The summer weather in Orlando appears to be unpredictable with possible hot and sunny mornings followed by torrential thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Bring a heavy duty poncho
It can rain heavily for 15 to 30 minutes then completely stop at which time activities and attractions will resume. It may be worth it to wait out the rain.
Hotel
Extended Stay America on Universal Blvd
Location is great next to the heart of the tourist area
The rooms are spacious with a king size bed, kitchenette with full-size fridge, sofa and dining table.
The bathroom lights are an ugly bright daylight white
Bring your own dish sponge
Laundry is available on site at a cost of $2.00 per wash and $2.00 per dry
wi-fi is weak. You can pay extra for fast wi-fi or just use your phone as a hot spot.
When traveling, it’s super handy to be able to see a map of just the places you want to visit. This can easily be done with Google Maps. In addition, with Google Maps you can zoom in and out and get directions to each place of interest. Here’s how to create a custom Google Map with your choice of places.
1. Go to maps.google.com and log in 2. Click the hamburger menu icon and then “Your Places” 3. Click the “Maps” tab 3. At the bottom, click “Create Map” 4. In the search bar, enter the name or address of a place then click the search button. 5. Google Maps will place a balloon on the map where the place it along with a description box. 6. In the description box, click “Add to map”
7. Repeat steps 4-6 adding as many locations as you’d like 8. To make it easier to see the location, change the color and details of the base map.
9. To share or embed a map, click the hamburger menu icon and then “Share or embed map”
If you want to make your location markers stand out more, you can change their color and icon, e.g. from default blue to red.
To show routes, click the “Add directions button and then add an address for each location.
Or, click on the Draw a Line button and choose “Add driving route”.
You can then drag the blue route line to follow the paths or roads you want.
To add a picture to each location, click the camera icon. You can upload or add one or more pictures by URL from Google Images.
There are many tools that can help you plan a trip. Sometimes I’d even use Google Calendar. But when I want something that includes additional information such as a table of expenses, links to websites, and pictures, then I use Google Docs with an embedded Google Sheet.
The workflow goes like this:
Create a new Google Doc (or clone the example below) In the Google Doc, I use tables to create a 2-column layout with times on the left and details on the right. This makes it easy to read and looks more like an itinerary or agenda view.
Uncheck Print Layout If you’re like me, you probably don’t print on paper much anymore. And why would you, when you can just save a copy or view the original version of a doc on your various devices (phone, laptop, etc). Print layout is intended for print so you’ll see gaps between each sheet. This is annoying when you want to just see all of your content as you scroll without any large gaps. To eliminate these gaps, in the View menu, uncheck the “Print Layout” menu item.
Add content When it comes to content, I find it helpful to add the following bits of information
Screenshots of Google Maps showing travel time and path
Links to directions in Google Maps
Photos of destinations, activities, and food Google Docs lets you paste images from the clipboard so you can simply take screenshots of pictures on your computer and paste them right into Google Docs
Special notes about each activity
etc
Create a Google Sheet (or clone the example below) I use the Google Sheet to list all expenses and easily calculate the total using the sum function.
Embed Google Sheet into Google Doc The nice thing about Google Docs and Sheets is you can embed a Google Sheet into your Google Doc and have it updated when you update the Google Sheet. In Google Sheets, you’ll have to hover over the embed and click the “Update” button. Nevertheless, it’s still super useful and may even auto-update if you want long enough, e.g. 5 minutes? To embed a table of costs from Google Sheets, select the table in Google Sheets and then paste it where you want it embedded in your Google Doc.
Publish If you want to share your trip plan with others, you can share the Google Doc itself. Or, better yet, since who you share it with won’t need to edit anything, you can publish your Google Doc as a web page so your recipients can just see a clean, simple view of the trip plan.
If you need cash, just withdraw it from the ATM of a big bank. The currency conversion rate is just 3%. However, there are withdrawal limits.
Upon arrival, look for an ATM of a big bank at the airport to withdraw cash. The money exchangers will rip you off big time.
If you need to exchange cash at the airport, do so after you pass through immigrations near the exit rather than before passing immigrations. There are more options and the rates are cheaper there.
Get and set up a currency converter app
Booking Sites
If purchasing plane tickets, buy direct from airlines if the price is not much more expensive. It’ll be much easier to make changes and cancellations by dealing directly with the airline.
Print a copy of all trip arrangements (plane tickets, hotel reservations) as a backup
Download a copy of all travel documents to your phone. You can do this by uploading them all to a folder in Google Drive and then setting the folder to “Available Offline”.
For your carry-on, if you can, just bring a backpack. It can be pointless to bring a carry-on luggage since max weight allowance is so low.
Within your carry on backpack, bring a thin, lightweight backpack to put under the plane seat in front of you. This will not take a lot of space and carry your in-air essentials like laptop, munchies, smartphone, earphones, etc.
Munchies
Trail mix
Chewy nutrition bars, e.g. Nature Valley Peanut Butter bar
Goldfish
Sunflower seeds (without the shells) in a zip-loc bag
Pringles
Beef Jerky + Cheddar Cheese (Costco)
Hawaiian Sweet Bread + Nutella + plastic knives
Disposable cup in which to put munchies for easy access
Toiletries / Bathroom Accessories
Hair dryer
Sunscreen
Plug adapters
Shampoo
Soap
Medium towel
Wet tissue / Bring fragrant-free wet wipes to wipe the sweat and dirt off your hands and face.
Wear shirts designed for hot and humid weather when traveling to hot and humid destinations. Golf clothes usually meet this requirement (PGA Tour Airflux – 100% polyester)
Walking shorts (cargo shorts with many pockets are good to hold many things)
If you’ll be doing a lot of walking, bring comfortable walking sandals. Test your shoes thoroughly before departing. What may feel comfortable at first may not actually feel comfortable after a few hours of walking. Maybe get a memory foam one, e.g. from Skechers.
Neckband Bluetooth earphones with plane plug adapter
Noise-canceling headphones
Extension cord and power strip (since houses and hotels in many countries don’t have enough outlets where you need them or the outlet is too high above the floor)
Mini USB fan. Some planes don’t turn the A/C until takeoff, and even then, it can still be very hot and stuffy in a plane. Since most planes include a USB port, having a mini USB fan can keep you cool while flying.
3 prong to 2 prong plug adapter
Miscellaneous
Bring plastic bags to hold your wet clothes, dirty clothes, etc
