Destination Orlando, Fl

The first stop on our road trip is Orlando, Fl. The famous city that's known for Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Orlando wasn't originally on our list, we had planned on driving from Miami straight to New Orleans, Louisiana, but with a slight change of plans, Orlando was added as a destination. Since I flew to Miami from California, I never actually got to see the roads in Florida, like the freeway and such (you're probably thinking I'm crazy for wanting to see roads and landscapes and such... but no I love driving and being able to see EVERYTHING). It's really different everywhere. Especially when you're driving on the Interstate and get to see what's surrounding you. What I saw were filled with the awesome color green. All different shades of green. If I were to play I Spy and were to spy something green, people would've had a hard time guessing what I was spying. From the palm trees to the swaying grass meadows, from the tall bushes to the green leaves. Nature was at its finest.

As soon as we got to the hotel, we called dibs on each bed. Then we headed straight to the Orlando Premium Outlets, as Marcus, Kevin, Tori, Lisa, and Karen would say from the movie White Chicks.... "SHOPPPPPPPPPPPING!" This was definitely a tourist attraction. I saw all different types of people. There were more than just the English language being spoken here. I actually saw a lot of Asian folks here, compared to Miami, I was no longer a foreigner in Orlando. Haha. We had dinner at the food court... I don't know what I was thinking buying sushi in a mall/outlet food court... it was horrific. The chinese food that I had definitely calmed my angry stomach though. I can eat chinese food all day, every day. After that we went back to the hotel to get some rest. We had a long day a head of us. Our next destination: New Orleans, Louisiana.

So if you're still wondering whether or not I went to Disney World... no I did not. I did drove past it on the way to the outlet and took a faint picture of the sign haha. Like I said, Orlando wasn't a planned destination so we were not prepared for such a trip. Therefore, nothing exciting really happened.

Doing it right by starting the drive off with some Steak 'n Shake. Man, I love this place. I don't know why all of the restaurant chain from the South stops at Arizona. That's ridiculous. Bring Bojangles, Steak 'n Shake, Jim 'n Nicks, & Waffle House here!

I bought a map just for the sake of having a map on a road trip... Lol. 

My faintly captured Disney World sign.

Of Course I had to jump on the bed at the hotel... who doesn't do that? The ceiling was a little too low, I had to use a pillow for protection haha.

 There you have it. Orlando, Florida.

Miami!

I can now say I have experienced Miami. Let's see, how was Miami... well, it reminded me a lot of my motherland, Vietnam. The weather was hot, humid, and very bipolar. Maybe bipolar isn't the correct word, but it would storm and rain out of no where then get sunny again. What I love about Miami though is the vibe. Let me tell ya, it is definitely no where like California. Nothing against Miami, but it made me appreciate California's weather so much more. High in the 70s, low in the 60s, always. Besides the weather, the people were very different. Some Miamians have guessed that I was either Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, or "do you have some black in you." Not even a single type of Asian. Speaking of Asians, I never saw a single Asian person in Miami. I must've looked really foreign to them. Lol.

I packed a suitcase full of clothes for the trip, looking back, I shouldn't have packed anything at all. I pretty much went shopping as soon as I got there and I wore everything that I bought the whole trip. Sigh, so pointless. Anyway, my friend Megan took me to this Boba place at Aventura mall and I had my first "popping boba." What the heck is popping boba?! It looks just like a regular boba ball... but inside it is filled with juicy goodness with different flavors such as mango, strawberry, etc. The popping boba, of course, pops in your mouth. It was like heaven. I don't think they have it in the West Coast at all. They should, I would be a regular! Actually, they probably do, I just haven't looked into it. Haha.

I also went to the beach. Let me tell ya, Miami beaches > California beaches. For sure. The water was so blue. Touching it was like falling into a warm bath. Even though it was raining like a crazy mother effer, I'm glad I had a chance to at least experience what heaven was like... lol. I wasn't there for that long because it started to rain really hard. Which reminded me a lot of my motherland once again. As a kid, whenever it rained, the kids from the block, my cousins, and I would run in the street butt naked and just dance in the rain. Rain was the best thing that ever happened to us. We didn't have Wet & Wild, we didn't have Raging Waters, we had free rain!!! Walking in the rain brought back a lot of memories. By the time we got to our car, we were soaked from head to toes.

I wasn't in Miami for that long because we had to start our road trip back to California. I did not want to leave, I wanted more. I wanted to absorb all of the life and culture of this city. As my former governor would say, "I will be back."

Boarded... not abiding the "please turn of your electronic devices" rule. Sorry bout it.

Here I am, about to experience popping boba for the first time evaaah.

Megas and I on our way to Whiskey Tango to watch the Finals game.

Okay, I guess you can't really tell in this picture... but we were soaked after the rain.

My I am angry at the rain face. Lolzzzzz.

This is how pretty the water was. I want to go back!

Take me back to EDC

Electric Daisy Carnival was possibly one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I was introduced to the three day festival a few years back by my friend Matt. Never would I thought I would have the opportunity to go. I mean, I have always been an Indie/Alternative kind of girl. House music? Dubstep? People dressed in crazy costumes? And those fluffies? It’s funny now that I think about it. When Matt told me about EDC, I thought it was a cruise. You know, the Carnival cruise. Lol. I was such a dork. The whole house/electro/trance/dub music genre creeped up on me and I started to really enjoy it. The more and more songs I discover, the more in love I fell with it. 

This whole event made a huge dent in my bank account. I wasn’t prepared to go at all. Back in April, my friend/ sorority sister Clarissa and I were talking about EDC and it was decided right then and there that we would go. If you know me, you would know that I am a woman of my word. I never bail on things and if I say I would do something, I will. Yes, I questioned it at first. What was I thinking? I have never been to a rave and she’s been numerous of times before. I didn’t really take the whole thing seriously at first because I thought it probably wasn’t going to happen. Then we started planning our costumes… and eventually bought our tickets. I spent just over half a grand on this whole event. How insane was I? I don’t regret a single penny I spent on it though. 

There are no words for me to express how amazing it was. You had to be there to understand. It’s life changing. I came home wanting to just go back. I would lay in bed and replay the moments and memories over and over in my head. Being with 300,000 people everyday for the whole weekend and coming home to a silent apartment was completely weird. I could still hear the bass ringing in my ears. There was no way to get me off this EDC high. I tried telling my friends about how amazing it was but the only word I could think of was INDESCRIBABLE. One of the best weekends of my entire life. I would go back and redo it all over in a heartbeat. I don’t even care about all the bad/awkward/crazy things that happened. I would do it all again! Here are some pictures to help me describe. 

 FIRST DAY:

It felt so good to see this sign, we were on the road all day!

Waiting in line...I don't even think there was even a line! I actually don't really remember what happened.. haha

Some random stupid guy wanted a picture.

Another random guy that wanted a picture. He actually gave us drinks haha. Funny story, we ran into him on the third day. I thought he looked so familiar, and then realized there was a picture of him in my phone. We showed him the picture and all of us immediately became BFFs. Haha. 

This picture was actually really funny at the moment. I don't recall doing this at all, but from what my friends told me, I was helping that lady sell her drinks haha. Like screaming "waterrrrrr, buy waterrrrrrrrr!" on the top of my lungs.

As you can see her facial expression... She was probably thinking "Look at this crazy mother f*****" Lol

I always thought girls with pasties are so trashy. But I only saw two pretty non-trasy pasty wearers. She was one of them.

I don't even remember being at this stage on the first day.

There were 7 different stages and this was the Kinetic Field stage. Where we were at most of the time.

I was on top of some guy's shoulders while taking this picture. OMG top view was amazing. Everybody has to experience it at least once in their life.

SECOND DAY:

Some lady wanted a picture of us...it was weird. I'm afraid what she was going to do with the picture haha.

So, the second day was a bust. We were stuck in traffic for literally 3 hours. Got there and not even a few hours later, EDC got shut down due to the wind. I didn't even get to see Tiesto or Steve Aoki. Like it was such a blow. It was freezing cold. 

Since EDC got shut down, we decided to have ourselves a lil hotel partay. Haha. It turned out to be a pretty successful night. ;)

THIRD NIGHT:

The third night was probably my favorite night. Even though the craziest stuff happened... it was still my favorite night out of the three. We were there from 6:00p.m.-6:00a.m. It was our longest night but the best night.

This was the only other pasty girl I thought was pretty.

Vancouver boys, eh? 

This was the guy we met while waiting in line on the first day. They called him the "forklift" lol.

 There it is. I would give anything to be able to experience it all over again. Too bad, it's a year away!!!