. And you want to make it through Louisiana to say you did it, but then there's not a lot of places to stop right after that. And then it's, you can get through the other states so fast.

You don't want to give up.

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[00:28:04] Nasreen: there.

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throw fish over the border. What's that Mo?

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[00:28:18] Desiree: 100%. They do. And then right over the border, you've got Gulf shores, Alabama, but that's a whole nother state we can talk about later, but it's just, I love all of Florida.

I do. I'm a water baby. I'd love to get back there on the coast. And there are lots of cool spots in the middle. The one thing you do need to keep in mind in Florida though, is it is hot. And we do have hurricane season, June to November. It's much more active from September through October. If you're planning anything special in Florida, just know, have a backup plan, have a plan B because there is every chance.

There's going to be a hurricane. And it is what it is. You plan for it.

You'll hear about it for days in advance. We won't know exactly where it's going to hit, it's gonna it's or it might peter out before it gets there.

You just, you never know. But that is something to keep in mind in Florida, for sure.

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So that was the cool fact for that. And then just in that entire kind of Ocala is a little further in from the water and that's a

Okay. Yes. Tell me how to play it.

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[00:29:46] Nasreen: Okay. Okay. Oh, call it.

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[00:30:02] Maureen: Through those, especially near a weekend, be careful because they are university towns

and all the hotels can be booked.

So if you're driving and you're like, oh, I'm just going to stop the night in Tallahassee and you drive up and you're like, why is every

hotel from the Motel 6 to the Hilton booked solid?

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[00:30:53] Nasreen: And I think that's why I ended up in a lot of random small towns in Florida because I learned very quickly. I like to book when I see how far I'm going to get the same day. It's one of my road trips. just things I do. And so I'd end up in these smaller towns that were a little off the beaten path sometimes if there was a lot going on because you can't get a everyone's doing the same thing.

They're all driving on the highway and then if there's something going on, there's no rooms. It's challenging.

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Yeah. I got stuck in that, but yeah. So I think we've covered the state pretty well though. Apologies to the little cities we forgot. Cause there are a lot,

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[00:32:45] Desiree: I was gonna say, they have the

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[00:32:47] Desiree: transponder, yeah, the transponder that you can move from car to car.

A lot of the others I'm in Georgia. My peach pass here works as a sun pass there.

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[00:33:06] Maureen: gonna say, my Texas one is useless, I'm pretty sure. Yeah.

Even though sometimes it's called the Easy Pass in the same places,

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[00:33:13] Desiree: yeah. You can get the portable. That's what I was saying. The portable transponder,

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[00:33:20] Nasreen: Yeah.

The most important thing is just to get your own, because if you're doing it through a rental car company, even if you only use it one day and then pick up your own, they're going to charge you for every single day of the rental, if you use it once. And it can be anywhere from 4. 95 to 14. 95 a day.

And that's a giant add on expense. So I always watch for that with the tolls.

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[00:33:49] Nasreen: Exactly, but we're huge Florida fans, Des obviously born and raised. So she wins this top Florida fan, automatically and, respecting the Florida law. You didn't know you were getting that honor today. Oh, and she's got her cup and everything.

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[00:34:04] Nasreen: Awesome. If you're already going to Florida, spend some time.

If you're going there for Disney, put in a little time to explore another area. Some of the places we've mentioned may be hours away. Maybe you don't have a couple extra days. But there are plenty of places to drive within range of Orlando to experience something else while you are in Florida. So in

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on the road. Much safer way of exploring gators.

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[00:34:31] Maureen: And it's super fun.

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[00:34:33] Maureen: I have to tell you about this one crazy place. Okay. Cause I don't know. Have you ever heard of Dezerland?

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[00:34:39] Maureen: I stumped des yay. And it's called desert land. It's this guy who basically started New York cause tons of money bought an abandoned mall. Basically to put his car collection in. He has like just hundreds and hundreds of cars. He has the largest Vespa collection. He has movie cars from he's got the DeLorean. He's got the A team van.

He's got the Batman mobile, hundreds and hundreds of cars. This place has over 20 attractions and we went there because it was pouring rain and I wanted something else to do in Orlando that wasn't the parks. So we went there, they had laser tag, they got ax throwing, they got mini golf, they got glow in the dark bowling. They have the most amazing James Bond collection of memorabilia, but this guy just bought them all. And put all of his collection in and I'm sure he's getting a much better tax write off than keeping it stored places, but it is incredible. I went there thinking, okay, let's check it out for an hour or 2. My husband, I called my husband. So I'm like, you got to get over here. This is incredible. It's so hard to describe is the weirdest place I've probably ever been. It is so Florida. But yeah if you're looking for a rainy day, not far outside Orlando, check out this desert

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[00:36:05] Desiree: No, ma'am.

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[00:36:08] Maureen: I've done that. I go to, it's not called downtown Disney now. What's it called?

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That's good. And Celebration. Great shopping zones. You don't even have to go to the amusement park when you go there.

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We did that many times driving through.

Just like, pit stop, keep going,

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[00:36:32] Maureen: dance, or cheer, or,

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We won't splurge on the amusement park tickets anymore because we're older and we don't have the kids and we're exhausted by the end of the day playing volleyball anyway, but we will go to Disney Springs and get dinner. They've got Cirque du Soleil shows. They have every restaurant under the sun. They have shopping.

It's fun. It's just a great way to kill a couple hours and not necessarily spend a ton of money.

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[00:36:59] Desiree: a hundred percent. Yeah,

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[00:37:14] Nasreen: More

than the

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[00:37:16] Nasreen: Until next time, happy travels. And maybe we'll have a talk about the mouse one of these days.

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[00:37:23] Nasreen: Go Gators. We'll let you, we'll let you close on that. Say it one more time Des. Go Gators.

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[00:37:29] Narrator: This has been another episode of Time to Talk Travel, brought to you by HashtagTravels. com. You can keep in touch with us between episodes by checking out our site, joining our newsletter, or connecting with us on social. We've always got the information you need in our episode notes. Until next time, happy travels, and thanks for being a part of our trip.