There are theme parks galore. There are ocean-side beaches and gulf-coast beaches. Golfing, fishing and deep-sea diving have always been favourite activities of locals and tourists alike. Florida attracts 84 million visitors a year, and the state has so many golden beaches, palm-lined promenades and top attractions that more than half those visitors will return in the future.

A cruise will give you a Florida taster, but even if you spend fourteen sunny days docked at a terminal in St. Petersburg or Miami, you will only begin to scratch the surface of what Florida has to offer.

Walt Disney World and Miami receive a lot of press and publicity, and it is difficult to imagine Florida without Cinderella’s castle or the glitterati and star-studded clubs that line the streets of South Beach. However, Florida also has a quiet and more romantic side.

If you are docked anywhere near one of the following destinations, be sure to venture off the cruise ship and explore. Florida’s quiet and romantic side might be difficult to find, but it is still there, hidden amongst the mangroves.

Caladeski Island State Park

A tranquil and uncrowded shoreline is a difficult commodity to find in Florida. From Pensacola and Daytona to Vero and Fort Lauderdale, the beaches are packed with families, revellers and sun worshippers. If you are looking for a romantic hideaway where you can escape the cruise ship crowd as well as the teeming masses on the beach, look no further than Caladeski Island State Park. Located near Tampa, you cannot access this idyllic island retreat by car, but need to take a boat. This is the perfect place for you and your loved-one to disappear for a few quiet hours. Hike, swim, have a picnic or paddle a kayak through the tranquil water, this is how Florida was before 84 million visitors arrived.

Sanibel Island

Located on the lower Gulf Coast, Sanibel is world-renown for its beautiful beaches and seashells. Whelks, olives, conchs and the junonia, the island’s most celebrated shell, can all be found on Bowman’s Beach. Bowman’s Beach is one of the most remote swaths of sand on Sanibel Island. You need to walk through beach grass, pines and wetland just to reach Bowman’s Beach. However, it is a small price to pay for the type of scenic beauty and peacefulness you will find on this remote outpost of white sand.

Book with Virgin Holidays Cruises now to see how much you could save on a late cruise deal!

Lifecruiser Love Romantic Florida
 

Have I told you before that Mr Lifecruiser is the very best at winning those kind of funfair toys for me? He always win something. I have to stop him, otherwise we would have our whole home filled with cuddly toys!

He has such an accurate firing when it comes to aiming in the funfair stalls and winning toys… We ended up with some unusual pets that way…

©Lifecruiser Love Cuddly Toys
 

They did hang out from one of the carousels, really bad and very close to the water actually making it even more exciting…

Wanna try it…?

©Lifecruiser Love Stockholm Attractions
 

This is perhaps not the very best photo zoom in of people in the top of the Insane roller coaster, but it gives you a clue, don’t it?

Would you be insane enough to go up in this roller coaster…?

©Lifecruiser Love Stockholm Attractions
 

• A new Insane rollercoaster is built up at Gröna Lund Tivoli in Stockholm, Sweden, premier the 25th of April!

  *go insane & scream*

  Looks totally insane yes, especially for me that doesn’t even wanna ride in the old one!!!

• From over 34 000 applicants from all over the world for the best job in the world, Paradise Island Caretaker or Island reef job, 50 finalist were picked and among them a cool Dj from Sweden.

  See his video and vote for him as a wildcard if you like him: Felippe

• Several hundreds of cases of dengue fever has occured in Australia the past months, also at the popular tourist destination Cairns near the Great Barrier Reef. Because of the flooding, cyclones and mosquitos that is spreading the dengue fever, it’s not wise to go there right now.

  The dengue fever is spreading in other places too. 23 cases of dengue fever has been reported since January among Swedish travelers.

  I hope it’s not increasing more, I want it to vanish. I hate the fact that potential risks of getting some diseases would stop me from going there. *sigh*

• A Swedish man were tragically shot to death in a bungalow at the Brazilian vacation destination Praia da Pipa, south of Natal, last Sunday, probably by a burglar. His wife were chocked of course and the other Swedes staying there demanded to be moved from Porto do Sol to other hotels.

  The reason for me to react on this is that we we’ve been in the Natal area during our South America trip in 2005 and we have a couple of friends living a bit outside Natal too.

  In my opinion, this could happen anywhere over there, if not the hotel is guarded constantly. It’s a country with so much poverty and the criminality following it. I wish it were not.

• The gross video horror story of the Canduru Toothpick Fish.

  This really could make me stop swimming when we’re abroad…

Had enough? Have a great week!

Lifecruiser ♥ Travel
 

Vienna Prater amusement park has been a public leisure place since as early as in 1766 when the Austrian Emperor Josef II donated the area to the Viennese.

Before it became an amusement park it was hunting ground for the imperials and only allowed for the aristocracy, so we actually entered some historic grounds when we entered there in our vienna trip in September.

It wasn’t an actual amusement park until 1895 and that was when the giant ferris wheel called Riesenrad was built, one of the landmarks of Vienna.

It’s quite expensive to go up there and I’ve read that many are disappointed afterwards. I guess it is what one is expecting, maybe they had too high expectations, thinking that it would be like the London Eye…?

My tip: There is also another ferris wheel, which is a bit cheaper than the Riesenrad and the view will be almost the same.

So did we go up in any of them? Oh, no. We did discuss it, yes, and I really wanted to, but I just couldn’t do it. I’m too afraid of heights and ferris wheels really scare the h*ll out of me…

Hubby is afraid of heights too, not as much as I am, but he has another problem with severe dizziness when it comes to spinning attractions, because of a problem with his inner ear.

I just get sick and besides that, I’m not allowed to do rides because of my back problems. I really hate that fact, ‘cauz I used to love to ride all of the spinning ones – and not only one time!

Another frightening sight for us where the StarFlyer, open seats about 60 m over ground, which may also give you quite good scenery – if you dare to have your eyes opened while flying around there!

So are you wondering what the h*ck were we doing at a fun fair like that when we’re not riding anything…?

Well, some (normal?) people loves to hang and spin upside-down screaming, when we crazy ones just loves to watch their revealing face expressions… *giggles*

We were curious, wanted to just grasp the atmosphere and were hoping to see some older style attractions too.

There are other things we chickens can do at fun fairs….

You’ll see some of the other things to do there in the slideshow at the end and both myself and Mr Lifecruiser will peek through somewhere in there.

So was it worth the trip there? Definitely, if you don’t put up too high expectations, the place has it’s own kind of old fashioned charm.

It’s like when visiting different countries, we don’t expect every country to be the same or have the same standards and values – that’s what makes it so interesting, right?

Remember that this was a budget trip? Well, for us it was a cheap amusement. No entrance fee, just for the rides.

If you’re going there: be sure you get the Prater Card before your whole travel budget spinning up in the air – they have about 250 attractions… (€10-€500 / card).

Watch the slideshow for some more views – and the exhausted end…

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

… or you can get a quick overview over all photos in the Lifecruiser Vienna Prater photo set.

You can read more about all the attractions at the official Vienna Prater Webpage.

Lifecruiser ♥ Vienna
 

So I started to dream that everything where different, that I where more healthy (and more in the wallet!) so I could do whatever I wanted to.

Look what I found – the first two on the list is totally out of the question for me, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think that it sounds wonderful!

1. Bhutan Adventure: Hiking, Cultural Exploration, Buddhism 101, Natural History, Sightseeing, Humanitarian Projects, Wildlife Viewing, Birding, Photography
2. Baja Sea Kayaking: Sea of Cortez – Espiritu Santo Island, Mexico, Sea Kayaking, Snorkeling with Sea Lions, Hiking, Fishing, Cultural Exploration, Mexican Cooking Class, Photography
3. Screemers, Canada’s Premier Screem Park: I have to admire their web page and just hope that the reality is as terrorific as the web page!
4. Transylvania: Is there any better way than spending your Halloween with Dracula and Vampires? *giggles* (I might choose to go by Transylvania Express Tours steam train!
5. New York: join the other 2 million people turning out for the 35th annual Village Halloween Parade. That would probably be very scary to me – with all the crowd.
6. West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval: Outrageous costumes and top-notch entertainment with costumes contest and coronation of the Queen and King of the Carnaval.
7. Halloween Train Rides: Try one just because the more green’ish aproach instead of flying somewhere. (We don’t have any particular public Halloween events in Stockholm other than in some clubs and such).
8. Halloween Mexican Riviera Cruise: I would love to go on a Halloween Cruise and since I found one for singles, I just had to support them by adding this link. If I were single, I’d go. It’s perfect if you’re alone.
9. Top Ten Haunted Locations: The Campground Haunted Massacre Attraction Fort Mill South Carolina, Brissac Castle Loire Valley France, Alcatraz San Francisco California and Dragsholm Slot Hørve in Sealand Denmark, just to mention a few.
10. Halloween London 2008: I would love to go to every one of the events, from Halloween Balls, Walk and tours, Disco, but a must is the Halloween at London Dungeon with two Guinness Book of World Record attempts, the most painted faces in an hour and – put your earplugs in for this one – the world’s loudest individual scream.
11. Frommer’s Halloween at Theme Parks: There are spooky things for all ages. The spooky season stretches for a long time, giving enough time to get some more boo’s out of it. Those theme parks has it all, from hayrides to “sh*t in your pants” scary attractions. *giggles*
12. Ghost Tours: Tour haunted Brisbane and Hunted Vegas Tours would be my first choices, but there are plenty of others too!
13. Bootsnall 31 places to go Halloween: If it’s not any of the above that is suitable or if I had already experienced ALL the others (in my dreams!) I’d have a check at this list.

Thursday Thirteen Code | Thursday Thirteen in Technorati

Yes, Halloween is here. Take a look at my wish to wear Halloween Costumes ideas for a future party, if you haven’t before.

Maybe another year… What’s your choices?

Lifecruiser ♥ Halloween
 

Wordless Wednesday

One of the things I love the most with traveling, is the fact that I get to see the most unusual things…. *giggles*

Normally I do not enjoy seeing crash landings (or should I say crack landings?), but this one is my absolute favorite. It’s from the Prater amusement park in Vienna, where we’ve just come home from.