Vacation Lag - Riding the Megabus

After our long day at Harry Potter World we managed to drag our butts out of bed around 5:00 the following morning. We had to return our rental car and catch a taxi to our bus stop by 7:30 am. We had decided to check out Megabus for our return trip. I remember a friend telling me about the bus and it seemed like a neat idea and something I have been wanting to try for a while. Megabus typically gets you to destinations quicker than greyhound, the fares start at $1, and there is free wifi as you travel. We chose this route because it was cheaper than both flying or renting a car, we wouldn’t have to worry about paying attention to the road or navigating, we could play card games while riding, and we could extend our time together. Sounds like winner winner chicken dinner. 

The previous night I had read a blog giving some Megabus pointers. One suggestion was to start the adventure with low expectations. That sounds comforting, right? It turned out to be good advice.

Our taxi driver had never heard of the Megabus stop. That should have been our first indicator of what was to come. The taxi ride took forever but we ended up making it to the bus stop random sketchy parking lot with perfect timing. It was raining when we arrived and there was no shelter so we were both thankful to see the bus arrive just after we arrived. We were some of the first on board and scored some seats on the bottom level towards the front with a table for our card playing. As we settled in and the bus drove away, we saw a man running alongside the bus with his bag. He’d missed his chance and was left behind. Sad day. We had a short stop in Jacksonville to let some passengers off and some new ones on board. Again as we started pulling away, one of the new passengers who had stepped back off for a smoke break almost got left. 

As we were riding, I began to contemplate our first sketchy bus stop and the fellows who were left behind or almost left behind. I then wondered what our 4 hour layover in Atlanta would look like. I was hoping there would be an actual bus station in Atlanta where we could safely wait indoors. 

I put the feeling out of my mind and Crystal and I proceeded to play cards for about 6 hours. We felt bad for the poor young guy who chose to sit at our little table. We dropped cards on his feet, had our belongings slide into his, crowded his space, and kept bumping the table which bumped the book he was reading. He was quite gracious in all these things. I felt like we were quite annoying but I think he was actually entertained by the two of us.

In Tifton, Georgia, we had a stop at a gas station. Our sassy bus driver told us to be back on the bus by 1:15 and to “please don’t get stranded in Tifton.” We got some food and snacks and then hopped back on the bus so as to not get stranded. When we got to  Atlanta, there was a special event going on and the way to our bus stop was blocked. As it became apparent that we would arrive late, a young lady asked our bus driver what would happen since her connecting bus was leaving at any minute. The bus driver told her she would miss it. The girl then called her Mama, crying hysterically that she was going to get left in Atlanta. What a terrible ordeal. Our merciless bus driver broke at the tears and called the other bus asking it to wait. Shew! Crisis diverted.

We finally arrived at our stop and realized that there was no station nor an inside place for us to wait. We both prayed, asking God to protect us from evil. Crystal and I hopped off with our luggage and toted it down the block to find some food. While eating, we looked at the possibility of just renting a car so we weren’t in the middle of downtown Atlanta looking like obvious out-of-towners for 4 hours. No such luck. We left the restaurant and headed to a cafe across the street to get some dessert and to buy some more time of waiting inside rather than on the street. It turned out the cafe was closed on Saturdays. Fail. We toted our luggage back towards our bus stop. Nearby was a swanky hotel with some tables out front. We decided to sit there and order dessert if necessary. As we wheeled our bags through the other tables, we received some condescending looks. In spite of this, our prayers worked and the owners must have felt sorry for the 2 little white girls with luggage sitting at their place of business. They let us sit there in peace and we enjoyed conversing with one another.

As the sun started to set and it was getting closer time for our bus to arrive, we walked back to the bus stop. We sat down and waited. A few minutes passed and then a very strung out homeless guy came by and asked for some change. I remembered a tip from my friend Noel where you put a small bill in your front pocket. If someone asks for money you can give them that money without having to pull out your wallet or purse. I utilized this trick with the homeless man. He thanked me several times and then attempted to give me a hug. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a hug. Everyone knows how I despise hugs, especially from strangers. Thankfully my bff saved the day and just patted him on the shoulder and he moved along.

After that, we met another fella who had had some kind of complication with his ticket. I don’t know the full story of what went wrong but this young person had been stranded in Atlanta for 24 hours. He had $15 to his name and was saving that in hopes of finally getting on a bus home. He hadn’t eaten so I gave him some crackers. It seemed as if he had no family members who could help him out either. Eventually, Crystal and I pitched in to give him the additional $12 he needed for a ticket. As we boarded our bus, we watched him immediately try to get on the bus heading to his home. They didn’t allow him to get on that bus and we saw him walk over the side crying about the ordeal. We both prayed for him, that God would open up a seat on the last bus of the night, we also asked that God would bring many ambassadors his way so he would know that God is worthy of worship. It was hard to ride away while a fellow human being was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

We managed to make it to Chattanooga in record time. We were again dropped off in a sketchy parking lot and my parents picked us up there after waiting only a few minutes. We made our way back home and I ended up crashing for the next 24 hours from all of the vacation lag.

I’m glad I experienced traveling via Megabus but I’m not sure if I’ll do it again. I liked the rates. I liked not having to navigate or drive. I liked that I got to play cards for 6 hours with my best friend and that I was able to spend the whole day with her. I didn’t like the 4 hour wait in downtown Atlanta. I didn’t like the sketchy bus stops. I didn’t like that our total travel time was 15 hours. I didn’t like how ruthless the Megabus staff was. I didn’t like not having a way to get a new ticket if we had of somehow missed our connecting bus. I may reconsider if the price is right, I don’t have to catch a connecting bus, and I have someone waiting to pick me up on the other end. I’ll also make sure that I have backup plans just in case something goes wrong with my ticket or I’m somehow left stranded in a sketch parking lot.

Vacation Lag - Harry Potter World

I love me some Harry Potter. The stories of “the boy who lived” have fascinated me for years. The saga is abounding with themes of grace, mercy, darkness, light, good, evil, sacrifice, and doing what is easy verses what is right. In essence, the stories echo an even greater story, that of the gospel.

Gospel? Really? In Harry Potter? Yes, read it for yourself. The stories are dripping with gospel themes. In reality, the themes of the gospel are everywhere in our world. God is everywhere. Redemption is everywhere. We simply need to slow down enough to find the themes. The Bible says, “the earth is full of His glory” and that means that God has even infiltrated literature. I read in attempt to find God in literature. These literary stories can then be used in conversations with those who maybe don’t understand the Bible but can understand biblical themes when shortened to a novel form. You should read too and see if you can find God’s glory there. Go pick up a book. I can recommend a few!

The Harry Potter stories are not neat little children’s story void of danger or hard truths but neither is life. The evil ones in our world may not carry wands or wear robes but they exist and the armies of darkness are waging war on the armies of light. The Harry Potter stories remind me that we’re in a war and it’s one worth laying down my life for.  

I digress. The Harry Potter themes take place in a neat magical world filled with both fun spells and wicked spells used by good and bad witches and wizards. I’ve read the stories a couple times, listened to the audiobooks, and watched the movies. I love getting lost in this magical world. Hi, my name is Candace, and I am a Harry Potter geek.

You can imagine my excitement when I discovered that Universal Studios* created what I call ‘Harry Potter World.’ I believe the correct title is actually ‘The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’ but I like my title better. I visited the park several years ago with my sister and then again last May with my best friend, Crystal. Since the trip last May, my bestie and I have been scheming on making our way back to the park. When we heard Universal had added Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express to ‘Harry Potter World’ it only fueled our resolve. 

When I realized I was already going to be in Florida after my cruise, I pitched the idea that she fly down the day I returned and we could re-experience ‘Harry Potter World’ with the new additions. She was all in. We booked all of our travel arrangements and hotels the day before I left on the cruise.

After I debarked from the cruise, my parents drove me to the airport to pick up the rental car and I drove to the Orlando airport to pick her up. It was a flurry of words (as usual) from the moment she sat in the car. 

We spent the evening eating amazing seafood at a hole in the wall local place. Then we searched for new Harry Potter themed shirts in the city. Why did we search for new shirts? Well I’ll tell ya. There are 4 houses at Hogwarts (Harry Potter’s Wizardry School) including Gryffindor (red & yellow), Hufflepuff (yellow & black), Ravenclaw (blue & white), and Slytherin (silver and green.) Harry belongs to Gryffindor which is the house where those with highest courage and bravery belong. Everyone wants to be in that house. All the evil dark wizards came from Slytherin house. When she and I went to ‘Harry Potter World’ last May, we made a couple shirts from some random colors. Mine was black and yellow and hers was green and white. Do you see our dilemma? You can imagine our chagrin when a worker pointed out that we were from Hufflepuff & Slytherin. What a fail for some Potter Geeks. 

So this time, we decided we would not be mistaken for belonging to lesser houses. When we could find no Harry Potter shirts, we decided to make some. We bought glow in the dark iron-on letters and puff paint. We used the letters to spell Gryffindor on the backs. Then we each used the paint to add a Harry Potter theme on the front. We had so much fun making the shirts and were eeking! from giddiness the whole night.

This picture is blurry but it shows the glow-in-the-dark letters.

The next day we caught the free shuttle and then huffed our way to the back of the park to find the new ‘Harry Potter World’ addition. We saw King’s Cross Station, a location in the stories and knew we must be close. A worker politely asked if we were looking for Diagon Alley. We replied in the affirmative. She informed us it was just beyond the brick wall. We turned a corner and then another and oh-great-mother-of-pearl were we ever so shocked at what lay behind that wall. There was a whole world hidden behind that wall. It was incredible. I felt like I was actually walking around Harry Potter’s world. I can’t tell you how many little joys we found in that space, or how many wows we uttered, or how many times I felt wonder and awe and amazement.

The plain brick entrance into Diagon Alley

This picture does not do the wonder justice. Leaky
Cauldron on the left, Weasley Wizarding Wheezes 
on  the right, Gringott's Bank straight ahead.

After wandering around for a while with our jaws dropped open and our mouths uttering “wows” and “oh my goodness” we decided to take the Hogwarts Express over to Hogsmeade in the other park. Even the little train ride overly exceeded my expectations. So many details were thought of in that little ride. For those of you familiar with the stories, they even made it look like the riders disappeared into the brick wall at platform 9-3/4. 

We walked around Hogsmeade and then ate a crazy good feast at the Three Broomsticks. I’m telling you they’ve even outdone themselves on the quality of food. I’ve never had amusement park food that tasted so good. We then got back on the train to return to the other park and even the return train ride had surprises. 

Our feast consisted of half of a chicken, a huge ear of
corn, amazing potatoes, fish and chips. 

The food never had a chance.

We found a few more neat HP motifs and then explored the rest of Universal. We rode the Men in Black ride and that gave us the biggest laugh of the weekend. On the ride, they give you a laser gun and you try to shoot aliens that pop up throughout the ride. Of course, the two of us are quite competitive and so we went to shooting away. We each scored well over 100,000 points above what our fellow passengers scored. We decided to check out our pictures afterwards. The worker said he thought he had found us but then he asked Crystal how she was holding her gun. She said she didn’t remember exactly. He then demonstrated as he put up the picture for us to see. Oh.my.word. She looked determined to kill aliens. Her eyes were red and her teeth were biting down on her lips and she had that gun pointed as a death threat to those aliens. We laughed and laughed until I could not breathe. 

We walked those theme parks until we were both exhausted. We had planned on staying until the park closed and then walking back to our hotel because we still think we’re 19 and invincible. When the rain came and we had to wait in the Hogwarts Express line for an hour and our feet were aching, we decided to get some sweets from the sweet shop, Honeydukes, and leave. We stopped outside of Universal, in the City Walk, to get some sushi to go and caught our shuttle back to the hotel to rest our weary feet and play a card game. We eventually went to bed and awoke early the next morning to begin our adventure back to Tennessee. I will write more on that later.

*I want to give a little plug for Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. Each time I visit, I am amazed at their commitment to excellence. Having worked in the architecture field, I was jaded by people who wanted to skimp by for the cheapest designs and buildings.  This skimping was mainly due to the fact that no one had money to go big in their designs but it got old to constantly draw rectangular buildings with brick veneer and a metal gable roof. The fancy projects included a canopy to boot. Universal tickets may cost an arm and a leg but they truly go big in their designs and I am left joy-filled and in awe. I am grateful that they consider the tiniest details to keep up the theme of each area of the parks. Even the bathrooms had tiniest details that made us feel like we were in another world. I love how they make the lines for the rides so interesting and entertaining. We stood inside Gringott’s bank while waiting in line for the new ride. There were animatronic goblins that looked so real I thought Universal had hired people to dress up like goblins. Each line has details and themes and stories to make you feel as if you’re not standing in line. Even the workers stay in character as visitors ask questions about the park. I heard someone ask why we couldn’t go to the upper level of the joke shop. Without missing a beat, the worker said that the Ministry of Magic thinks there are items up there that are not safe for the common witch or wizard. Genius. They also have great marketing ideas. Again, these extras cost an arm and a leg but the ideas behind them are genius. Another great idea they utilize is the use of free lockers for the duration of each ride. You can safely store your valuables in the locker and then retrieve them once the ride is complete. If you’re looking for a great amusement park, I vote Universal. If you’re looking for a great story to get lost in, I vote Harry Potter.

Sunrise & Sunset Glories

I think I want to start a sunrise and sunset series. Who doesn't want a little heavenly eye candy on a regular basis. These are the sunrises and sunset from the cruise.

Sunrise #1

Sunrise #2

Sunset #1

Sunrise #3 - coming back into Jacksonville

Vacation Lag - Cruising

From a car to a shuttle,

from a shuttle to a ship,

from a ship to a ferry,

from a ferry to a ship,

from a ship to a shuttle,

from a shuttle to a rental car,

from a rental car to a shuttle,

from a shuttle to a train, 

from a train to shuttle,

from a shuttle to a rental car,

from a rental car to a taxi,

from a taxi to a bus,

from a bus to another bus,

from a bus to a car,

from my car back home, 

my life for 8 days.

I just returned from vacation and as you can see, I was moving a lot. The vacation was fun and exhausting and I feel like I have jet lag but really I think a better term would be vacation lag. Luckily today is my Sabbath resting day so I had guilt free rest all day.

I spent the first 5-6 days of vacation with my entire immediate family. God blessed us all with the ability to go on a cruise together. I don’t think we all been together for that long of a period since I graduated high school. After the cruise, my family dropped me off at a rental car place. I drove the rental car a couple hours south to Orlando and picked up my best friend. We spent a few days together going to Universal Studios and playing cards. I’ll post more on that trip later.

Trip highlights would definitely include extended time hanging out with these three:

And these 2:

And my sissy & hubs:

And my bro & wife:

I have some favorite family memories. I enjoyed playing Yahtzee with my mom. I enjoyed spending a few dollars on slot machines with my dad. I enjoyed evening dinners when we were all together eating fabulous food. I enjoyed the hot tub with my siblings. I enjoyed trying to play Dutch Blitz with my sister outside on the rear deck and attempting to keep the cards from blowing away. I enjoyed playing Uno with Aly and being surprised to see Kyla get to go on stage to play in the Game Show. 

I have 2 favorite Zeke moments. The first was the conversation we had about who Jesus is and why He died on the cross. I figured his tired little 3 year old mind would not really understand or remember what we talked about but he repeated the key points to my mom when she asked what we talked about. I’m thankful his little ears have had many chances to hear this very Good News. Not all little ears are so lucky. My other favorite Zeke moment was during one evening at dinner. The wait staff did a conga line and they invited the guests to join in the fun. No one at our table wanted to go except Zeke. He jumped up and a nice young man offered to let Zeke join him. As the conga line danced back towards us, I had a picture of Zeke in my head with a look on his face of “what have I done, why did I go with this stranger?” Instead, when he rounded the bend, I saw him having a good ‘ol time jumping around with his dance buddy. We all cracked up at our little ham. 

I also savored resting. Most nights I was in bed by 9 or 10. When I wasn’t around one of my 9 family members, and I wasn’t sleeping, I was reading. One exception to my reading, was my visit to Harry Potter trivia. I love me some Harry Potter and so when I saw the trivia on the schedule, I knew I had to go. They asked 20 pretty obscure questions and I managed to get 15 correct. I thought I might have a chance at winning but I was beat out by a girl who correctly answered 19. Bummer. 

I was thankful to return to the beauty that is Half Moon Cay. Don’t you just love those clear, blue, calm waters? 

This picture is of me attempting to “surf” on the giant float. I was quite unsuccessful.

Going to bed early meant I woke most mornings before the sunrise. I was actually able to see 3 sunrises and a sunset. I’ll add pics from those morning/evening glories in my next post.  

Sunset Glory

I wanted to share some of the sunset glory mentioned in my previous post.