Road Trip (Tampa)

It was the 14th of July (Monday) and after another grueling week of work, our day-off came again, but this time, we had a very different plan. Instead of planning to what we're suppose to do for the day, we decided that we take a bus ride down to Downtown Orlando and check out about renting a car. It was 3 of us again (excluding Damien) plus the Taiwanese girls, which were suppose to come along, but somehow due to some misunderstanding between them and us, so it was only 3 of us (Me, Dickson and Winson) who ended up on the bus. After an hour of tiresome ride, we reached the station at Downtown, and without wasting much time, we got out searching for the car-renting concept and it was within 5 minutes that we spotted the concept. As I did mentioned earlier that Winson was trying to apply for an international driver's license but gave up on that because the driving school he contacted said that can only be done in your home country, we were all praying so hard that we could rent a car with just only our Malaysian driver's license. Indeed, our prayers were answered and the attendant at the concept allowed us to rent a car. After a short discussion between the 3 of us, we made up our mind and rented a Chevrolet Cobalt which cost a meager amount of USD42.99 (but with all the other extra charges, which I'll explain later). And if you were wondering how are we gonna get around on the road, we also rented a GPS unit. We headed back towards Walden Circle with an air of excitement around us and hoping that the girls would change their mind and come along.


A picture of the car we rented.

The girls were still sleeping when we woke them up from their slumber and true enough, they agreed to come along and after a short wait, we started our historic journey towards Tampa and below is roughly a map on where Tampa is.



After a painstaking 2 hour ride (the Cobalt was a 2 door compact car and we had 5 person in it, so imagine), we arrived at Tampa at last and the very first place we made a stop since we started traveling was the Treasure Island.


A picture of a street of Tampa.

After our lunch at McD's we headed to a nearby beach, what a feeling it was! It's the first time I lay my foot on a beach since the last time i was on a beach was around this time last year when i was on a trip with my college mates in the Tioman Islands. But how regretful i was for not putting on a proper attire (i was in jeans and shoes! We didn't even knew we were going to Tampa at first), but we still had a short walk along the beach and time for some pictures.


Treasure Island beach


Me & the beach


Me, Wendy and Jessica

After spending roughly an hour at the beach, we decided to move on and next on our list was the Clearwater Beach. And look, it's the first time I've seen a draw-up bridge and here's a picture of it.




A random picture along the way to Clearwater Beach

After a short drive, we arrived at the Clearwater Beach, we were jaw-dropped at the sight of the beach and this was the kind of beach we used to see on TV, and compared to the previous one, the beach at Treasure Island was nothing compared to this one.


A picture of the beach


A picture along Clearwater Beach, what a magnificent view!

After another hour at Clearwater Beach, we then took a pointless trip to the Busch Gardens (a themed park) and had a short walk around outside of the park. We were so envious of sight of people shouting at every turn of the coaster but we could only just look (the tickets were expensive and it was already close to 7, no point for us buying one anyways).

Next, we headed towards the cow-boy like town of Ybor (no idea how to pronounce that). Again, we were captivated by the sight of the streets of the town and it was like we were in a town in the 1970's. Here are a few pictures of the town.






Me and a theater as the backdrop

Soon, we continued our journey again and we this time, we decided to have our dinner at Taco Bell since the girls had not been to one before. Some chats and talks at the restaurant and we left as soon as the restaurant closes (which was around 10.30pm). We looked for a gas station nearby for a refill and it was a good USD40 we put into the tank. All of us then agreed that we should spend our night by the Clearwater beach again, and so there we went. This time, i didn't even thought twice and i took off my shoes to had a feel of the sand by the beach (what a feeling it was! :)) Walking, sitting and drinking by the beach with the wind blowing at our faces, all we had done.


A picture of our faces 'drunk' of root beer :p

We spent the rest of our night at a gondola nearby the beach, we had some chit-chat and really addictive games which really worked in passing our time. And soon, it was already 5am in the morning, we were ready to move again and this time back to downtown to return the car (we had to do so by 10.30am or we will be renting the car for a 2nd day). If you could see our faces (unfortunately i don't have a picture of it), we all looked like you know, people-who-had-not-slept-for-the-whole-night faces. It was a short drive and before we could get any further, we decided to stop by a parking lot and all of us had a short nap in the car (which i clearly didn't due to the super uncomfortable back seats of the car and to make matter worst, was shared by 3 person). The short nap passed and we continue our journey back home and it was another painstaking 2 hours (it felt like forever for me), we arrived at downtown at last. We refilled the car again before returning the car (it's the rental policy to return the car at full tank). All the under-aged charges, insurances and taxes brought the rental of the car to USD36 for each of us, which was around USD180 in total, but i would say it was worth every single penny of it and what a waste for Damien to be not with us.

After accompanying the girls to the bank in order for them to open a bank account, we headed back home to Walden Circle by bus at last and the first thing in my mind was my bed, and I had the slumber of my life :)
Again, what a trip it was!!! (and the only missing thing was my family, otherwise, it would have been close to perfection)