I thought I’d write a little about our trip 3 weeks ago since it was the first trip to Florida we’ve had in 9 years. I can’t believe we haven’t been on a plane in that long either. With electronics, travel is so much nicer. I had my Kindle, downloaded magazines on my iPad and cross stitching. We ended up mainly playing a game on the Kindle. There was lots of turbulence going down. We did take motion sickness pills. We also had male flight attendants who were dressed and groomed perfectly! They were slow doling out the beverages though.

We parked at the Sheraton near the airport-it was gated. It wasn’t that cheap to do that. They are smart as their hotel looks popular with the extra cars there. The shuttle bus from parking to the airport was nice. We then had to move from one end of the airport to the other-that was wearing. We all had carry on luggage. Mine didn’t have wheels, so need to use the one I have that has wheels next time. I thought with the quilted one, I could load it up, forgot it had to be carried A LOT. Brian got that job. When we were about to board the plane, they said Brian’s was too big (full flight-all compartments taken) and he had to check it. Did I mention we were an hour late getting out of there too? When we got to Tampa, it was pretty smooth until we had to start the keyless rental-new car-our cars are all 9 yrs and up. He had to push the brake and push the button at the same time.

We were about 20 minutes from the airport to go to the hotel. Now if if was me, I would have stayed in St. Pete’s and drove over to Tampa. Tampa is a big city, no beach. Not real touristy unless you are going to Busch Gardens, which we decided not to see.

The green trees were welcoming to us after our long, cold, snowy winter. I love looking at the palm trees, the trees with the Spanish moss and the flowering shrubs like hibiscus.

Our first view of Tampa!

We stayed at a place not near anything. We dropped off our luggage and headed to the restaurant about 20 minutes away as I had a coupon for the place. We got there a little early and they let us wait a bit. Every restaurant in the different towns we ate in were nicely decorated and fun to eat at!. I could go just on a trip like that! The guys had pizza and I wanted Chicken Piccata. All good-especially the 4 martinis we had! We thought they were to share, but no, you get 2 each. Ha!

We decided to go to Walmart to get nibbles for the room. GPS is a godsend in a strange area.

We then went to check out Tampa a bit so Sean would know where the convention center is where his conference was to be held. He also signed up to go on a trip to see the baseball stadium of the Blue Rays the next day.

I had gotten on Trip Adviser to see what people recommended and the Tampa Theater was a must see place. We didn’t go in, but Sean and I jumped out of the car to grab a few shots.

I took many photos from the car! They may be a little crooked. 🙂

I’m waiting for Sean to upload his photos as he has some near the convention center.

I will do another post or two about our excursions to St. Pete’s Beach, Clearwater and a few other Trip Adviser recommendations.