Oct 31st, arrival at Orlando

Hotel Roanoke

City Hall Savannah

Orlando, we have arrived. Linda and I are very saddened to see and hear the description of the destruction along the East Coast from hurricane Sandy. We hope that our friends and their families are safe from the terrible destruction that we've seen in the news. As the storm approached we had three options. First, remain with our planned USair flight on Wednesday, October 31 at 8 AM. Second, look into Amtrak from Philadelphia to Orlando. Or third, rent a one way car rental and drive. We debated all of our options long and hard and on Sunday night we even considered changing our flight to Monday. Thank goodness we elected to drive and not choose the other alternatives. Both the Philadelphia airport in the Amtrak system were shut down Sunday evening.

What's the saying? Get a lemon, make lemonade. So we decided to view our journey to Orlando as a pre-expedition. We took off Monday morning at 9:30 AM heading west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. At Harrisburg turned south and took 81 into Virginia. At times the wind and rain were so hard it was very difficult to see the roadway. It was actually scary at a rest stop along the Pennsylvania Turnpike when we were virtually the only customers there.

Ship at Savannah 

Once on the road we set our first destination as Roanoke Virginia. With the help of Priceline.com we were able to investigate and negotiate a very good rate at the historic Hotel Roanoke. The hotel was built in the late 1800s and is in magnificent condition. The lobby and public areas have wonderful wood work and moldings typical of the Victorian-style.

 Bridge into Savannah

The next morning we left Roanoke heading west on 81 then south on 77 to route 95. We encountered some areas where there had been some snowfall overnight but nothing compared to the 3 foot we heard in portions of West Virginia.

Again with the help of Priceline.com we were able to secure a room at the Hilton in the northern area of the historic district just across from City Hall. After settling in we headed to the riverfront where there are plenty of pubs and restaurants. We were looking for an Italian restaurant but instead chose seafood. After a wonderful meal we strolled along the riverfront and headed back to our room.

In the morning we headed south again on Route 95 and made it to Orlando by 1:30 in the afternoon.  We checked in at the TCS tour desk and back to our rooms to organize our luggage for the next day. Later that evening there was a reception for all the TCS guests and a wonderful dinner.

After dinner there was a short introduction of the TCS staff and an introduction of the lecturers who will be accompanying us on the trip. I was very impressed with the experience of lecturers and look forward to learning about the cultures and civilizations that we will be visiting.

Got a go now, the Porter is knocking at the door to collect our large bags for tomorrow's trip to Guatemala. Hope to be back in a couple of days with pictures and updates from the Mayan sites.