I have been dreaming to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I used to made remarks of going here and here I am, standing in front of the Hogwart's Castle. It was the first for everything. This was my first Solo Trip in my life.

As a lot of you may have read my post on Tips for Solo Female Traveller, I choose to go to Orlando for my trip. I was initially planning to go to San Francisco, but the flight tickets were so high,I could not even afford it (costs $770 return, on a budget airline).

From Houston, I parked my car at the EcoPark at IAH paying $12. Went there at 5 since my flight is at 7 am. They provide free shuttle to each terminals and they will give you a coupon stating your parking lot (keep it so they can take you straight to your car). This was my first domestic flight in the US. The flight will took 2 hours and the airline I chose was Spirit. Spirit is a low cost airline that charged you for you cabin carry-on. Seriously? I just packed a small bag pack inside my Longchamp since I was staying for 1 night. I, now appreciate Air Asia after my Spirit experience.

Well, security of US airports were a hassle. There was a very long line to the Homeland and Security counter (they just check your boarding pass and ID). Then, it was the harrowing X-ray scanner, metal detector and full body scan. I always prepared so I did not wear layers or shoes that are hard to take off when I fly. The plane was normal, but the seat pitch was bigger that AA, I would say same as EasyJet in EU.

Landing at the airport, I finally told my mother I was in Florida. She was shocked and didn't believe me, so I send her the photo I took of the Florida beaches from the plane. Queue was long at the car rental counter. Walk across the road for car rental and I got a Mitsubishi Lancer (here, it was considered as compact car). I thought I finished downloading my Here Offline Maps so I venture out of the airport to the highway. The highway has too many intersection, it was confusing. I followed the sign and then my GPS kicked off. I set the GPS to bring me to Universal Resort and reaching 30 minutes of my drive, the place looks weird and I saw the sign of Tampa.

My heart dropped. I know I was lost! I felt weird the GPS brought me so close to Tampa. Then it instructed me to exit the highway and after 20 minutes I reached Universal Resort, which is a local resort named Universal. NOT UNIVERSAL STUDIO. I was horrified. I on my mobile data, but there is no data received and I thought it was a connection problem initially. I almost CRY alone in the car in the middle of a strange town. I stopped at Shell, wishing there was wifi but there was none. I decided to go back to the airport. 

I saw a Walmart and immediately stop near the entrance to get the Free WiFi. Walmart save my life that day. I finally located myself near Tampa, far from Orlando. I reset the GPS to the airport since my GPS failed to recognise Universal Studio or any other landmarks. I was 1.5 hours away from Orlando and I want to cry. Calculating properly, I would reach Universal Studio around 1pm because of traffic . HALF DAY GONE just like that. I quickly exited the highway and follow the Airport sign. The traffic was bad and reaching at the airport, I followed the sign to Universal Studio. The thing was, there was not many sign at the highway. After 30 minutes, I finally saw the Exit to Disney World and Universal Studio. Yeay!!!

It was odd that the theme parks were located in the middle of the town. Then, I saw the Universal Boulevard and I reached Universal Studio safe and sound at 12.30 pm. I keep my positivity up and don't give up.

Later that day, I found out Celcom actually barred my line because I exceeded the max limit of RM150. I remember I called TWICE to raised my credit limit to RM500 and clearly that failed. Can you imagine if something bad happen during the trip and I could not communicate to the outside world? Celcom is so irresponsible and I do not trust them at all point forward. I regretted I did not purchase the US sim card and trust Celcom instead. I was lucky that day that everything was smooth and I got to be at the place I want to be.

It was definitely a lesson learnt. Make sure map is correctly downloaded and don't trust Celcom.