I travelled to Orlando in Florida from London in March 2019 during the Spring break, which fell on 23 March in that year. I flew direct from London Gatwick Airport to Orlando International (MCO) with British Airways.
The flight was quite comfortable and I booked an economy ticket that cost £748 return. The ticket included food and drinks on-board in the economy cabin, taking just over nine hours in total.
In all honesty I am getting a bit bored of these long-haul flights but once you get to your destination that’s when all the fun begins! Unfortunately I was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a small apple and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to travel but the doctor gave me a fit to fly certificate! Yeehaa!
Travelling with a Brain Tumour
My diagnosis came like a lightning strike on 24 February and I was unable to get affordable personal travel insurance but luckily the work insurance covers pre-existing conditions so I was able to go!
I have written in more detail about my brain tumour diagnosis and my struggles to find travel insurance, so I won’t go into very much detail here.
I received the permission from the doctor literally three days before my departure date and I was elated!
I’d been planning this trip to Orlando in Florida for months – not only because Orlando is a big city with all the theme parks but because it is near many amazing beaches!
Drivers License…No More!
Sadly, I have had to surrender my driving license due to my brain tumour diagnosis so I had to cancel my car hire, which made the trip all the more difficult. Orlando is clearly made for cars and I initially thought it would be impossible to get around the city without one.
As it turned out I was completely wrong! There are various companies offering bicycle hire and the local Lynx public bus network is quite extended.
The added bonus in the US is that you can transport your bicycle on the front of every bus, making getting around any city a lot more convenient!
Renting from Ride Xperience
I rented a bike from Ride Xperience, a local bicycle rental company in Orlando – they even dropped the bicycle off at my hotel for a small fee!
What I did was cancel my car hire on Tuesday the week before my departure date and then started looking to rent a bike.
Incredibly, the Ride Xperience rental office was right next to the Four Points by Sheraton which made me pick them.
I thought that I would just need to walk up to their desk but it turns out that that office is just their registered address – they deliver the bicycles from another location.
Anyway, the bicycle came with a helmet, front and back lights, a lock and even a flask! It was incredibly handy and came in at $108 for the five days, including delivery and taxes.
The bicycle I rented from Ride Xperience was a large adult size hybrid bike, with thin wheels and a big pedal plus a comfy seat.
Cycling Around Orlando
I really enjoyed using the bicycle and I would recommend everyone hires one while in Orlando. Looking back, having a car would have been an absolute pain in the backside given the huge traffic jams everywhere!
In fact, I noticed a car left the hotel at the same time as me on the bicycle and we got to the freeway junction 20 minutes later at the same time!
The guy in the car was stuck in slow traffic and held up by several sets of traffic lights, which was crazy! All the while, I rode along on the road side and the pavement on my bicycle, enjoying the ride, the amazing sunset plus the fresh air.
Landing in Orlando
My flight landed at Orlando Airport at 530PM after which I hopped in an Uber and arrived at the hotel about an hour later! I couldn’t believe just how quick the immigration check was!
I queued maybe for 5-10 minutes, the border guard asked me a few questions then off I was ordering my Uber!
The Uber from Orlando Airport to International Drive, where the Four Points by Sheraton was located, cost about $25 one way, but on the way back only $19, which was a bit weird.
Checking Into The Sheraton
Once I got to the hotel I went up to my room and dropped the bags off, made a coffee and took some pictures then headed downstairs to pick up my bicycle.
Ride Xperience basically delivers the bicycle the day before you arrive and pick up at 6PM the day you check out. This makes it super convenient because you know your bicycle will be there waiting for you.
The hotel receptionist put the bicycle in the store room where I ended up keeping it during the rest of my stay.
I was getting hungry by then so I decided to head out to get some food. With the brain tumour I need to watch how much sugar I eat because apparently the tumour loves sugar!
The more sugar you eat the faster the tumour is supposed to grow, according to some scientists. What I’ve heard is that a lot of tumour sufferers have reduced or completely cut out their sugar intake thereby remaining symptom free for years after operation!
This has made me try the ketogenic/diabetic diet in which I cut out or reduce my sugar as well as carbohydrate intake.
Clearly, it is not an easy feast in the US where everything is filled with sugar to the brim!
Fortunately there was a Whole Foods Market not far from the hotel so I popped in there to do my shopping for the evening! I couldn’t believe just how expensive it was though! In total I spent $56 on a few items.
I bought raspberries (one packet for $4.99), blueberries ($4.99), avocado cream ($4.05), two diabetic brownies ($2.50) plus some hot food from the counter ($13) and other bits and bobs which I am not going to list here.
Whole Foods Market in Orlando
The best is that the Whole Foods Market has a small cafeteria section with a microwave, a tap and some cutlery so you can eat the hot food you bought there. In the corner of the cafeteria there is also a massage area where two or three masseurs sell their services.
By the time I finished the dinner I was pretty exhausted so I made my way back to the hotel on the bicycle. I was glad I had the lights because part of the way I had to cycle on International Drive which is not always well-lit.
I spent the rest of the night watching American TV after I had a nice warm shower then passed out sleeping! As usual, I woke up half-way through the night but due to the jetlag but I was prepared! I bought some bananas and other snacks at Whole Foods Market so I ate a bit then went back to sleep without an issue!
Preparing for Jetlag
My advice, as usual, is to take some food with you and put it by your bedside with a cup of water. If you wake up feeling like you can’t go back to sleep, just eat a bit and drink some water then I can guarantee you will be asleep within 10 minutes!
The worst you can do is start checking your phone – all the light coming out of your phone will wake you up straight away!
So drop your phone, eat something and get back to sleep!
I woke again around 6AM, watched some news then went downstairs to pick the bike up. The Four Points by Sheraton was in a very good location in terms of bus stops as the 8, 37, 38 and 42 buses all stop right in front of the hotel! All I had to do was cross the street then get on the next bus!
How to Use the Lynx Bus System
The best is that Orlando’s Lynx bus system uses not only cash tickets and bus passes, but also a phone app! I basically downloaded the app the previous day and bought a 7-day pass which I needed to show the driver every time I got on the bus.
The app was pretty simple to use – you select which type of ticket you want then pay! The ticket will be displayed within the app which you need to open before you board the bus. The driver will look at it, press a button on their own machine and off you go, sit down!
Related: Driving Along the Tamiami Trail – The West Coast of Florida
Before you get on though make sure you put the bicycle on the front of the bus. It’s pretty easy but here is a video that will better explain it. If you struggle the driver will come and help you, so don’t worry.
Travelling on Lynx by Bicycle
I took the express service 38 to Orlando downtown to check out the city beautiful! I’ll be honest – Downtown Orlando has probably seen better days, but in recent years they’ve invested a lot of money to beautify the place.
Like with any US city, a lot of the former residents moved out into the suburbs and only offices remain plus a lot of empty parking lots where buildings used to stand.
Downtown Orlando Bike Lanes
Downtown Orlando has many segregated bicycle lanes so it is pretty safe to cycle around – the only frustrating thing is the inordinate amount of waiting time at each traffic light! Sometimes you may need to wait 2-3 minutes before the light changes from red to green.
The first thing I checked out was the Old Railway Station where the buildings remain as they were 100 years ago. This is literally the only historic part of Orlando, everything else is modern office blocks and parking garages.
Looking at these historic buildings I could imagine Orlando must have looked pretty at one point, but then I guess the property developers decided it would be better to raze the whole thing and build anew.
Similar to what the property developers of Savannah had in mind in the 1960s, attempting to demolish the whole downtown area under the guise of “reviving” it.
The Orlando I-4 Make-Over
In Orlando the Interstate cuts the city in half at the center – right now it is also under renovation so the entire city center looks like a building site.
I-4 is basically getting an entire make-over, rebuilding all the bridges, pass-overs, lanes and ramps. It’s a huge, 6-year mega project to make the road more user friendly and increase capacity. Orlando is also building new bicycle lanes and an additional railway line, so every other street was dug up when I was there.
Orlando receives 72 million visitors each year, so the road networks really need to be able to cope with all those tourists!
Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando
My favourite part of Orlando was Lake Eola, east of Downtown with a big fountain at its center as well as lots of benches around it. On Sundays there is also a farmers market at its Southeastern edge from around 11AM, which I think is a bit late to start a market but I guess this is the tradition here.
I got there around 10AM so I couldn’t buy anything but I wasn’t even that hungry anyway.
From the Farmer’s Market I made my way east on E Washington Street which is full of nice historic homes from the early 20th century.
Orlando Old Town Neighbourhood
This neighbourhood was built in the 1910s-1920s so all the houses are from that era, looking amazing in a myriad of colours.
The road is also paved with bricks as was traditional in those years with the almost compulsory green lawn in front of the homes.
Cycling down here I could imagine what it might have been like getting into your car and driving downtown or simply walking as Orlando isn’t that far from here.
I cycled to the Dickson Azalea Garden, walked north through the park then cycled east again on Robinson Street then north on Hampton Avenue all the way to the Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens.
Orlando Botanical Gardens
The Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens looked nice but there was a wedding on that day plus the garden buildings were damaged by a recent hurricane so I decided to not pay the entrance fee.
Instead, I sat on a bench by the main building to eat something after which I headed back to the Lynx Central Bus Station.
Lynx Central Bus Station in Orlando
The Lynx Central Bus Station is where most buses stop – getting there took me about 25 minutes from the Botanical Gardens.
The bus system is quite simple here: most buses depart every half an hour so when you arrive at the Lynx Central Bus Station you can easily change over to another service.
Say you come from the south and want to go west: your bus will arrive at the central station, you get off and walk to the next service which will depart in about 5-10 minutes.
There is always plenty of time and plenty of connecting services.
I got on the 105 service to Winter Garden but the driver did not tell us that it was only going to West Oaks Mall, which was very annoying!
Unexpected Visit to West Oaks Mall
Anyhow, I was already getting hungry so I decided to go inside the shopping center to see what there is to eat.
To my shock and horror the mall was almost completely empty! The parking lot was deserted with only a few dozen cars parked outside!
I was wondering what was wrong with the place – it looked like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie!
I did a quick search online and it turned out that the West Oaks Mall is one of those run down, end of life-cycle shopping malls where nobody wants to shop anymore!
(Much Better) Days Gone By
This area was a lot better in the past with more well-to-do residents but since the financial crisis a decade ago the neighbourhood turned very run down.
In fact, a lot of cars get broken into and police have reported an increase in calls from West Oaks Mall. Clearly, it was not the best shopping mall in Orlando!
I read up a bit on Wikipedia and turns out only 61 stores are open from the 115 originally available in the mall – the new owners actually turned two of the old box stores into call centers! The Florida Toll Road offices are also here as well as a big empty Dillard’s!
It was a fascinating experience walking around this semi-deserted mall as I’ve never been to one where hardly any customers were hanging around!
In fact, in one corridor I was pretty much the only person checking out the shop windows!
At the end of the “tour” I decided to check out the toilets which were pretty clean then had something to eat from the local Jamaican restaurant.
Lunch at West Oaks Mall, Orlando
The chicken was actually quite tasty and the rice was OK too, so I finished almost all of it. After lunch I went for a round in the car park to check out the big empty lot following which I headed out towards Lake Apopka.
Cycling to Lake Apopka
Lake Apopka is the fourth largest in Florida but the local agricultural industry completely destroyed it in the 1960s.
What happened was the water run-off from the nearby fields poured into the lake, overfertilizing the waters and creating algal bloom. This in turn killed off the fish in the water in addition to turning the water into a murky green sludge.
Even now the water is dark green instead of the original crystal clear state but the current state is already light years better than the 1960s. It was difficult to believe that the nearby town of Winter Gardens once catered for a global fishing clientele coming here to catch the local variety of fish!
Nowadays you can find some fishing folk, but they definitely cannot catch the same number and kind of fish their ancestors would have been able to find here.
Cycling to Winter Garden, Florida
Anyhow, if you cycle here early in the day, heading to the northern trail will give you the opportunity to check out the alligators by the lake. Since I arrived late in the afternoon I was getting tired of all the cycling so I checked out the downtown area of Winter Garden then headed back to the nearest bus stop which was half an hour’s cycling away!
By the time I got to the bus stop I was so exhausted I could hardly move! Fortunately the bus arrived within a few minutes which meant I was able to have a shower back in my room before 6PM!
On Sunday evening I had dinner at the Whole Foods Market again, buying some fruits and vegetables plus the roast beef and boiled eggs.
After dinner I cycled back to the hotel just taking it easy for the rest of the day as I was well and truly exhausted by then!
The Omni Orlando Resort
The next day I had meetings at the Omni Orlando Resort out in the sticks by I-4, about half an hour’s drive from downtown Orlando. Since I had no car I had to get an Uber every time I had to go to the Omni, which was six times in three days!
I know it sounds crazy but I no longer have a driver’s license (at least not for a year) thanks to the brain tumour so I had to make do with Uber.
The Mosaic Streamsong Golf Resort
The conference organizers arranged a tour of a golf course in Polk County, operated by Mosaic, a massive fertilizer company.
The area where the current golf course is used to be a huge phosphate rock mining site but in the past decade the owners turned 800 acres out of the 16,000 mined into a pretty big golf course.
The Streamsong Golf Course is huge and looks amazing with all the grass and wild animals roaming around. There was literally a black wild boar hanging out in the middle of the golf course after which I spotted an alligator in the pond near the hotel!
The hotel itself is proper luxury surrounded by three mega big golf courses as well as a country club. I guess if you like playing gold this will be your ultimate playing field!
The Streamsong Golf Resort has received various awards plus it was featured on the front pages of many magazines.
If you are a golf buff, you definitely need to check it out!
We arrived back in the Omni Hotel around 2PM but the drinks reception did not start until later so I decided to check out the swimming pool on the grounds.
As it turned out they built an entire swimming and entertainment complex at the back, including a huge golf course! I guess you’ve figured already: golf is a big thing in Florida (and the USA).
The grounds included two big swimming pools, a wave pool, a plunge pool and a “river” with waterfalls, water cannons in addition to some pretty cool water features.
Fortunately I had my swim gear with me and I must say it was an amazing experience floating around on the water plus checking out the wave pool, soaking in the sun a bit.
Later in the week I visited Aquatica, a huge water theme park but this hotel was nearly as good as that included in your room rate!
If you decide to stay at the Omni, I think there is no point visiting any of the water theme parks in Orlando as the Omni has the main features except for the slides.
Back to The Sheraton
The drinks reception ended around 8PM so I got an Uber which was pretty difficult at that time to head back to my hotel. There was a good Kosher Grill near the hotel so on Monday night I had dinner there.
Truth be told it was a bit pricey but I like to eat kosher food so I decided to eat there. My choice was the chicken schnitzel, Israeli salad and water.
I got back to the room at the Four Points just before 10PM where I picked up a local newspaper at the reception desk. At the front of the Orlando Sentinel was an advertisement about the local circus which hosted the Cirque du Soleil.
Watching The Cirque du Soleil
The Cirque du Soleil is an amazing circus team which I have seen once already in London – the advert said they were going to perform Luzia, a Mexican-styled acrobatic performance.
I went on the Cirque du Soleil website but they were offering tickets at $100 for the front row so instead of buying it straight away I looked for some discounts. Fortunately Groupon was running a promotion that week so I managed to book a front row seat for only $62!
As it turned out I should have booked a seat a few rows back because sitting right in front of the stage was a bit too close but otherwise I have nothing to complain about.
In fact, I have to admit it was absolutely amazing! My jaw dropped several times seeing the acrobats flying around although I wasn’t amazed by the contortionist – it must be horribly painful to do those things!
Anyhow, I am kind of jumping the gun – I booked the ticket on Monday night then crashed out sleeping! The next morning I cycled to the nearby Waffle House – my breakfast was Texas Toast with egg and cheese plus some local grit.
Breakfast at the Waffle House
The road I took on the way to the Waffle House was quite nice lined by palm trees. One of the hotels near the Universal Studios Theme park was in the style of an Italian town which was quite neat although having been to many Italian towns I could tell straight away it was a fake!
After breakfast I hopped into an Uber to head out to the Omni for another day’s meetings. I was pretty much rushed off my feet going from one meeting room to another but this time I made sure to order the Uber in time so I would not have to wait around too long for it to arrive.
I got back to my room around 630PM then hopped on my bike, cycling all the way to the Florida Mall. This Mall was a little larger than West Oaks Mall but it was heaving with customers like crazy.
I don’t understand what makes the difference but there was even a hotel at the center of the shopping mall as well as a Macy’s, JC Penney’s, some local brands and many other national chains.
The Cirque du Soleil Performance
The circus was on the southern side of the shopping mall. I arrived quite early so I had some time to check out Florida Mall – it was interesting but I had no more space in my luggage so I did not buy anything!
The Cirque du Soleil show was massive, almost sold out with great music plus a break in the middle. In normal circumstances I would never buy anything during the break but now that I have the brain tumour and I don’t know how long I will live or in what state, I decided to try some of the things I would never normally touch.
So in the end I got a soft pretzel salted on the top side with a bit of mustard on the side.
I expected it would be softer but I guess it wasn’t fresh so the pretzel was a bit hard – the mustard was also the American type so I did not really like it. Anyhow, it was an experience!
The Cirque du Soleil show ended at nearly 1030PM meaning I missed the last bus! Fortunately I had the lights and helmet so I braved the roads back to the hotel. By the time I arrived back to the hotel I was completely knackerd so I passed out on the bed!
The Weather Turns to Monsoon!
The next morning I wanted to cycle to the Waffle House again but it looked pretty dismal outside with the heavens ready to open, so instead I got breakfast at the nearby Denny’s.
This chain is obviously more into healthy foods because they served some fruits plus they had vegetarian options as well as less calorific stuff on offer.
I ended up getting their special toast with egg and cheese plus a cup of coffee in addition to some scrambled eggs. It was pretty filling so nothing to complain about!
Since it was my last day at the hotel I had to pack my bags to check out. It was with a heavy heart that I had to leave – I really enjoyed my stay with the great views over the Interstate lined on either side by the various theme parks.
Returning the bike was pretty simple: the owner of Ride Xperience came to pick up at 6PM on the day of my check out so I had absolutely nothing to worry about: I simply left it in the storage room and he picked up from the receptionist later that day.
It was another day at the Omni hotel in meetings followed by a frantic dash to the Greyhound Bus Station in Orlando where I caught a bus to Bradenton. It was a real odyssey but more about that later!