A day out in Tampa

Written by Pete.

While we are waiting for our RV to be fully serviced and inspected, and after some pointers and tips on the best area to visit from the extremely friendly concierge lady, Raquel Black, we decided to head off into 'downtown' Tampa for a few hours.

Can i just point out that Raquel Black works for Lazydays, on their concierge desk, and is a very helpful young lady indeed! Raquel is a mind of information on all local amenities and facilities, also car hire, discount theme park tickets, hotels, Just about anything really...... She is also a keen 'fisherwoman' and goes fishing quite regularly, well, for a woman anyway!

Raquel Black, (aka Halfpint!) the Concierge lady!

Raquel and Mark (Her Husband) Fishing.

'Captain Mark' is available for private charters and fishing trips for the best 'catch'

Apparantly, he kisses all the fish! Hmmmmm......Nice!

Raquel told us where to park the car, and also where to catch the 'trolley bus' (bit like a tram!) so after breakfast and walking the dog, off we set, out onto Interstate 4 or 'I4' as they call them and into a bit of rush hour traffic, following the signs for 'Downtown Tampa' and Ybor (Pronounced ee-boar!) City District. It took us around 25 minutes to get to our junction on I4, and we promptly parked our car in an unusually empty car park outside the 'trolley bus station'. It was around 09.30 and i somehow expected it to be busy and after a careful study of the timetable figured out why, the tram didnt start untill 11am! Well, it was a nice morning, and i needed to see if my new sandals were ok to walk in!

I studied our Tampa Tourist map, supplied by the ever helpful Raquel, and decided we were only 4 blocks from 'Centro Ybor' and as we approached the main centre/square it felt a little Cuban/Spanish but still retaining the 'all American Feel'

The spectacular buildings on 7th Avenue

The other side of 7th Avenue.

This has to be one of the prettiest streets we've seen, but saying that we haven't really started touring yet. Most of the shops and buildings were closed including a very fascinating Tattoo and Piercing shop, we peered through the windowand we were amazed at all the colurful images displayed around the walls, for a split second, i thought of having a tattoo done and looked at Sue, and by the look on her face, i think she had read my mind, i quickly dismissed the idea! Please note the 'laid back' opening hours. cool!

Me, outside the Tattoo shop, Tattoo or piercing? Hmmmmm.........

When is a good time then?........

After a stroll up and down 7th Avenue, we found ourselves in the main square, and lots of shops and bars, it was also approaching 11am and most places were now beginning to open. We also paid a visit to the Tourist Info Centre for Ybor City, this was quite a large place and also busy, but a very helpful lady behind the counter gave me a map of the trolley bus stops and also, a must, is to take in 'Channelside' another district of 'Downtown Tampa' and also which stop to get off at for the best shops and buildings. We signed her guest book, bid her farewell, and headed towards the trolley stop across the road, direction Channelside!

The Square, in 'Centro Ybor'!

Sue, standing outside the Tampa Bay Brewing Co'.

Looks like the 'Moosekiller' could live up to its name!!!

The trolley service that runs every 25 mins or so, turned up and we hopped aboard for the 10 min trip further towards Downtown Tampa and Channelside, the trolley was open on the sides and we were glad of the cool breeze passing through, it was a little cool when we left Lazydays this morning, but it was warming up by about 11.45 to around the mid 80's, which felt really nice.

Channelside is a district of Tampa where the cruise ships dock and let the passengers off for a bit of sightseeing, and you could tell that most of the shops and bars catered for this. The Channelside shopping plaza, again was mostly shut due to the fact that we were there a tad early,(everything opened around 3pm!) and no cruise ships were docked. We managed to have a pleasant walk round the 2 tier outside mall, with bars, theatres, shops etc and finally found an 'eaterie' called Jofferies' and, by this time, 12.15, some brunch was in order, and 2 'breakfast cubans'( sausage,egg,bacon and cheese in a cuban baguette) did the trick. Sue even managed to get a cup of English tea!

View from the top tier of the mall, with Tampa skyscrapers behind.

Me, outside the Channelside Bowling and American Pool Lounge.

Just waiting my turn...................

Two bar entrances on the top tier of the Mall.

The 'Trolley Bus' with Downtown Tampa skyscrapers in the distance.

Interior of the trolley bus. Note the lights and ornate woodwork on the ceiling.

This trolley bus was an enclosed design

Our trolley conductor 'Stevie Wonder' The way he drove he just could have been!

Next to the Channelside Mall was the Florida Aquarium, complete with thousands of school kids and hoardes of teachers , and masses of organised day trips. It was quite busy so we decided to give this one a miss, but we did get a shot of the giant Stingray!

Sue and Myself outside The Florida Aquarium.

It was now approaching 1.30pm and decided it was time to head back to Lazydays and return to Amber, who was sleeping in our airconditioned Motorhome, and take her for her afternoon walk.

We hopped back on one of the returning trolleys' for the 25 min or so trip back to the Trolley Station where our car was parked. We grabbed a few photos as, and when, we stopped.

Pic from trolley window, A patriotic gas station?

View towards Downtown Tampa!

All in all, an excellent day out, and a change from trawling 100's of RV'S on the Lazydays complex. we will be making a return trip to Ybor City again, but this time in the Evening for a drink and a meal, I will be taking photos!!!

A weekend in Grand Cayman!

Written by Sue.

On the 15th April I spoke to my daughter Katie,who is at the moment working in the Grand Cayman underwater filming with her husband Alex,she was telling me about the accident she had whilst on a night dive in which the sea decided to turn rough. Just as she was trying to get out of the sea she was banged against the rocks a few times resulting in a badly dislocated shoulder.She now has a sling on and some damaged tedons which is extremely painful, this also means that she cannot dive until she is better.

After a long conversation (like we girls do) she came up with the idea of me perhaps flying out for a visit as she was off work and it maybe the only chance I get to see her for sometime, as she is flying to Honduras on 2-5-08, to do yet more diving! Obviously, I jumped at the chance, the only down-side was Pete would not be able to come with me because of Amber ,our chocolate lab,so after a few minutes pondering, on my part,shall I? or should'nt I? it was yes, I will! Katie booked the flight on line for Friday 18th April returning on Sunday the 20th, that was it, i was going to the Cayman Isles!

Pete drove me to Tampa airport for the one and ahalf hr flight to Grand Cayman, which is 600 miles away from Tampa, and just south of Cuba (bit of info there). On arriving at a very small pretty airport,I spotted a very tanned young lady (I'm not jealous!) with her arm in a sling, its was lovely to see Katie after such a long time,we walked to the car where Alex was waiting,looking just as tanned,they both looked liked island locals

Grand Cayman Airport

As I had only took a backpack with me, we did not bother going to their small bungalow to unpack my things, we just went straight to a bar that was on the sea front, lovely!

We enjoyed catching up in this lovely beach front bar!

We caught up with all that they had been up to, which was quite alot, Katie had learnt how to film underwater alongside Alex (who is already trained at underwater filming & photography.) They both work for a company that take customers out on a dive boat to a place called stingray city,this place is on a sandbar a few miles out to sea.

Many years ago the story is that the Grand Cayman had a major problem with mosquitos, it was so bad that horses and cattle were being suffocated through their nostrils by them, so of course when the fishermen came to shore with there catch, they were covered with mosquitos.So they came up with the idea of cleaning the catch on the sand-bar, out to sea, where they did not get bit, but it did not take long for the stingrays to know were food was served,and low and behold, a buisness or two was formed. Take food and paying customers , feed ,pet the rays and film them,then let the paying customers buy the DVD to take home. Nice job, if you can get it!

After breakfast on Saturday Katie surgested going for a snorkle, which was lovely,such a good variety of fish ,even saw a young stingray,all these over a wreck, just off the beach,but I must be getting nesh ,I didnt think the water was very warm, but the air temperature was well into the 90,s and really humid, so it was nice to cool down in the water.

Alex came to meet us after he had finished work,and dropped us off at the surprise of the weekend which was a helicopter flight over the island,and WOW!was that something I didnt expect! The sea was the most amazing colours of blues and aqua I have ever seen ,and I was taking photos like crazy(with the new camera we had bought)we even saw stingray -city were Kate works,and the rays with the customers ,what a treat that was! Absolutley amazing, something I will never forget!

My daughter and I, Just after the helicopter tour

This is 'Stingray City' The black dots in the water are 6ft stingrays! look closely!

Such stunning colurs of the sea!!

A view towards Grand Cayman.

Grand Cayman Marina and Royal Yacht Club!

Like all good things,they have to come to an end,after a lovely walk along the beach Sunday morning ,taking batdog (Kate was puppy sitting, check out those ears!) for a walk too,she did not like the sea much!

Saw this boat as i was walking along the beach on Sunday Morning.

This was 8am on Sunday morning, a walk along the beach before heading off to the airport.

Batdog! The puppy kate was 'dogsitting'. Anyone seen Robin or The Joker?

We made our way to the airport,it was a sad farewell for us both,because we both know it will be a long time befor we see each other again, in such a wonderful setting.Thank goodness for the internet.

I can understand Katie having itchy feet,we should all go and do something like this.Why wait?

I just wish Pete could have been with me on this great weekend,but we are just beginning our adventures,and we will have lots of tales to tell!

Watch this space!!!

Visas

Written by Pete!

Well, where do we start on Visas? There are probably numerous ways to do this, however ill tell you how we did it, then its up to you!
We employed the services of an excellent company, and may i say, very reasonably priced, called North 1 Visas, http://www.north1visas.co.uk/ in London to arrange ALL our application documents with the American Embassy. You may enter The U.S on the visa waiver programme, however, this visa only lasts for 90 days and, Basically, you just turn up at the airport and the airline will give you the relevant forms to complete, and then you present yourself to immigration at your airport of destination, and go through the normal questioning, this type of visa entry is the normal 'holiday' procedure.
May i stress here that a visa, of any kind, DOES NOT allow you entry into the U.S. All it allows you is the 'opportunity' to apply at immigration when you land. Entry is NOT gauranteed!!

The amount of time we wanted to stay forced us to opt for the full U.S visa (180 days) and this one is a little more hassle to obtain and obviously, more expensive.
North 1 visas arrange an interview date at the American Embassy and send you all the pre filled documents and pay all neccessary fees to the Embassy on your behalf, we found this invaluable as there was countless people at the Embassy, who had errors on their application forms and they were there most of the day trying to sort it out, we were there for around 4 hours!!
You will need several letters from either employers,bank managers or accountants, depending on your circumstances, and a letter from you personally, declaring your intention to return to the UK. You will also need to prove that you are able to support yourselves during your stay and a healthy bank balance will suffice. If you are travelling to America to buy an RV then you will probably have funds in your account to purchase it, and this should be fine.
You will need to attend the American Embassy in Central London and have an interview with an official, this probably all sounds a little complicated but the staff at North 1 Visas will explain it fully, it's actually quite straight forward, if a little nerve racking.
You will be told there and then whether you have been successful with your application and if so, the Embassy will retain your Passport(s) while they process and insert your visa. Your Passport(s) will be returned to your home address in around 3-5 working days by a secure courier company that works direct with the Embassy.
Once you are here in America, and you decide you want to stay longer than the initial 180 days, it is possible to apply to have your stay extended, by completeing an ' i-539' form and submitting this to the Department of Homeland Security, i've yet to do this as we have only been here for 3 weeks or so. I'll keep you posted!

We've arrived! April 2008

Written by Pete.

Sue,Amber (our Chocolate Labrador) and Myself, finally arrived here in Tampa, Florida on 29th March 2008 and we are spending the next 4 weeks or so searching for an RV that fits our requirements closely. Basically, an RV capable of 'fulltiming' in for around 13,000 miles, coast to coast across America and Canada and something that would be comfortable for all 3 of us.
We came to Tampa to initially check out a large RV dealer Called 'Lazydays' as we were told it was the biggest RV dealer in all of America, well, they were right!!
This place is huge, so huge that the only mode of transport are hundreds of golf buggies that ferry you around the sales lots! and in this heat you are glad of them, i can tell you!
They have a constant holding stock of around 1500 RV'S, new and used, and all for sale. The staff are all friendly and courteous, and the whole place has a very friendly feel to it. Absolutely no sales pressure or dodgy salesman just wanting to earn their commission, just a relaxed atmosphere. I could go on about 'Lazydays' all day but i wont, so check out their website and see for yourself. http://www.lazydays.com/ If you are looking for an RV here in the States, then these are the people to contact. If you dont find it here, you probably never will!
Obviously, our 'wish-list' was a very lengthy one with all sorts of 'must haves' rather than 'would likes' and we learned one of our first valuable lessons here "You will probably never find an RV of any kind that is 100 per cent perfect" Believe me, i have viewed hundreds and hundreds of RV'S, both 'in the flesh' and via the internet and its always "very very nice coach, but......"
You need to be aware of the main factors, which are budget,layout,size and do you feel comfortable in it,(though not necessarily in that order) it needs to have a 'homey' feel when you walk in, a bit like buying a house really, that's the only way i can relate to it.
And, take your time in choosing, any RV dealership worth their salt will listen to what your needs are and then try and point you in the right direction, and Lazydays were no different. Listen to your sales guy too, even if at first you think you may not agree with him, chances are he's sold more RV.S than you've had hot dinners, mull over what he's said and choose your RV with practicality in mind rather than the actual cosmetic looks of any one coach.

Obviously, we did a lot of homework before we left concerning visas, dog air travel, banks, a car, travel insurance, RV + Car insurance, breakdown cover, tyre policy, etc etc. Most of these are easily sorted out either by Lazydays or yourself while you are waiting for your RV to be prepared, EXCEPT THE VISAS!!!!