www.visitflorida.com Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Wham Bam Flora-Bama

11th February 202511th February 2025 funtime65

When one Southern State just ain’t enough then it’s time to Wham Bam Flora-Bama.

Who knew… about this Country beach bar institution in Perdido Bay, across two borders?

Well, not this Americanophile until we came together at the annual Meet The Media travel fair in Radisson Blu, Golden Lane, Dublin.

Perdido Bay may not have the international renown of South Beach in Miami.

But for Country fans and Good Ole Boys and Gals it is their go-to Southern Beach.

As it’s the closest sand if you’re a Southerner.

Bordering on the fun

A favourite spot for Country biggies like Kenny Chesney the Flora-Bama Lounge has been packing them in for well on 40 years.

Since the Tampary family seized on the new opportunity of the deal struck between Florida and Alabama in 1962.

When the Sunshine State gave the Yellowhammer State two miles of beach front land.

In return for the construction of the Perdido Pass Bridge.

Soon partygoers were flocking to the Tampary bar and package store they set up in 1964.

When Escambia County, Florida was ‘wet’ and across the line Baldwin County, Alabama, was ‘dry.’

Gone fishing

Times have moved on and the only bar across state lines is the one that serves liquor.

Flora-Bama, of course, revels in its USP of being one bar in two states.

And its Interstate Mullet Toss is legendary in these parts.

Or the Interstate Mullet Toss & Gulf Coast’s Greatest Beach Party to give it its official name.

Life’s a beach: The Gulf of Mexico/America

So if you’re free the last full weekend in April, are in the Florida Panhandle and have a mullet to hand.

Then step up to throw it from the 10-foot circle in Florida 200ft across the state line into Alabama.

And if you don’t then fear not as the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America is bursting with them.

Best bang for your bucks

Now you’ll not get better bang for your 20 bucks than in this competition.

Which will also entitle you to a commemorative t-shirt.

And also give you the satisfaction of knowing you have helped out the local communities with drug and alcohol addictions.

Our fun Floridian and awesome Alabamans also encourage anyone favouring a mullet hairstyle.

To shake their locks with pride.

Aer of excitement

Now with Pensecola Airport well served domestically in the US then party travellers have little excuse.

Not to take in Wham Bam Flora-Bama.

And, of course, if you’re coming through Europe that should be with Aer Lingus in Ireland with pre-clearance.

America, Countries, Flying

Fly me to the moon at Kennedy Space Center

10th July 202410th July 2024 funtime65

It promises to be the feel-good romcom of the summer and you can be in on it too… so fly me to the moon at Kennedy Space Center.

For astrophiles Kennedy, a half-an-hour drive from Orlando, is holy ground where they cam marvel at NASA history.

Gawk at the rockets, lunch with an astronaut and even go into space yourself with a virtual flight.

Now as someone who has manned his own commercial flight from Istanbul into JFK I reckon I could be trusted.

And I promise not to overrun the landing strip this time and end up in the water.

Everyone’s gone to the Moon

Spelling it out: At the Kennedy Space Center

Now our friends at Kennedy give visitors the opportunity to ascend into orbit for an eight-and-a-half minute thrill ride.

All of which will get you in the mood for the Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum romcom which launches on Thursday.

While you can impress your friends if you can say you’ve visited many of the places featured in the movie.

Now to understand the scale of Kennedy then consider the size of the Vehicle Assembly Building which could house three Empire State Buildings.

It’s child’s play: Tomorrow’s astronauts

And that just the NASA logo on the exterior is 12,300sqft on the Vehicle Assembly Building.

And that the flag is 209ft-tall with 110ft wide stars and stripes.

Each star measures 6ft across, and the blue field is the size of a basketball court.

All of which is the centrepiece of your Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour.

We’re all movie stars

A good introduction to other features in the film.

Such as the Rocket Garden where NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes represented in this garden of giants.

Nose for a story: And the Kennedy has it all

Visitors can enjoy a tour through the history of early rocket science, with a space expert communicator.

Saturn V Rocket, filmed for the movie, is on display at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Apollo/Saturn V Center.

Pick an astronaut: Friend of the spacemen

And then there’s the Astrovan, also located inside the Apollo/Saturn V Center, which was used to transport astronauts from crew quarters to launch pad where the movie stars sat inside it for certain scenes.

Now, of course, whether you’re a Scarlett or Channing or a visitor like us, then we all know that the real stars are the astronauts and the staff.

But, hey we can dream and pretend just like they did.

Top dollar

In a bubble: Kennedy Space Center on the road

Tickets to the visitor complex start from $75 per adult and $65 per child for single-day admission.

A two-day ticket, which can be used for up to six months from purchase and averages a cost of less than $45 per day, is available for $89 per adult and $79 per child.

So stick with Kennedy Space Center… they’ll fly me to the moon.

And Aer Lingus will fly me to Florida as they always do… through Dublin Airport with pre-clearance.

America, Countries, Deals, Europe, Flying

Farewell Melissa, fly well, and the Land of the Charity

4th July 20244th July 2024 funtime65

Happy Fourth of July everyone but this year is tinged with sadness as we say farewell Melissa, fly well, and the Land of the Charity.

We look after each other in the world of travel.

And nobody has encompassed that more than Melissa Tilling, founder of Charitable Travel.

Our paths would cross the most in specific places… in Germany at their travel fare and at the American convention IPW.

Mission from Mel

It is too sad to think that we will never see her warm smile again.

It is, of course, hardest for her family and our sympathies go out to them.

They will know and we hope that it is of some comfort that Mel was truly loved by her friends… and customers in travel.

Now Mel said it better than any of us in the mission statement for Charitable Travel.

‘We work tirelessly to energise and galvanise the support of the travel and tourism industry, and the travelling public.

‘To raise tangible financial support to communities in travel destinations that depend on tourism revenue.

‘But have little support when that income is threatened or extinguished by events beyond expectation.’

Do your bit

So when customers book a holiday or cruise, Charitable Travel sacrifices travel agency commission.

And holidaymakers can make a free five percent donation to their choice of registered charity.

Now there is obviously no hierarchy of need.

But clearly the Caribbean is in the eye of the storm.

And CARE UK, who partner with Charitable Travel, are leading efforts in the emergency.

The beauty of Charitable Travel’s approach is that we all help through our custom so don’t feel the hit.

Florida for the family

For the day that’s in it, July the Fourth, and channeling Mel’s love for the States we pick out a US offer from Charitable Travel.

CT has two weeks in a self-catering family holiday villa, the Villa Cardinal, at Windsor Palms Resort in Orlando for October 9-23.

From £1332pp based on eight sharing.

Villa Cardinal houses four bedrooms with three bathrooms over one storey and pool and games room.

And most importantly Disney World is just a 13-minute drive and Universal Studios a half an hour away.

A wonderful trip

Hat’s the boy: Davey Crockett and Bandanaman

Which brings us to a gesture of generosity from Mel on the way back from San Antonio.

When she spotted me in the hotel lobby driverless and chasing my airport connection she asked if I wanted to share her Uber.

Of course she would not think of me sharing the cost of the ride.

So today, the Fourth of July, we say Farewell Melissa, fly well, and the Land of the Charity.

By pledging to the Charitable Travel Foundation and ramping up our promotion of Mel’s charitable, sustainable and ecological vision.

America, Countries

Seven Dwarfs go Florida

7th June 20226th June 2022 funtime65

And as we look forward to next year’s remake of the Disney classic Snow White, what about Seven Dwarfs go Florida?

Suppose it makes sense with the Sunshine State being home to Mickey, The Donald and all our Disney faves.

Of course, hi-ho, hi-hard-working miners need a break too.

And where do they go?

Well, Gamble Place, Port Orange, an hour north of New Smyrna Beach and Orlando.

And which is as you all know is where I should be now.

Worth a Gamble

House about that: The Seven Dwarfs Cottage

Gamble is, of course, that Gamble, of Gamble & Procter fame.

Included in the National Register of Historic Places, Gamble Place was once a rural retreat owned by James N. Gamble.

Guests can step back in time to experience the same pristine environment he found so inviting during the late 1800s.

The 175-acre nature reserve features a “Florida cracker-style” house named “Egwanulti” (a Native American word meaning “by the water”).

And the Citrus Packing House, the only one currently in existence in its original location in Florida.

A mine of information

But I digress, you want to know about the replica of the Seven Dwarfs Cottage.

And a Witch’s Hut and Dwarfs’ Mine Shaft too.

Now the Snow White remake has illicited a bit of a Woke reaction, fronted by one of the world’s most vertically-challenged actors.

Peter Dinklage (Elf, Game of Thrones, Cyrano) called the producers ‘f****** backwards’ for including dwarfs in the remake.

I guess he would object too at them being forced too work well into their Nineties.

Not to mention the damage mining does to the climate.

And this from someone who built his career on his dwarf character in GoT.

Warwick’s world

I take my lead more from the likes of Warwick Davies who as a dwarf sent up the challenges of dwarfism in Ricky Gervais’s Life’s Too Short.

And who is a fixture around Universal Orlando.

And who the Orlandans remember fondly from when he and the supersized Robbie Coltrane visited at the construction of Harry Potter World.

Now that brings us all full circle back to Orlando and the American Travel Fair, IPW.

We’ll gloss over the fact that they went ahead with it at all when they knew I couldn’t make it.

Our American friends

Still, we’ll all be together again next year, God willing, in San Antonio, Texas.

And some of us before then at the US Soiree in Dublin next month.

For now though, hi-ho, it’s off to work we all go, me at my desk, while The Seven Dwarfs go Florida.

America, Countries, Europe, Food

One’s a pancake and the other’s crepe

1st March 20221st March 2022 funtime65

So for the day that’s in it a deep dive into why one’s a pancake and the other’s crepe.

The infantile smirking of English-speaking schoolboys at the similarities between human refuse and the continental delicacy aside it’s worth restating.

That pancakes are made with a leavening/raising agent such as baking powder while crepes do not.

Crepes are traditionally made with buckwheat flour.

All of which is just a roundabout way of flagging up this old dosser’s favourite pancake places and the crepe de la crepe of their near cousins.

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

My, oh my, what a beautiful day that was, and is, in the Disney Four Seasons Resort Hotel in Orlando.

When Mickey, Minnie and Goofy bounce into breakfast.

And greet you over the top of the mountain of pancakes you are scaling.

And for snow effects you can go for icing sugar.

I prefer an avalanche of golden lava syrup.

Pancakes on the sea

You’re twisting my melons, man: Get me some pancakes

Flippin ‘eck, those cruise holiday buffets with Celebrity Cruises off Florida.

And the racks of pancakes you just can’t pass over.

Even if you have just hoovered up every cut of meat brought onto the ark.

And don’t be fooled by the fruit in the picture… that’s just for show.

A Dutch too much

Now the Amsterdammers often have a special ingredient which lifts their crepes, and you, to a higher plane.

I don’t know what they had on theirs that freezing November day when the-then Miss F took me on a magical mystery tour.

After we found ourselves at a fork in the road and took the long way to Edam only to find it was their half day.

I reckon though I had cheese though maybe it was the sprinkles that made it a high old time in Old Amsterdam.

Nutty about Nutella

And for many the go-to spread for a crepe is Nutella but did you know that it is from Alba in Piedmont in the north of Italy.

It is, of course, a hazelnut spread but it also has 20 per cent palm oil.

You’re never far from either in Italy particularly when you’re hiking through the Lazio region on your way to Rome.

On your Via Francigena pilgrimage and you get stuck in an olive grove looking for small sticker signposts to La Citta Eterna.

Pancakes and crepes

So today being Shrove Tuesday, it is of course about pancakes.

Because that was the day back when we were all holier that you used up your eggs, milk, and sugar before your Lenten fast.

And around the world people will be munching, flipping, racing, getting dressed up and dancing (Mardi Gras in New Orleans).

I can’t vouch how good crepes are for flipping or racing but they are celebrated too on February.

La Chandeleur

By the French (you didn’t think we’d get through this without them).

National Crepe Day, or La Chandeleur, is a celebration that originated in the Land of the Gauls.

And it also originated in the Catholic church, landing exactly 40 days after the celebration of Christmas.

So yes, we are celebrating Pancake Tuesday today, but a word too for the not-so-humble crepe.

Yes, one’s a pancake and the other’s crepe.

Caribbean, Cruising, Europe

Royal Caribbean wonders never cease

30th January 202230th January 2022 funtime65

It’s one of the most common questions I’m asked… what are cruise ships really like, and of course they’re wonderful and Royal Caribbean wonders never cease.

And now that we’re all getting back on the water the most exciting news of all is that RC has taken possession of the world’s largest cruise ship Wonder of the Seas.

From the building yard of Chantiers d l’Atlantique shipyard in France, where the big ships are built.

Seeing the wood and the trees

Everything in the cruise garden is… Royal Caribbean

Among the stat attack that is obligatory with cruise ships, it can sometimes be difficult to see the wood for the trees.

And yes they have trees too as I found out a few years ago in Barcelona with Oasis.

The ship that is, not the band, though I dare say RC could get them to reform.

But there are eight neighbourhoods!

Some might sea

Wonder of the Seas is the fifth instalment of RC’s Oasis class (where has the time gone?)

Now what’s 8,000 gross registered tonnes between ships when you get to 236,857 which is the weight of Wonder?

It’s 1,188ft long and 210ft wide, and as with most long distances I compare them with athletics distances.

And that means nearly a mile long and more than half a track broad.

Plenty of space then for the near 7.000 passengers the 2,300 crew cater for which by my reckoning is three staff for every person on board.

Florida sun

Now from one cruise capital to another and RC will make its official sailing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where you can forget about north Europe’s Storm Malik, and soak in the sun.

All of which I did, of course, on RC’s sister Celebrity Cruises and Celebrity Edge.

Where every guest is treated just like that, a Celebrity.

I did though take some of the attention off Alesha Dixon, Julien Macdonald and Malala on that maiden journey.

Wonder sails out of FL in March, starting with seven-night cruises to the Caribbean.

Before heading to Barcelona and later Rome with its summer cruises season.

Yes, we’re all getting back on the seas… and you should too as Royal Caribbean wonders never cease.

America, Countries, Ireland

An American-Irish Thanksgiving in Dublin

20th November 202120th November 2021 funtime65

It probably wasn’t like this for the Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1421… but I’ll more than take An American-Irish Thanksgiving in Dublin.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, masks, double dose certificates at the Radisson Blu Royal.

And certainly not what the Pilgrims laid before the natives…

Dried meat and fish, grains and flour, dried foot, cheese and hard biscuits.

Chow on chowder

Thankfully culinary fashions have changed and we dined on New England chowder, mini burgers and wings.

All the time listening to the band belting out American standards.

And taking a tour of America, around the stands, from New England, Washington DC, Georgia and Florida.

Right across the Mid-West (Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah).

And over to my old friends in California.

Flying time

And you’ve got it… Aer Lingus and British Airways were there (are there) to take us back.

Now that the borders are open again.

Now like a kid in a candy shop the difficult thing is what to choose first.

Our American Travel Fair resumes in Florida in May.

Orlando, woah, woah, woah

So all roads lead there… to Orlando.

Now if the Pilgrims thought that New England was a good enough starting point to explore the New World who am I to disagree.

The eastern seaboard collection of states and commonwealths I know well from a summer in Boston after university and day trips to New Hampshire.

Connect with Connecticut

But I’m grateful here to Sue from Connecticut for clueing me in on her state.

You might be familiar with Mark Twain name-checking it in his time-travelling tome A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur.

And you’ll find everything you want to know about the Great American and his great creations Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in his museum here.

And also take in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house and get a glimpse of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

She’d be known today as HBS but back in the day to Abraham Lincoln she was ‘the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.’

It’s a rich old history and one I can’t wait to add to in 2022.

But for now it’s enough to acknowledge my dear old friends and embrace (with an elbow nudge) my new ones.

With an American-Irish Thanksgiving in Dublin.

America, Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, UK

Craig Sera Sera

18th October 2021 funtime65

Craig Sera Sera, that’s a wrap from the 12th Bond.. and he’ll sure miss those exotic missions.

So which countries has 007 visited most, other than England where he works?

Well of the 50 he’s been to, Italia would seem to have been his favourite with the spy having touched down in Il Bel Paese eight times.

Pasta Master

Venice: And let’s catch a gondola back to Padova

Rome, Venice and Como have inevitably been stick-on locations for any filmmaker and international man of mystery.

And this time it’s the European City of Culture for 2019, Matera, which is getting its place in the sun this time.

With its houses. built into caves, cobbled streets and high arches a dramatic backdrop for the opening scenes.

And Felice Giorni for Matera with the town’s mayor, Raffaello De Ruggieri, predicting its association with Bond will be worth $20 million to the local economy.

In truth this is probably the highpoint of the movie, and all before the credits and Billie Eilish’s disappointing dirge of a soundtrack.

As Daddy’s Little Girl rightly pointed out the best bits were the locales.

Live and Let Spy

With Britain and America enjoying that much feted special relationship it is unsurprising that The Oo Es of Eh is his next favourite stop-off.

And we particularly enjoy his forays into Florida and its keys… whose pleasures I had to put off on the outbreak of Covid but where I intend to fulfil just as soon as.

Ski another day

Like an Alpine skier: In the Austrian Tyrol

Next up might be less predictable, Austria, but then we have to remember its stunning snowscapes and Bond’s love of winter sports which of course we share.

Although we have never seen him on the slopes of Soll while we have enjoyed skiing alongside some dapper fancied-dressed folks.

And we look forward to seeing a penguin-suited Bond on the piste some time soon.

For Bond anoraks it’s an easy question but which is the only country in a film title?

The spy who came in from the Red

Yes, the old Soviet Union, or Russia as we knew it in shorthand.

And as well as the titular film From Russia With Love, Bond turns up in Fabergeland another three times.

Turkish crossroads

It has been the crossroads for espionage since first the first looked out over each other at either side of the Bosphorus.

And, of course, Istanbul, has been an ideal backdrop for Bond’s adventures… and yours, and mine with three films taking in Turkey’s biggest city.

Three’s a charm

And among those countries where Bond has a trio of visits is Hong Kong, Spain, the Bahamas, Scotland, his homeland and Jamaica where Ian Fleming penned the books.

And the West Indies’ biggest island is where we first fell in love with Bond on the Laughing Waters beach in Ocho Rios.

Or Sean Connery to be more precise, even if you were a red-blooded bloke, you actually wanted to be him.

And be with Ursula Andress.

There was much fuss too about Daniel Craig with his take on coming out of the water, ripped and in a pair of budgie smugglers.

Only thing is a budgie has more charisma.

Craig Sera Sera… whatever will be, will be.

America, Countries, Ireland, Music, UK

Donald Duck Day is a quacker

9th June 20219th June 2021 funtime65

Eider expect your party is in full swing already because… Donald Duck Day is a quacker.

Our beloved Donald first waddled onto our screens on this day back in The Wise Little Hen.

And oh boy, oh boy, oh boy… we’ve been loving his company ever since.

I first met The Original Donald when another was trying to steal his shade back in November 2018.

He Disney half look good

Donald was wintering where we all want to make for, Florida.

While, of course, Donald has homes all over the world.

And I followed him from Orlando to Anaheim.

And danced away with the Three Caballeros.

Of course while today is about the Donald I’ve taken my duck fun wherever I find it.

The Duckmaster

So when the Duckmeister invited us to the Duck Parade in Memphis, well I was there in double quack time.

I’ve been hooting my quacker today, lining up my Northern Ireland Hastings ducks in a row and getting ready for my party.

So don that duck suit, waddle around the house and watch your Donald Duck films.

Me? Being of the Scottish variety be celebrating with my people, the McDuck clan.

The McDucks are, of course, from a rich lineage going back to the ancestral home of Dismal Downs.

Near the village of MacDuich somewhere in Rannoch Moor.

The McDucks

We owe it all to the union of Hortense McDuck and Quackmore Duck and gave us the genius creation of Scrooge McDuck.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I’ll get a smile out of old Scrooge.

On this day because Donald Duck Day is a quacker.

America, Countries, Cruising

Edging closer to getting back on the seas

28th May 202128th May 2021 funtime65

For some it’s the fanciest hotel, for others an exclusive resort, for us it’s a ship on the ocean…. we’re edging closer to getting back on the seas.

Our friends at Celebrity Cruises have brought us joyous news with this teaser about their flagship Celebrity Edge.

Edge will be the first Celebrity ship to sail from the US since March 2020.

We’ll be in the capable hands of Captain Kate departing on June 26.

And Europe too

Now we’ll take any shores just now and if you’re European then Celebrity have got this continent covered too.

Celebrity Apex is sailing to the Greek islands from Athens.

Tortoises anyone?

While further afield those giant Galapagos tortoises aren’t going anywhere but you could be.

There are three expedition ships all scheduled to resume services in the coming months.

So we’re edging closer to getting back on the seas.

Next question, what gives Edge, well the Edge?

Well in a word ‘luxury’. And in another couple its unique moving tender.

A memory stick in the shape of the ship sits on my terminal so that I can drift off to my days and nights on the inaugural cruise.

From Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas.

Here are the unprofessional pics taken by your unprofessional cruiser (well, you have to)!

Mind you, I was the one who turned in early while the rest of our party took to the dance floor on our last night.

There were some sights the next morning although the gorgeous Alesha Dixon didn’t have a hair out of place.

And I got the benefits as I was ship-shape for my day in Miami before I flew home… to get lost.

But that’s another story.

Edging closer to getting back on the seas? I’m already there in my head.