Actually, I don't know yet. I'm aware they prepared a schedule full of surprises for my visit so I could have the best time ever there. I will ask if we can have a day for a special meet-up in the springs. I will keep you updatedOriginally Posted by Keiris
Ps : I promise to pack light. Thanks for your advice.
Arion, I hope you'll have A BLAST of a visit in Florida! And If u visit Disney, say hi to Ariel from me.
Urgh, I wish one day I'll be able to visit Florida to ❤️❤️❤️
The count down is on!!! 💗🐬💗
RIGHT?!
Today is preparation day!!
Have a fishy time Arion. Take a lot of photos! Post them here!
That's the plan!Have a fishy time Arion. Take a lot of photos! Post them here!
I can't wait!
Would love to meet you, Arion. I actually live in Orlando, so if you need help getting around, let me know. I may be able to help.
Tonight is the big night!
The last one before tomorrow which is the day I take the plane to Florida!
Look at this!
Mummified merman tail! Pretty cool right?! I think we did a good job to protect it lol
One more sleep 'til Florida! Woot! Have a blast, post lots of pictures to make us all jealous.
Safe trip Arion! We're waiting for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Driving to the Charles de Gaulles airport now. I will give an update later
My trip to Florida - DAY 1
I was really nervous on that day. I was waiting for this trip since weeks and it was finally happening. I was thrilled and beyond excited to meet my friends after being in touch online since more than a year. When I woke up, it was a bit more than 7 am and I was ready to take the plane with my bags. For those who follow me on Instagram, you have seen the preparations I did the day before. There was a big mess on my bed and afterwards, I mummified my merman tail with bubble wrap and a brown-ish duck tape.
I arrived to the cDG airport three hours early as I wanted to make sure I had enough time for a small breakfast, checking-in and taking care of my bags, especially my tail. Obviously, it was oversized so I had to give it up to another place before boarding. It was not easy for me to leave something worth $3000 to some people I didn't know. I couldn't help having my mind filled of bad scenarios. Once it was about time to get on the plane, I took a giant an deep breath to relax and went ahead.
I had a seat next to the window and got a perfect view on the right wing. I was sitting next to a dad and his 5 years old son and both were very nice. I was prepared to face a 9 hours travel. The small TV offered a lot of good movies I was interested to watch but unfortunately, most of them didn't have subtitles for the hearing impaired and deafs. I wondered how could this still v'be happening in 2015?! I was VERY disappointed. The only movies I watched were FRENCH because they had automatically English subtitles. As for the others, the only option was to choose the audio. I kind of had this coming and brought my computer to watch some movies with English audio and subtitles. The bad news was that, being in economy class, we had no power outlet next to our seats. It was actually a luxury reserved for the business class. I felt powerless. Then, I understood that it was going to be a looong flight.
Once I arrived in Miami, I had two hours only to take a connection flight to Tampa. Fortunately, going through customs and getting my stuff back went smoothly. Then, I had to walk through all the hallway to check-in with American Airlines. Thanks to the reservation I had, it went well. Although, I had a very awkward moment when I paid the fees for my bags with my credit card. I put it in the slot and was waiting to make the digital code but there was actually no digital code to do as it was automatic... I felt silly and so out of the place. The stewardess next to the machine giggled and offered to help. She was very nice and even spoke in French to make things easier. As soon as she saw the bag on my back, she asked what could be so big inside. I smiled and told her I was carrying a merman tail. She was confused at first and then, I showed it to her. She was very excited and asked if I had a facebook page. Then, she proposed to take care of my stuff personally. She took care of my reservation and handed to me my ticket for the plane and the new informations of my bags. All that left to do was to get on board.
It only took me one hour to get to Tampa and compared to my first flight, it went very fast. It was 9 pm when I landed there. Then, I found my friends waiting for me. I was glad to meet finally Merman Christomer and Helix Mermanta. Together, we went on getting back my stuff. Once again, my bag and my tail made it safely. I wondered why I freaked out so much to the point it was ridiculous as there was nothing much to worry about in the first place.. I should trust more the airlines. Granted, back then, I only traveled in Europe with carry-on bags and a backpack. Finally, we went to Hamburger Mary's where I had my first real american burger. It was delicious and I also got to taste the famous mermaid punch. I couldn't finish the drink though as I'm not really good with alcohol yet.
Then, Eden Sirene The Fishhawk Mermaid joined us. She got back from a gig and was gorgeous on her mermaid outfit. I was so happy to meet her after two months of waiting since the day we planned this trip. After dinner, we went to the beach and did a spontaneous night swim. The view on the city, the bright full moon, the warmth of the water, the feel of the sand, everything was perfect. When we got back home, it was around 2 am which meant that in France, it was like 8 am ! I was up since 24 hours and seriously jet lagged ! We talked a bit more and then, we all went to sleep. It was a beautiful evening, I had a feel I was going to live an amazing trip.
More to say later. Thank you for reading.
~ Arion
Before boarding to Miami
Enjoying for the first time the famous mermaid punch
Welcome to Florida!
The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
Glad you're having a great time, Arion!
Mermaid Galene (pronounced Guh-LEE-nee)
Mermaid Galene Web• Neptune's Keep Web• Facebook•MG YouTube•NK YouTube•Etsy Shop
Neptune's Keep makes music with fish. Fish have hidden depths!
can't wait to see more!!!
Enjoying this thread, haha.
Welcome to South Florida Arion! Glad you made it safe and sound.
p.s. Alex we got your package thank you!
So glad that you had a good trip here so far. I read some of your thread out loud to my boyfriend, because I was surprised about the lack of closed captioning on the in-flight movies (and he agreed). You might want to pick up a book or magazine for the flight back. ;D Thank you for keeping us up to date on your trip! Can't wait to see what else you guys get up to!
My trip to Florida - DAY 2
When I woke up on that day, it was already between 10 and 11 am in the morning. I tried to get some rest because of the jet lag. Getting up wasn't diffcult because I was super awake when I opened my eyes. It was already 5 pm in France. I messaged my parents through Viber to tell them that I was okay. They were happy to know that I landed safe in Florida and wished that I have the best time there.
I took a shower to get myself ready and we went outside to get some lunch. We ended up in a mexican restaurant. It was a very nice place run by a family. Inside, there was a big collection of different crosses hanging on a wall, each one of them was unique. I'm not Christian myself but I have a lot of respect for people who have faith. Then, someone came to get our orders. I never ate mexican food before, I was kind of concerned at first but when I got my first bite, it was delicious! I don't remember the name of the dish anymore but it was a mix of grilled meat and a salad with avocado. The amount of food was generous, I was stuffed when I finished.
After eating at the restaurant, we came to see Eden Sirene The Fishhawk Mermaid at her work. For privacy protection, I'm not gonna write the details about her job but I can tell you that I was very impressed. Then, with Merman Christomer, we went on a ride to the airport at Tampa to pick up an important member of our merfolk family : my mer mother. She used to be a mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs years ago. She is a beautiful person inside and out and I was really excited to meet her. We really hit it off when we met online and I became her adopted son. We arrived early at the airport so while waiting, I took the opportunity to get some cash thanks to an ATM and visit some shops. Then, our favorite mermaid arrived and we welcomed her with open arms. She looked great after her trip to Hawaii where she met my tailmakers running Finfolk Productions and had an underwater photoshoot with her brand new tail. Afterwards, we helped her getting her luggages from the plane and then, we came back to Eden's work. When we got there, a storm came fast and the water started flooding everywhere, we were so wet when we got inside.
While waiting for Eden to finish her shift, ChristoMer brought me to a place named Dunkin' Donuts where I got the opportunity to eat my very first donut. There was so many options I didn't know what to choose. I ended up picking a donut with rainbow sprinkles and it was really good ! It was kind of difficult to swallow after the first bite because I wanted to laugh : they were all watching me and expecting a special reaction, it was hard to keep a serious face lol. Later, we all came back home to change as we planned to go to Disneyworld, have dinner there and visit Planet Hollywood where the original mermaid tail from the movie "Splash" was hanging on a wall. I was really excited ! It was quite a drive but really worth it. While driving, in the back of the car, I fell asleep because I was feeling the jet lag effect and Eden captured the moment and shared it on Facebook ! At Disney, we had dinner at a place called T-Rex, it was surprisingly big. Chris made a joke about the statue above the entrance. At first, I thought he meant that I had to take a picture of it as a memory and that's what I did and then, he explained the joke was about the statue looking like it was having a boner. A giant squeleton having a BONE-R... It took me a whole minute to get that joke and they were all laughing because I took a picture of it LOL. I guess I still have a long way to go to understand jokes in English.
At the T-Rex restaurant, our seats were next to an aquarium full of fishes. They had a lot of blue tangs inside, it was very entertaining to watch them swimming. I remember a video I watched on Facebook where an identical tank was broken, the water was leaking and all the fishes inside ended up dying. It was heartbreaking. The dinner itself was great, I tasted for the first time waffle fries ! As French, I was obviously used to the french fries and never heard of the waffle ones before. The taste was heavenly. The waiter even asked me which kind I prefered. I smiled and answered "both". After the main course, I saw waiters coming our way with a giant plate of cake and ice cream with something looking like a volcano at the center. People started applauding, my friends too and I went along until I realised it was actually meant for me ! I facepalmed my face very hard, Christomer pulled a birthday prank on me ! My birthday was actually in January but that didn't stop him to surprise me. I appreciated it though. It was a nice gesture and the chocolate cake was very good. I really had a good time at that restaurant. The only drawback was that it was really loud inside and I had a hard time understanding my friends with all the noises there but I managed and it still became a nice memory.
Later, we passed by a shop specialized in Lego. Christomer bought a Lego mermaid keychain for all of us. I loved it and I looked forward to use it for my keys. Then, we went to Planet Hollyood to see the mermaid tail made by Thom Shouse for the movie "Splash" in 1985 with Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks. It is one of my favorite mermaid movies. The original tail was hanging inside a glass tank behind a bar and it was a beautiful sight. It looked very good after 30 years ! I feel blessed to own a replica of the necklace the actress was wearing in the movie and a merman tail inspired by the design made by Robert Short. I was grateful to be there as it was one of the things I dreamed to do someday. We took a few pictures, had a drink with the tail next to us and later, we left as it started to be very late. On the way back, we went to a Disney store and I found a Bambi pillow so cute I wanted to buy one for myself ! Unfortunately, I didn't have much room left in my luggage and I originally planned to come back home with an Orca plush so I had to make a choice and put the Bambi pillow back. It was a bummer but hopefully, I will have another opportunity someday. We finally went to the store where they had the Orca plush I was looking for but at that moment, they were closing so we couldn't enter inside. Looking back we could have done this earlier but we didn't think the dinner would take so long. It was just bad timing and I already made peace with that. It was only a plush and I strongly believed I would get it some other time.
Aftewards, we took the car and drove back to Eden's home. It was another long day but filled of great memories. I was happy to live these moments with them and with Marla, my mer mother. When I was about to sleep, I started considering staying longer.
Stay tuned for DAY 3. Thank you for reading
~ Arion
PS : I apologize for being late on schedule. It's actually hard to keep up lol. I will try to catch up by posting later.
Last edited by Merman Arion; 08-02-2015 at 07:30 PM.
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