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Our vacation started on October 14th and ended on October 29th 2001. The travellers this time was as usual my love Nikki Mooki and Gard Karlsen. We flew from Stavanger (Norway) via Amsterdam to Miami in Florida. We rented a car there and we spent a few days in Miami before we drove of to Orlando, Tampa, Naples and then Miami again. On our trip we stopped by places like Kennedy Space center, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Epcot, Busch Gardens and much, much more.
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Well, we didn't really stay that long in Tampa. Our main reason to go here was to visit Busch Gardens.
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Busch Gardens was a really nice park because it was a combination of a zoo and an amusement park.
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Busch Gardens, the beaches outside Tampa
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In a tourist brochure we found a coupon for a place called Buccaneer Beachfront Resort Motel and we went to the motel and they had a room. I think most of the places on the beach had a vacancy by the way because there were not many people on the beach.
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Tampa
The next day we drove down towards the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. The highway is pretty good and it is not all that far (about 70 miles to Tampa) so it doesn’t take very long. We have heard that the beaches on the coast were good but we didn’t want to get to far away from Tampa because we wanted to check out Busch Gardens later on. So we ended up driving just past St. Petersburg and then we went on to Treasure Island. In a tourist brochure we found a coupon for a place called Buccaneer Beachfront Resort Motel and we went to the motel and they had a room. I think most of the places on the beach had a vacancy by the way because there were not many people on the beach.
The first thing we tried was of course to take a dip in the Mexican gulf. The water had a pretty good temperature compared to what I’m used to from back here in Norway (the water is normally freezing on the beaches outside Stavanger) but there was a certain fish stench that was not very appealing. So we went back to the hotel and took a nice swim in the heated pool J
Our main reason to stop in the Tampa area was really to visit Busch Gardens that is a combined zoo and amusement park. As usual we were up pretty early and we got there until opening time at 10 am. I have to admit that I was very disappointed when I saw a sign at the entrance that stated that the roller coaster Kumba was closed. This is one coaster that I had heard of and that I was looking forward too. But we were pretty lucky because the coaster did open later that they and I got to ride it and it was good. The other main coasters are pretty good to. Gwazi is a wooden roller coaster and they always have a different feeling compared to the steel coasters. And it was kinda rough on us, so rough that Nikki had to go to the first-aid station to get some aspirin for a headache. Montu is an inverted steel coaster that also gives a great thrill.
But as I said this is also a zoo and it was great combination. We started with the rides and then we moved on too the zoo part of the park. The Edge of Africa has zebras, Antelopes, Giraffes and so on on display and we also got to see lions, hyenas, elephants and monkeys up close. The Rhine Rally was a fun experience combining a drive through of the park and a thrill-ride.
The day we went there was a pretty hot day so we had to try out the water rides as well. We got absolutely soaking wet on the Congo River Rapids and we just continued with Stanly falls and Tidal Wave. Remember to bring some dry clothes if you plan to visit the place
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Published on Thursday January 2th, 2003
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Sat, Apr 10 2004 - 01:25 PM
 by travelalain
| I've been just back from Tampa/St. Petersburg, but it was a work trip so I couldn't check out Bush gardens, but I heard a lot of good things about it. |
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4 votes
