Spring Break Nightmare – Driving Home From Florida

Life is about learning. You fail, you learn, and then you move on. Well, this year, we learned that we should not drive down to Florida during the spring break months and we learned that attending Disney during these days may also be a very bad idea. If you are okay with crowds, then go on and enjoy a spring trip to the Magic Kingdom. For us, the trip was nearly as nightmarish as it could get.

We did not fly on this spring break vacation. Normally we don’t. I am not too comfortable with flying yet and we also have a 4 pound Chihuahua that I’m not so excited to fly with. Too many horror stories, not taking a change there.

Our trip down was pretty easy. We took a detour through Indiana and stopped for a few days in Clarksville, Tennessee to visit a relative.  I was feeling good upon arrival as I was dealing with a sinus infection for the two weeks prior to going on the vacation. My wife was dealing with a sore throat and my daughter was just getting over the flu. So we were in trouble even before we left. 

On the morning of our departure from Tennessee, I woke with a really sore throat. I was disappointed, I thought I had done my time and cleared it up, but apparently, the air conditioning in the hotel seem to aggravate my throat as it did with my wife and daughter.

Wanting to beat the traffic in Nashville, we left at 4 in the morning. The drive to Florida that day was especially quiet and pretty easy. Traffic was calm and even going through Atlanta was pretty smooth that day. We arrived in Orlando around 6 pm. 

The temperature was warm and we were happy, the vacation was about to be taken to a whole new level. Coming from the 30 degree days in the great state of Michigan, the warmth, felt so damn good. 

So the flurry of days at Disney began the next day. With temperatures to be in the mid to low 80’s how could this not be a great time. The bonus was the humidity wasn’t as bad as it usually gets down there, so it was a great temperature for the trips to the parks. 

We had a 5-day pass to the parks and visited all 4 and the Magic Kingdom twice. Unfortunately, the problem was, that we were not the only ones that had the bright idea to escape the cold and head south for spring break. The parks were massively overcrowded, which made it a little unenjoyable. 

We were only able to ride our fast pass rides for most of the parks during the day, aside from our Animal Kingdom and Epcot visits were the lines were way too long even for the fast pass lines, and we ended up leaving early due to the crowd on both days. So we left two rides fast passes on the table unused. 

Most of the stand by lines, especially for the most popular rides were ranging around 185 min + in wait times, which was something we were not going to participate in. That was way too long for the prices you pay for your tickets. So we skipped them.

We were able to catch a few shows, but generally, after a few rounds through the crowded walkways, we decided to escape the insanity before dark on most days.  It was a little bit of a disappointment and I didn’t get enough content or photos as I was planning on getting during the trip. We are planning a return trip in August, which we hope that will present lower crowds so that we can enjoy the park more and get more stuff done. 

On the last day, we were drained and didn’t do much. We all were still dealing with the sickness a bit and were more than ready to return home and then, the real nightmare began…

The Story Of A Missing Wallet

Knowing that we had a long track back home and the first day of driving wasn’t going to get us home, but hopefully land us in the middle of our drive, so that the second day wouldn’t be so long. We packed everything up into the car at around 8 AM. Everything seemed fine. 

We got in the car and started to drive toward the hotel lobby to drop off our hotel room keys. Then suddenly I realized that my wallet was missing…

We returned to the back of the hotel to search the car for my wallet. As my wife searched the trunk I ran back up into the hotel room to see if I had dropped it in the hallway, elevator, or perhaps in the room. I searched everywhere, it was nowhere to be found.  

In the meantime my wife went to the lobby and asked if anyone turned in a wallet, nothing, no wallet was left. After returning we went through the entire trunk and it wasn’t there. I was sweating. I was frustrated and I was pretty scared. My wallet had it all. My ID, my Cards, everything. This was a disaster that was going to become a major issue if we did not find it. 

After double checking the car again as well as the room, an hour had passed. Giving up, we got back into the car and drove to the front where the hotel lobby was. Our only chance was that someone turned it in. I knew at that point it dropped out of my shorts pocket. If they didn’t we were screwed.

I slowly walked back into the lobby. There were a number of people in the lobby as it was pretty busy. The desk serviced 3 people before I was able to go up to the desk. I gracefully asked if someone had turned in a wallet. 

The moment I saw her bright smile, I felt the anxiety and the stress flow out of my body. She opened the drawer and there it was. It was magical. 

“Yes, someone dropped it off just after your wife asked for it. I was just about to give you a call!” – She said.

I thanked her several times and secretly prayed to thank the individual who was kind enough to pick up the wallet and to give it to the front desk. It was literally a miracle.  Finally, it was 10:30 AM and we were on the road, hoping that the worst was over and the drive would be smooth.

Our Real Nightmare Began…

The drive on the Florida Turnpike was a little crowded but wasn’t bad. While we mention the turnpike, please be aware they only accept cash. The toll lady told me that they were not that advanced yet. So when you are about to go through this section of road on your way to Orlando, please make sure you have some cash.

Even after the turnpike, we were making good time on our trip home. The roads were a little busy, but not enough to detour your movement and ability to maintain speed on the freeway. We had a few slowdowns around Macon, but the moment we got within 30 miles of Atlanta, boom, everything stopped to a crawl. 

Unfortunately, we hit Atlanta during rush hour on Friday no less, and during one of the busiest times to drive during the year. It seemed like everyone was trying to get out of town or returning home from their Spring break trip. There was also a news story of a standoff with Police on the Freeway in Atlanta just before we got there, so this could have helped clog up the traffic as well. 

But there we were, stop, go, 5 miles an hour, stop, go. It took us nearly 4 hours to get through Atlanta. This put us way behind on our trip home. And once again, after finally getting through the horrible mess in Atlanta we thought the nightmare was over. Not So…

No Hotel Rooms Available? What?

As the night got late at around 10 pm, I was starting to feel a little exhausted. We in the northern end of Georgia and thought with it getting so late that it would be a good time to find a hotel to lay down for the night. 

We stopped at a few, but quickly learned they were sold out. Okay, what next? As I drove we thought maybe Dalton, Georgia. My wife wasn’t exactly keen on staying there for some reason. I said okay, so we decided to try and pass Dalton. As I drove my wife and daughter were scouting out hotels ahead, we stop a few more times and everyone was sold out.

After Stopping and having no success. My wife started calling hotels ahead of us on the freeway. She called a ton of them and all of them were sold out, all of them. It was frustrating. I’ve never experienced this issue before while driving down or back from Florida. It was nuts. So we kept going. 

After finally finding a rest stop, I stopped for a bathroom break and to try and get refreshed a bit as my eyes were getting extremely heavy. After going to the bathroom, I went out to the lobby and noticed those travel books and brochures on the wall. I grabbed one and noticed the hotels in it. 

I went back to the car and looked through the book as I located our location. I called a couple of them which were all sold out. One of the ladies on the phone said that she had never seen this before and that she had over 50 phone calls asking for availability. It seemed that we were in trouble…

Knowing this Iooked further up I-75 in the Book looking for exits we were going to pass by. I found a La Quinta in Knoxville, Tennessee. I called and thankfully they had 1 room left. I grabbed it and gave her my card. Done. We finally had a room, but still had to drive an hour and 45 minutes to get there.

At around 11:30 we arrived. Tired as could be. We finished checking in took a few things to the room and went uptown to grab some dinner as we didn’t stop for dinner during the 4-hour trek through Atlanta. 

Day Two, The Nightmares Continue…

After returning we ate and went to sleep. The next day we woke around 9 am. The GPS was showing that we had just over 8 hours of drive time left. So thinking it would be a good, easy day, we loaded the car, and off we went.

The drive started off really well until we got further into the Smokies. Suddenly there we were right back into miles upon miles of stop and go traffic. Thinking it wouldn’t be as bad as Atlanta, I was cool and calm in the beginning. I noticed there was about a mile stretch of one lane road ahead that was causing the delay in traffic. Thinking it would be a short battle with traffic it was okay.

Then an hour past, and another, suddenly the end was in sight, but it was nearly 3 hours of fighting the stop and go traffic in this one spot. Again, we were behind the eightball and it took 3 hours to go through a spot of freeway that should have only taken 1/2 hour. 

It was absurd. Then We hit Kentucky. About halfway through it started to rain. It didn’t affect me that much but as I continued to drive, I started to get really tired again and asked if my wife would drive a bit. We switched at a gas station and she drove a bit but as the rain got heavier, she wasn’t handling the driving too well and her nerves were getting the best of her, so at a road stop we switched again.

As anyone knows Ohio is just a long state. It was dreadful, especially when the rain would not stop, but as we got closer to the northern part of Ohio, the rain suddenly switched to snow and temperature started to drop, which kept my speeds around the 55 – 60 mark, which even then was probably a little too fast.

As we finally crossed into Michigan the snow started coming down harder and roads started to get sick. I had to slow down even more. What was normally a two-hour drive from the state line to our home, took us about 3 hours to accomplish.

Finally, we arrived at home. The nightmare was over.  We made it safe but an 8-hour drive took us nearly 14 hours. But the experience and the dreadful drive home was something I had never experienced before when going to and from Florida. We learned a valuable lesson that day, we will NEVER EVER drive down to Florida on Spring Break Again.