To the Gulf Coast - Club Class all the way.

[Kingy]

Yes on all counts.

Agree on fuel prices. TBH spending time over there just makes me/us yearn to try living there. Whilst I wouldn't want to sever all ties with the UK and there are certain things I would certainly be reluctant to give up - In general the way of life over there is something I'd love to try... 

It's always warm - even when it rains. If it rains, the rain generally lasts for upto an hour. Then it's gone and sunshine and blue skies are back. Petrol is £1.44 a gallon and will not rise any time soon. They literally try to give cars away on lease (main way of purchasing over there). The deals are ridiculous - and you are looking at big, fun petrol engines. You can go to the beach after work with the family and have tea there and a swim. It's still 80 degrees in the evening and beaches are all free with parking usually $2 for the evening. The Malls have huge parking spaces (which are free with no parking companies hiding trying to give you a £100 fine) and clothes and food are cheaper. The roads are bigger/wider and much easier to use. Pot holes and roadworks (where we went) don't exist to any great extent. Cyclists and runners have proper lanes and signs up clearly stating by law they have right of way. It's very clean. No rubbish and signs up warning of $200 fines for littering. The Police are visible. We saw Police vehicles every day on the road - Policing. Not cameras, but actual Police. If you fancy a winter holiday for a change - get a domestic flight. 70% of Americans don't had a passport because they have so much choice for travel.

Obviously, there are downsides. The Police and public are gun happy. Whilst we've thankfully never witnessed this its shown enough on the media. Americans are impeccably nice when they are taking your money, but quite an arrogant lot otherwise. They don't know how to queue and thing nothing of trying to push in. (I say trying as thats as far as it gets with me ).

All that said, I'd move there tomorrow if I could sort it. 

Anyway, back to the hollibobs. 

Last time we went to the Gulf we stayed at a very nice hotel. Got bumped up to a suite which had three seperate rooms and a cabana on the private beach. There were seperate pools for adults and families if you didn't want kids around - On the face of it, the hotel was amazing. Only problem was we got bored after about five days as we were just staying at the same very nice private beach in St Petes.
So, this time we went back to our favourite way of holidaying in the US. We booked a Hotel (on the outskirts of Tampa), hired a feck off big beast of a car and went to a new beach every day. Chuck in a drive over to Orlando for the kids to enjoy Universal and we had a plan. 
We have done this before (same hotel) and really enjoyed it, so we knew this was going to be fantastic. Also, this time we had 10 days instead of the usual seven or eight which makes a big difference. 

This is the view from the hotel one evening and one morning. Its a nice place on the Bay ...



Mornings were either straight to the beach, or if hungry calling for food on the way. We stopped at some great places, but this was our favourite. A proper Amercian Diner (Pops). Great service, good food and just like you see in the movies! 

 
 



Then onto the obigatory beach ...



At this one - Passe A Grille beach at the bottom of Gulf Boulevard we watched a wedding whilst we were there ...

 
Thats ^^ our little beach set up (bottom left). First night we arrived we went straight to the nearest 'Target' store and bought some drinks, food, boogie boards for the kids and a couple of chairs and a parasol. We leave the beach kit in the car and then use it throughout the holiday. Hiring chairs and a parasol is $15 to $35 a day depending on the beach. We paid $45 for ours so saved money and had the convenience of setting up where we wanted - usually well away from the hiring places. 


To be continued ....