day five - where dreams come true.

the last day at the park.
this is the day that i had a trente sized iced coffee to make up for the lack of any the day before and was crazy wired all morning.
my parents said that was the first time they'd seen me smile in quite some time.

of course by this time, poor gimpy rebecca was having quite the miserable time with her fractured foot.
though she's not one to hold back a party because of her misery...so she trudged on.
her limp concerned her parents, and they nearly forced her into a wheelchair.
to no avail.

the first of the day was spent in the futuristic part of the park.

the second half was spent in the different countries part of the park.
nothing much to do except walk through and admire the fake architecture that made up fake mini villages of about 10 different countries.
with shops and restaurants in each one.
delightful.

now all through the trip people would stop my dad because of his "retired navy" hat and say "thank you for your service."
which was definitely honorable of them.
but there was this one deal old gent that stopped him and tried to, like, reminisce and talk for ages.
we finally walked away and then he looked for us an hour later because he'd remembered more stories to share.
like.
no.
stop.

towards the end of the day it started raining.
at first it was sprinkles and i rather enjoyed it.
but when we exited a ride to find it pouring and us a good far walk from our dinner reservation which was in five minutes...it wasn't that nice.
we walked from one side of the park to the other in pouring rain.
me with a gimp foot.
my dad trying to navigate.
with a five minute deadline.
it was madness.

we arrived at the nice restaurant literally drenched.
i looked like a gutter rat.
we all did.

we ended the day watching fireworks and riding a few more rides.
left on a bus.
arrived at our new orleans style hotel.
had the lobby doors opened for us by the old man with the colorfully plumed hat that is always standing there.
and the rest is history.

day four - where dreams come true.

the day started in an awkward manner when i had just spent the last 5 minutes talking to my father in a fake british accent (as one does) at a bus stop, only to discover the family sitting next to us was, in fact, british.

however things became quite magical as we entered a theatre for a frozen sing along.
A FROZEN SING ALONG.
WITH ELSA AND ANNA AND KRISTOFF.
AND FAKE SNOW.
i was singing at the top of my lungs and my poor father, who had never seen frozen, had no idea what was happening.
MAGIC.

you see.
i consumed no coffee on this day.
so most of what happened the rest of the day was a blur and slightly horrific.

there was this hispanic kid in line for a ride who was totally just wandering everywhere and his parents kept calling his name. "NACHO!" [insert any nacho libre reference here]

we chose the most perfect time to go to disney because the park was LITERALLY deserted.
like.
hardly anyone was there.
it was like we were at a private party or something.
waits were short.
it wasn't too hot.
and only a handful of screaming children (versus a million).
so.
go us.

for dinner we ate at a fake drive-in.
you sat in fake 50's cars, ate 50's style foods, and watched 50's movies on a big screent.
truly the cutest thing to exist.

everything else that day seemed normal enough.
but i feel as though you don't care to hear about normalcy.
just imagine a bedraggled, glassy-eyed, ghost of a human with a limp, wandering around a park for 12 hours...and you'll get a pretty good image of what my day was.

(also the reason i have hardly any pictures from this day and had to resort to using some from the day before.)

day three - where dreams come true.

we started the day out with the park people of disney telling me i was not rebecca roberts because my fingerprint didn't match up from the day before.

another morning of lack-of-coffee anguish and we discovered...A STARBUCKS DISGUISED AS A DISNEY BAKERY.
oh happy day.
i got my usual and was so pleased with the turn of events.

we then proceeded to take photos with merida who had the perfect scottish accent.
then photos with tinkerbell who was had the perfect attitude.

we then took photos with mickey.
a big deal to be sure.
but weird because he could talk and the mask moved and the mickey voice came out?

we spent an hour in line waiting for pics with anna and elsa.
i suppose it was worth it but an hour is a long time to wait for anything.
but WORTH IT.
we got into the room and the guy in charge of leading people asked my father if he remembered him from earlier in the day.
and my dad was like "uh yaaaaa...of course"
and the guy was like "from where?"
and my dad was like "uuuhhhhh i didn't think there'd be a test??"
(apparently he'd been doing pics with tink earlier.)

unfortunately waiting for an hour in line made us miss our last opportunity to meet peter pan.
the saddest turn of events.
but by a subsequent chance happening...we witnessed the end of a parade performance from the side of the castle and he saw us and waved as he was exiting the stage.
only to trip, fall on his face, stand up sheepishly, and continue walking offstage waving at us.
so.
second best to meeting him, i suppose.

we took a ride on a water roller coaster which stopped mid ride several times and i felt quite nervous.
a feeling, however, matched twofold when the "it's a small world" ride stopped mid way through and i thought i'd get stuck inside the most obnoxious nightmare of the world for the rest of my life.

upon discovering michelle was turning 13, i was then asked by a crew member if i was the older or younger sister.
they literally thought i was not only younger than michelle, but younger than 13.
13!!!
(for those of you unaware...i am very much 20)

have i mentioned how there are demon massive birds that apparently roam the street of disney for fun?
like.
what the heck?!
unacceptable.

we ended the day waited upon by a man who looked just like chang from "community" in a colonial style restaurant.
questionable.

and i'm currently sitting on the sidewalk waiting for the parade with a bunch of foreigners because apparently when school starts back up, a day at disney is a day surrounded by about a million different accents, languages, and cultures.
and i am not complaining one bit.
they are the loveliest people.

day two - where dreams come true.

the day began with a young male juggler at our bus stop entertaining the small rowdy children.

continued with a morning of rides and me developing a caffeine headache due to a morning lacking in coffee intake.
i finally got an iced coffee mocha at a futuristic cafe in tomorrowland, and was back on my feet.

that afternoon we took a ride on a jungle safari with our tour guide alan.
the entire ride was one massive slew of puns and jokes.
also it was his birthday.
(happy birthday, alan!)

next.
a visit to the tiki room.
in the show there was a rain dance with magical fake rain that trickled down the windows.
however, the magic was truly real...because as we walked out it began legit raining.
coincidence?
impossible.

after running through the rain and visiting the replica of the swiss family robinson tree house, we visited the pirates of the caribbean ride.
the man showing us onto the ride said to board the ship and leave the farmer's daughter (me) behind as part of the plunder.
trying to be funny?
we walked away.

for dinner we ate at the exceedingly magical cinderella's castle.
like.
literally in the massive castle.
our host was fernando, an aging spanish man who was feeling rather hesitant about sharing the disney sparkle and magic.
what horrors have you witnessed, fernando?

at the castle we were visited by four princesses and had photos taken with them all.
they were visiting cinderella and thought they'd stop by to say hi.
how kind.

also while there we witnessed an engagement!
it was right behind our table and there was applause!

apparently the park closed early for a special halloween party that night.
of which we were not on the guest list.
but as we had already made reservations for the dinner which lasted past the curfew for non-partiers... we had to be escorted from the park.
and walk down the street with a man carrying a glowing sign.
the people were apparently awaiting a parade and may have thought we were part of it momentarily.

during the day i got 15+ compliments on my modcloth pie dress!
complimenters included aladdin, ariel, jasmine, cinderella, several crew members, and even other guests who stopped me on the street.
i felt like a princess.
be still my heart.

day one - where dreams come true.

arrived in the evening with just enough time to enjoy an evening of riding on a lovely riverboat.
floating to downtown disney and back again to our hotel in "port orleans."
the hotel is styled after louisiana looking hotels and is quite quaint.
(imagine "the princess and the frog.)

we took the boat to an irish pub style restaurant called "cookes of dublin" and were waited upon by two loooovely irish lads by the name of gavin and declan.
could they be more perfect??

disney world is assuredly where dreams come true.

packing for a winter european adventure.

when i think about adventuring in europe i picture myself in cute sundresses, colorful tights, oxfords, and maybe even a vintage style hat.
so when i was packing for my trip to england/holland...this was the essence of my suitcase.
obviously i added some leggings, jeans, boots, and a few winter accessories because, february trip, duh.

well...i feel i must tell you...texas winters are slightly different than european ones.
when i say different, i mean CRAZY RIDICULOUS SCARY FREEZING COLD THAT NEVER GOES AWAY.

there were points in the trip that i was wearing probably 15 articles of clothing at once:
tank top. undershirt. blouse. sweater. tights. leggings. jeans. coat. scarf. hat. gloves. legwarmers. long socks. tall boots.
and as many adorable outfits as i packed...no one ever saw them...except my mother, in the morning, before covering it all with my coat.

so...let's discuss ways to learn from rebecca's packing mistakes:

• cute outfits are TOTALLY doable...just not the way i attempted. bring several different coats, hats, scarves, etc. this changes up your look in all of the pictures so it doesn't look like your whole trip was only one day. 
• pack really warm under-layers so you only have to wear one set of them...not every piece of clothing you brought at the same time.
• if you don't enjoy standing out in a crowd, bring neutral colored coats. my bright green coat, yellow gloves, blue scarf, and rust hat was a nice combo (don't get me wrong)...however, with the black coats, gray scarves, and white hats that surrounded me on the tube and walking down the street...i was definitely a stand out. 
• legwarmers are your friends. don't laugh. legwarmers are back and making a fashion and warmth stand. i honestly think i would have frozen and withered away had it not been for my best friend, the legwarmers. my favorite are from HERE.
• another good thing to invest in are long socks (LIKE THESE). 
• also...comfortable and warm boots. i did not have this luxury...however my mother did. her feet get colder than anyone i know. constantly. and she did not complain once the whole trip about her feet being cold. definitely one less thing to be concerned about when it comes to frostbite. 

packing for trips is HARD. 

there are a lot of packing guides online, if you aren't sure the kinds of things you should bring.

also...check out what the forecast is going to be while you're there. 

this will give you a vague idea of what to expect.

winter trips are slightly miserable if "cold" is not your friend.

however...i hate long lines and big crowds and since winter time is not a very big tourist season...it was ideal.

lesser of two evils?

part seven - nether, netherland.

airports are gloriously confusing and scary things. 

I mean, honestly. 

so many signs, rules, and languages. 

I pity any newbie who's going at it alone for the first time. 

I've flown internationally since I was 6 and still don't have the hang of it.

we woke up at 4am.

(I had slept in my clothes.)

did some last minute packing.

got in our taxi.

and departed.

the first (of 3) flight went smoothly.

now we're in london about to leave for texas. 

it's a long flight ahead of us, but I'm hoping for a fairly empty and luxurious one. 

HA! 

well. 

you never know.

I had a muffin this morning, but mom has gone off to scavenge for other foodie delights before we board in about 20 minutes.

I'm not sure what time it'll be once we return...but I'm sure it'll completely confuse my poor body. 

yay for jet lag!!

cheers :)