Typhoon Lagoon

My flight was not scheduled to leave until the evening so I had the entire day on Sunday to do something. Since the Florida summers tend to be hot I decided that a water park would be a good idea for the day. I along with 3 other people who were also on my flight back home decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon. They had some of the more standard slides, an extremely lazy river and a massive wave pool, but there were 2 things that were out of the ordinary.

At this park there is something called a water coaster – a combination of water slide and roller coaster. The coaster part of the slide is a high powered conveyor belt and high pressure water jets that shoot you up right after a big drop. Two people sit in an inflatable raft and go down (and up) the coaster. There were 3 different slides and we tried all of them. This was definitely the highlight of the park. The second unique thing at the park was that you could go snorkeling with the fish. They had a large saltwater aquarium and we went snorkeling with the fish!

After riding all the slides we took some time to relax while going around the lazy river and then we went into the wave pool. We had seen the wave and it was massive; you could also hear it as the wave crashed onto itself. It was now time to experience it. We went into the deep end of the wave pool and waited while trying to stay afloat, and waited and waited. Then I got tired and went into water a bit shallower where I could barely touch the bottom. After waiting for over 20 minutes expecting the wave to come in any minute I got tired and fed up and got out of the pool.

From the water park we took the scenic monorail ‘tour’ of Disney where we got to see the 3 hotels on the loop, which also had a stop at the Magic Kingdom. We got off the monorail at the Contemporary Hotel, where the monorail passes directly through the hotel itself! We also stopped at the Grand Floridian where we walked around and ate lunch. We ended the day at Downtown Disney where I treated myself to an amazing Ghirardelli’s ice cream Sunday before heading back to the hotel and off to the airport.

The Typhoon Lagoon wavepool and shipwreck

Convention & Epcot

This is my third convention, and my first as an alumni. As usual, I got to see a lot of friends I hadn’t seen in a long time – a few I hadn’t seen in 3 years since the last convention. As an alumnus there wasn’t much for us to do. There were some nice sit down meals, including the gala banquet on Saturday night and there was a bit of programming on Saturday where we were trained in running the alumni chapter. The majority of the time was just spent hanging out with old friends and making new ones.Thursday afternoon as part of the convention schedule we went to a Disney park! I hadn’t been to a park in over 15 years, so I was excited to see what was new, or at least new to me. I went to Epcot and had a blast. I went on a mission to mars simulator which was pretty cool – they got you up to almost 2 G-forces. The next ride and arguably the best ride in the park was the GM Test Track. You sit in a car on a track and they drive you through scenarios simulating the testing of the car such as braking, swerving, accelerating, and handling. The last part of the ride is a barrier test, where you are supposed to accelerate and brake before hitting the barrier (a wall). On the ride at the last minute the door opens up and the car accelerates outside, and they throw you into high banking turns as you continue to accelerate. The car then accelerates even more through a straightaway hitting 110km/hr then turning into a high banking 180 degree turn. The ride was so good and the line was so short that I walked back on the ride a second time.

On our way to get to the other side of the park we decided to walk through an indoor area just to see what was there. Everything happened to be geared more towards kids until we saw this cool simulator that was like a large arm that twisted, turned and flipped 2 people in every direction possible. The lineup was not long and we decided to go on the simulator. Once we got to the front of the line we overheard 2 people asking questions about the simulator. We found out that it wasn’t just a boring old simulator but before you ride the simulator you get to design your own rollercoaster which you then get to ride on the simulator! How awesome is that? FYI, I thought it was super awesome, bordering coolest thing ever.

The rest of the evening was spent doing a few other rides and checking out the pavilions. I ended up eating a delicious turkey leg from the American pavilion and then we watched the amazing fireworks show.

Zack and I at Epcot

Me and none other than Mr. Potato Head!

AEPi's Gala Dinner with the Hebrew University guys L-R: Me, Shahar, Albert, Gil, Marty

Daytona Beach and Racetrack

In Daytona Beach you are allowed to drive on the beach! For $5 a day you can drive up and down the beach and park your car right there. Its very convenient and cool to do. Before we went to the famous Daytona racetrack we decided to drive on the beach before it got crowded. We got there right for when it opened and we were only one of a few cars there. There were proper traffic lanes and a fixed speed limit of 10 miles/hour. We were told by the bartender the night before that many people don’t like driving on the beach because it’s not the best thing for the car, but whatever it is you don’t want to do in your own car can be done in a rental car guilt free!!! We did some donuts and hand brake slides for fun, because it’s not our car. After our fun, we drove for our tour of Daytona racetrack.

Having no interest in racing and NASCAR whatsoever, it was quite interesting to see the racetrack. I had no idea that they can fit 250,000 people on the property for a race. Our tour guide drove us around the racetrack, into the pit area and many other places. The tour ended with a tour of the press box which is the best seat in the house and you can actually see the entire track. All of the other bleacher seats only give you a limited view of the track, and if you blink you might miss the car you are looking for. The turns on the track were unbelievable – a 31 degree incline and 40 feet high. If you don’t hit the 70 mile/hr (over 110 km/h) minimum speed requirement to make a turn you will slide down the track. The tour would have been more enjoyable if the guide was able to answer my questions. This guy after all was a NASCAR fan. I asked him how many g-forces a driven can encounter when making a turn. The guide paused for a second and said that he “doesn’t think they measure that”. The tour would have been more enjoyable if they had some kind of technical tour as opposed to the guy rambling on about drivers I have never heard of before.

This was our last stop on our first half of the vacation. From Daytona we drove to Orlando where we would spend the next 5 days and 4 nights at Disney World for the 98^th AEPi convention!

Driving ON the beach in Daytona!

Daytona racetrack view from the press box

Victory Lane! We win!

Simulating the high banking turn - 31 degrees!

Kennedy Space Center

The next day we drove about 3 hours to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. We watched two 3D imax movies which focused on the International Space Station and the Hubble telescope. Both were very informative and the 3D effects were not half bad. I went on a simulator ride which simulates the launch into space. In addition to these movies and rides they took us on a tour of the property. There were two stops along the way and we were able to see some displays and get a great view of some of the buildings and the massive property as a whole. In one of the museums they had all sorts of artifacts including prototypes of space suits, space tools, and other things inside the shuttle. The tour did an excellent job of explaining the process that happens between shuttle launches. They talked about how they check and recheck and fix up the shuttle, assemble all the pieces together and get the massive shuttle out to the launch pad. The building that houses the shuttle is the largest one story building in the world (53 stories) and one of the largest buildings in the world by volume.

After a long afternoon of touring behind us we grabbed some dinner then drove an hour to Daytona beach. We checked into our hotel at around 10PM and went to a local bar where we the bartender was friendly and gave us recommendations on what to do in the area for the following day.

The building where the shuttle is held and assembled.

Launching pad

Missile farm

Alligators and Mosquitoes

In the morning we took the same road back to the mainland as the previous day – about 4 hours later after driving through a few big rainstorms we arrived in the everglades. It was still raining outside but it was definitely a plus because the rain helped to keep the temperature to a cooler mid 20s. It would have been really hot, humid and disgusting if the sun was out when we were touring around at 2PM. We walked a number of paths – the first one being the most recommended. We ended up seeing 6 alligators! They were not very noticeable as they only had the tops of their heads out of the water. We were watching them and waiting for them to do something, but they were quite boring and didn’t move at all. Four of the alligators had previously been spotted by other people, but I managed to find 2 of them on my own. The other two trails were walks through what felt like heavily forested areas and they were completely infested with mosquitoes. I ended up swallowing one of them and a second one flew up my nose, but aside from that I was the buffet lunch. I got completely eaten alive and there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily they didn’t cause me much problem after we had left the everglades but while I was walking there I was constantly flailing my arms and smacking my legs trying to keep the damn things away from me. They even followed us around when we were in the car.

These other two trails we didn’t even see any animals – just mosquitoes. We drove up to Hollywood (Florida) for the night where we stayed with a friend. There wasn’t much to do except go to the casino, so that’s what we did. I put my $20 into a video poker machine and I left the casino with some extra change in my pocket – one quarter and one dime, a whopping 35 cents!

Some of the wildlife we saw. The aligator was the only one we saw at the everglades itself.

Key West

We picked up our rental car in the morning and started driving. We drove the 4 hours to Key West in which we drove over many bridges from island to island in order to get to the last one – Key West. The most famous bridge is called the 7 mile bridge for obvious reasons. We walked around the town to the famous Duval Street which has most of the bars and hotels in the heart of the city. We took our picture taken with the most southern point in the continental USA. Many Cubans who reach the US do it through Key West as it is the closest distance – 90 miles. We went for dinner at a Cuban restaurant which was well off the beaten track and had been recommended to us; the food was really good. We walked back to the pier to the best spot to catch a glimpse of the sunset. It was fantastic, but would have been better if there were not as many clouds. There were many street performers and we stuck around to watch one guy who was a gymnast. This guy was jumping and flipping and doing all sorts of things. He needed help with his act and was looking for someone strong, so naturally he picked me out of the crowd. He made me do 15 regular pushups and then he proceeded to one-up me by doing 20 pushups with his only contact with the ground were his two hands (his feet were in the air and he was doing vertical pushups). He then proceeded to make fun of me and the fact that I am from Canada. For his final act, he had a second person straddle a bicycle and duck her head and he had me hold a hula hoop (which was not much bigger than his body) on the second persons back. This guy then took a running start and jumped through the hula hoop that I was holding! It was very impressive. It felt as though he was running full speed at me and I wasn’t able to move an inch. Amazingly he didn’t even graze the hoop and cleared the obstacle no problem.

We bought a home made key lime pie; key limes and key lime pie is famous from originating in Key West. We had some for desert after dinner and then finished the rest of it off for breakfast. It was delicious – tasted fresh and had the same texture as cheesecake.

Miami Beach!

Our trip started off where most of them tend do to - at the airport. We showed up with plenty of time before the flight. After checking in we were put in a pre-lineup for US customs. Yes, we lined up in order to line up. It was a holding area for everyone who shows up at the recommended time before the flight. We were only permitted to enter the linup for customs one hour before the scheduled take off time. So everyone is somehow expected to go through customs, security check, get to the gate, on the plane and have the plane take off in under an hour. Simply rediculous. Everyone was freaking out because we were all convinced we would all miss our flights. Well, luckily we got to the gate just as they said last call for our flight. However I don't know how many times that announced that before I got there. I asked the check in attendant and she said that at 15 minutes before the scheduled take off time only 60% of the people had boarded the plane! The flight ended up being delayed so I think everyone made the flight, but US customs really managed to put the fun in dysfunctional. We arrived in Miami and got to our hostel in South Beach. We walked around and saw the fancy restaurants lining Ocean Dr. We saw the Jewish Museum of Florida which was right next to the hostel and went to the beach to play Frisbee. The temperature must have been 30 degrees Celsius - and that was the temperature of the water! We had a nice dinner at a Brazilian restaurant and then headed out for the night in South Beach

Florida Convention Intro

It's the month of August, and everyone knows what that means - AEPi Convention! This year the 98th annual Alpha Epsilon Pi Convention is located at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This will be my 3rd convention (2007 in Palm Springs, CA and 2008 in Chicago, IL) and first as an alumnus. Before heading to the convention I made a vacation out of it and planned a few days of travelling around Florida with my buddy Mike. Our destinations before Orlando are Miami, Key West, the everglades, Cape Canaveral and Daytona.

Picture taken on Daytona beach. Reads 'AEPi 2011' The donuts were conveniently done by the car!

Concluding Italy

My flight back to Israel was at 1140, and I had gotten my bag from the train station in Rome at 6AM. I took a bus to the airport and finally got some sleep after being up all night on the pub crawl. The airport in Rome sucks. I took a shuttle to a differerent terminal where I checked in then took a shuttle back to the first terminal. After checking in at the gate, we took another shuttle to a different terminal where the plane was sitting on the tarmac for us. But what really takes the cake was the security paranoia which was bordering stupidity. Aside from what seems to be the standard of removing my shoes and belt I had to take out all my electronics and place them in a CLEAR PLASTIC BAG! I know what your follow up question is - does electronics include my watch? It sure does! Simply rediculous. I got on the plane and passed out immediately. I briefly woke up when the person next to me was placing a bottle of water that they were handing out into the pouch in front of me. The next time I woke up was just as that same person placed a sandwhich in front of me. Weird, eh? My senses are on the ball! Lunch was a sandwhich and a small piece of cake - both of which were quite good when we are talking about airplane food. After the meal it was back to sleep and then next thing I know we have already landed in Tel Aviv!!!! And that concluded my 12 days in Italy. From the airport I headed back to Jerusalem.

For my first time in Europe I managed to travel quite efficiently. It is much easier to do things when you are alone. I didn't have to listen to anyone else's needs, and I could stick to my rediculous schedule which often involved not having much of a schedule. I enjoyed winging my vacation and doing it on the fly. It made it more exciting when its not planned. The food was great, and I really enjoyed the pizza in Italy. I managed to see 12 cities in 12 days so I moved at quite an incredible rate, without slowing down for too long.

The Incredible Pizza Adventure

When I bought my Eurorail pass at the beginning of my trip I didn't know how it worked and ended up buying an extra day of travelling than what I actually needed. I had asked our tour guide yesterday how I could use the train to do some sightseeing even for just a few hours. He reccommended me all sorts of places - all of which I had already seen. He was stumped, and the only thing he recommended was to go travel to Naples to eat pizza. This was something that I was more than okay with.

Pizza originated in Naples, therefore it makes complete sense that they would have the best Pizza in the world. It was invented in who remembers the year by some guy who wanted to make something special for Queen Margarita's visit. He decided to put red tomato sauce, white motzerella cheese, and green basil one on top of the other (the colours of the italian flag) on top of crust and he called it a margarita pizza after the queen.

I got to the train station in Rome in time for a noon train and since I still don't understand how the train system works only at the last minute did I realize and get confirmed that it was an express train that if I wanted to take it I had to pay an extra 10 euros. I walked back to the ticket computer to check when the next train that I could take was leaving. I looked at my watch and saw that it was leaving immediately. By immediately I don't mean that when I get there in a minute or two the train will leave, by immediately I mean its time to sprint as if my life depended on it. I ran up to the train to open the door, only to realized they had already locked the door and 3 seconds later the train started to move. Insert expletive here, any will do and all were used. I had to wait another hour for the next train. The train ride got me into Naples at 405 and I had to catch the 517 train out back to Rome in order to make it to the pub crawl in time. I had 1 hour and 12 minutes to do the following:

1. Find out WHAT pizzaria makes the best pizza.

2. Find out WHERE that pizzaria is and HOW to get there.

3. ORDER a pizza from said pizzaria.

4. WALK back to train station.

Once I got off the train I started walking into random shops and hotels that were close by and I asked people where the best pizza was. I tried to poll as many people as possible, so I would get the best answer. There were some people that offered up other suggestions, but the consensus seemed to be a place called Da Michele. I got the directions which were fairly closeby, ordered my pizza to go. I had enough time to sit and eat, but I didn't want something else bad to happen to me and for me to miss the train for some random reason, so I decided I would eat it when I got to the train station. The pizza was baked in approximately 3 minutes - the pizzas here are mostly thin crust and bake really really fast. Boxed and ready to go I headed back to the train station and opened the pizza up to eat it there. I opened the box and my first response was "shit, I can't eat this". Thats a real first for me! However, that statement was related more to the physical aspect of eating the pizza. There was a real big problem of how to physically get the pizza from the box into my mouth. You think pizza and you think you would pick it up JUST LIKE A PIECE OF PIZZA and just eat it. There were a couple of problems. Firstly I don't know what they did to it, but there cheese was not even attached to the pizza in any way - it was swimming on top of the sauce. I shook the pizza box and the cheese was on a delay. Secondly the crust was so thin it was like trying to pick up a wet napkin - even if I could pick it up all the toppings would just slide off the damn pizza. Without a fork an knife I was in trouble. By the way, apparently it is taboo to pick up pizza with your hands in Italy - now I know why; it probably rooted from the fact that its PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to pick it up with your hands! Without much of a choice, the best thing I could think of was to fold the pizza on top of itself and slide it off the pizza box directly into my mouth. And how did it taste???

I had sampled many pizzas in this country - all of which I have been extremely impressed with. Italy is known for its pizza, pasta, and gelato and I was mostly impressed with the pizzas. I didn't keep track, but I was probably averaging pizza once a day, or even more for my 12 day trip. This pizza was without a doubt the best pizza I have ever tasted, just simply amazing. It was well worth all the time I spent getting there. Its a good thing that I had gone to Napoli at the end of my trip otherewise all the other pizza I would have had in the country would have been a dissapointment. This way I was able to immensely enjoy all the pizza I had over the week and a half and then save the best for last. It was quite a messy situation eating the pizza, but I guess my saving grace was that I did ask for napkins at the pizzeria.

Best pizza EVER!

I headed back to Rome after a successful mission in Naples. By the way, the city of Naples is a shithole - disgusting and the streets are full of garbage. Back in Rome I checked my bag in at the train station overnight and headed out on the Spanish Steps Pub Crawl, which was a ton of fun. Ended up back at the train station in the morning to grab my bag and it was off to the airport and back to Israel.