Florida (Naples)

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2016-09-28 17.24.31

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From September, 25th to 28th I visited my aunt Claudia, my uncle Peter and my cousins Anna and Niklas in Naples, Florida, where they spent their fall holidays.

My flight left Sunday morning from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Fort Myers Airport. I was very lucky as my roommate’s twin sister Maggie took me with her to her apartment in Toronto the night before so that I could sleep at her couch. In the morning she even gave me a ride to the Union Station from where I took the Union-Pearson (UP) express train to the airport. It’s a 25 minutes ride and costs C$ 12.

Florida was wonderful! After a 3-hours flight, I was welcomed by hot and sunny weather and of course by my lovely family. They lived in a house in one of the many gated communities which was a very new experience to me. The house was big and impressive (although my aunt and I would have chosen different furniture ;-) and I even had my own personal apartment in a guest house next to the main building. In the courtyard there was a small swimming pool to refresh during the hot days.

The first day we went to a pier at one of the beaches and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I’d always wanted to go there as it is always mentioned in the “Big Bang Theory” series. They have an overwhelming variety of food, not even cheesecake as you might think.

In the morning of the second day Claudia, Niklas and me went for a run through the community and at the main road. It already was very warm. After breakfast we decided to go to some of the outlet shopping centers as it looked quite rainy outside. We went first to the Coconut Point Outlets and then to the Miromar Outlets. The second one is much better. Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Vans, Abercrombie & Fitch, Calvin Klein, Hilfiger, … Although the exchange rate isn’t so good at the moment, you can actually save a lot of money at the outlets as they have great discounts. But I, for my part, only bought one sports top to save my money for travelling during the next weeks.

In the evening we went to one of the beaches trying to watch the sunset. As it was too cloudy and a thunderstorm was coming closer, we watched lightening on the horizon instead, which was beautiful as well. Unfortunately, Anna and I were tortured by sand-flees. We both had about 50 stitches on the entire body which were itching as hell! (I still have marks from them nearly a month later!)

The next day the weather was better so that we decided to spend it at the beach. White sand, blue water and although we saw a jellyfish I went into the sea for a little swim. We were lucky to even see a dolphin right at the beach! On the way back home, we grabbed some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory which was absolutely delicious!! One piece must have 2000 kcal!

In the evening, we cooked pasta at home, played wizard and made a little fun of Anna and Niklas who both had a sunburn (they will learn, the young ones ;-).

Apart from the itchiest insect stitches I’ve ever had in my life, I absolutely enjoyed the time in Naples. The last days of summer for 2016! Thank you Claudia, Peter, Anna and Niklas for having me!

#naples #florida #trip #usa