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29 Apr 17, 04:24 PM
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Dibbing with Tink
 
Join Date: Jun 11
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The Best Made Plans of a Mouse and Her Men - Day 6
Day 6 – Wednesday 1st March
(Over, not) Under The Sea The Index is Here Day 5 is Here We had two alarms set for this morning – one at 5:45am and another at 6am. We needed to be up and about early as we had exciting plans for today. Something that we had looked at doing for our 2012 and 2016 Flozidays, but had talked ourselves out of, due to our reluctance to drive in Florida. We were finally making a return to Clearwater Beach – the stunning location of our wedding in 2005! NB: We had been back to Clearwater once since our wedding - having done Virgin Split Stays trips for both for our wedding (2005) and 1st anniversary (2006) Flozidays (a week in Orlando and a week in Clearwater, using the Virgin Transfer coach to get there). So, for this year’s trip, when after Christmas it turned out that we had a bit of money spare in the budget, Rich started looking into day trips – Florida Dolphin Tours seemed to be the best fit for us: the trip included transport (from The Swan), lunch and choice of experience (we went for the Sea Screamer). We booked with Attraction Tickets Direct - £61 each for me and Rich and £51 for Tom. Tom in particular was looking forward to today, as he’s mentioned a couple of times over the last few months that he’d like to try a beach holiday one day (he was too young to remember our previous visits, being 11 and 23 months at the time). The first alarm woke me up, but I let myself doze until the 2nd one went off. It didn’t take us long to get showered and dressed and we were ready to leave the room at 6:30am (I’m pretty sure that a cuppa would have featured in that 30 minutes). I'd pre-booked an Uber to pick us up at Old Port Royale between 6:45am and 7am and we knew (from the step counter on my phone) that the walk took 12 minutes, which meant no time to stop and take photos of the resort this morning. My phone was right, and we arrived at Old Port Royale at 6:43am. Once again, the WiFi signal wasn’t brilliant, but if I stood close to the door, I could see our driver Krysthel making her way to us. She arrived at 6:52am and was dropping us off outside The Swan at 7am (cost £6.20). Our pick-up time wasn’t until 8am, but being at The Swan gave us an opportunity to do something else that we’ve never been able to find time to squeeze into our previous trips – a mooch down to The Boardwalk to try the breakfast offerings at Boardwalk Bakery. This worked out perfectly – I absolutely loved The Boardwalk! It was quiet, peaceful and the sunrise was stunning! I took a lot of photos and selfies…  Resort Goals…  By the time we got to the Boardwalk Bakery we’d decided to use a Counter Credit each for breakfast with a drink, and another Counter Credit each to get a snack and drink to take with us...  This worked out brilliantly, as the Cast Member said we could have 3 snack items each for our credits. We ended up with a lot of food! We all went for the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Brioche Sandwich ($7.99), with a Cappuccino ($3.79) for me, OJ for Rich ($3.79) and a small Apple Juice ($1.99) for Tom…  Tom isn’t a big Egg fan, so we asked if he could have extra Bacon instead – they gave him loads…  The Sandwiches also came with a little pot of Pineapple Chunks each (sorry this one's a bit blurry) …  For our snacks, we chose 3 Blueberry Muffins ($3.29 each), an Apple Tarte ($4.79) and a Cheese Danish ($3.59). Rich didn’t want a 2nd cake, so we got another Apple Juice and 3 Bottles of Water ($2.75 each) …   Ever since watching Mac N Me I've wanted a drink in a cup with a little fold out paper handle  ... The rest of the goodies were boxed up to go, so I'll add the pics later when we were eating them...  All of this would have come to $69.50 inc. Tax, so it was a really good way to use up 6 Counter Credits on an off-site day! Unfortunately, it looked like all the seating on The Boardwalk had just been hosed down, so we had to stand to eat as everything was wet, but we didn’t mind. This was probably my favourite breakfast of the whole trip. The Breakfast Sandwiches were really tasty (especially Tom’s which was Bacon heaven). I had the Cheese Danish as my “breakfast pudding” and the boys had a Muffin each. I also ate my pot of Pineapple Chunks – neither of the boys fancied theirs, so I had a go at feeding some to the birds (who’d helped with the Muffins), but they weren’t interested (I did pick up the pieces that they left and put them in the bin).   Once we were full, and I’d finished my Cappuccino, it was time to mooch back to The Swan. We stopped for more photos, and Tom and I popped into the Photo Booth for some Memory Maker pics…      Tom took this great shot of The Dolphin reflected on my phone…  We were back in The Swan by about 7:50am, so plenty of time to pop to the restrooms and to make our way to the front of the lobby where we were due to be picked up...   We spotted a British mum and teenage son and guessed that they were waiting for the same trip (they were – hello if you are a Dibber  ).At 8:05am, our Florida Dolphin Tours bus arrived…  Our driver Madeline checked us off her list, giving us our lunch voucher, a copy of the lunch menu and some other leaflets as we got on the bus. We chose 3 seats at the back – it was a nice mini bus, with comfy leather seats and good a/c (but not so good suspension  ).We had one more pick up at Maingate Lake. Madeleine told us that we’d be driving straight through to Clearwater, so recommended we use the restrooms. Tom and I made the most of the opportunity (I'm not sure what hotel it was, but there was a Pizza Hut inside the lobby). We left Maingate Lake at 8:30am. Madeline spent some time introducing herself and asking which countries we were all from (there was quite a mix) – she did this in English and then again in Spanish. Then she said she’d leave us in peace until we were around Tampa, and put A Dolphin Tale on the overhead TVs. On the I-4...  I part-watched the film as I was catching up with my trippie notes, but the suspension really was bad, so it was really hard to write neatly. By 10am we were passing Tampa, and Madeline came back over the speaker to tell us a bit about some of the buildings we were passing (one was a casino, built on Indian grounds). We were soon crossing the Courtney Campbell Causeway - I absolutely adore this stretch of road – it’s so pretty with the sea on either side, and is my ultimate “Holiday Road” …   We hit a little bit of traffic as we approached Clearwater (it was amazing how familiar so many of the buildings were, even after 10 years), and we were soon passing the Courthouse (where we got our Marriage Licence), and the Scientology HQ building…  As we were on the bridge between Clearwater and Clearwater Beach, Rich mentioned that we were finally on “Holiday Road” – it was funny as we always talk about “Holiday Road” when we talk about Clearwater, but never realised that we were both thinking of different parts of the journey. I do like the bridge but still think that Courtney Campbell Causeway is the real one! We did a quick drop-off for the guests going to Clearwater Marina (Madeline explained to the guests that she would pick them up about 1ish to take them to the beach). There was lots of construction going on at the Marina, including a multi-storey car park being built, so I guess they are doing well since the movies came out…  Madeline drove us into Clearwater Beach, pointing out where our pick-up location would be (by Pier 60 at 4:45pm ready to leave at 5pm)...  Madeline then drove up to the Post Corner Restaurant (where our lunch voucher was for), and dropped us off at the beach opposite. She told us that we would need to be at the Sea Screamer at 1:45pm for our 2pm sailing. We left our Waters and last couple of Boardwalk Bakery goodies under the seat on the bus for the journey back. Tom popped into the little “beach hut” loos to change into his swimmers, whilst Rich and I took some selfies…   It felt so good to be back on this beautiful beach. The sea and sky were so much bluer than I remembered, it was truly stunning...  We plastered ourselves with Sun Spray and decided to talk a slow stroll down the water’s edge towards The Hilton hotel (where we stayed on our 2 visits, and where we got married). Tom was loving being in the sea, and Rich and I paddled – the water was lovely and mild…      At one point Tom realised that his Magic Band had fallen off his wrist. Luckily, he’d spotted it straight away and he found it in the water. I wore it (along with mine) for the rest of the day as he was worried it might fall off again. More pics as we got towards Pier 60…      At the Hilton, we got a can of soft drink each from the Tikki Bar ($3 each + $1 tip), and sat under an umbrella enjoying the shade and the icy drinks…     It was sooooo hot today – hitting 90 / 32 according to the forecast, so we were very wary of burning and got through a lot of SPF 50 spray between us. Before our Floziday, I had suspected that our little wedding Gazebo was no longer at The Hilton as it wasn’t on any photos online. I was right, but we are pretty certain that this is the exact spot where it stood…  We had to capture the moment...   These are the stairs that I had to walk down (my aisle) …  It was lovely to be back here, 11 years and 3 months after our lovely little wedding day…    The hotel staff were busy setting up tables and speakers for a wedding too .It was about 11:30am by now, so we decided to walk back to The Post Corner to have our lunch (we wanted to have time for it to settle before getting on the boat). The sand in Tom’s swimmers was irritating him a bit, so he got changed back into his shorts under a towel… We mooched slowly down via the road side (promenade?)...   We reminisced about eating in this Maccy Ds 11 and 10 years before - it was like The Birds, with them all gathering around us waiting for food scraps...  We popped into one of the “beach-tat” shops on the way up to price up Body Boards (for Tom to use today) and Rubber Rings (for the Lazy River at Cabana Bay). There were lots of these dolphin statues dotted around...  There were more shops to check out, so we didn’t buy anything yet, and carried on down to the restaurant, getting there just after 12pm…  It was quite a large restaurant – a bit dated and chintzy but nice and clean and the staff were friendly (but a bit slow). We ordered a Cherry Coke each and had a look at the menu (we had to choose from a limited selection, but there was plenty on there that we liked the sound of). It took a few minutes for our server to bring our drinks, so we were ready to order when she did. Rich and I both went for the BLT Sandwich (on White for me, Rye for Rich) and Tom had Bacon Cheeseburger. All 3 came with Chunky Chips and a Pickle…    The food was really tasty, and the Chunky Chips were a nice change from French Fries. There were no prices on our special menu, so we estimated that the meal would have cost around $40, and left a $6 (15%) tip as the service really had been quite slow, even though there were about 5 servers and less than 10 tables occupied. I popped to the restroom before we left and they had a bizarre bowl of what looked like coarse washing up liquid. The sign said that it was a Salt Scrub invented by a local fisherman, to help to get rid of the fishy smell and to moisturising dry hands. You could buy bottle of it too. I tried it and it was weird but quite nice – my hands felt very smooth afterwards. It was 12:50pm by the time we left the restaurant – just under an hour until we needed to check in at the Sea Screamer. So we slowly walked back up towards the Marina, popping into Surf Style on the way, where we spent about 30 minutes browsing more “beach tat” (alligator heads, shark teeth, beach toys, hermit crabs and Spring Break merchandise) and looking at the indoor Surf Simulator (which we didn’t have time for Tom to go on) …     I quite liked the Spring Break hoodies, and was intending to get one, but forgot by the time we’d finished browsing. Tom bought himself a Body Board ($8.99 + Tax), and we got a Rubber Ring each for me and Rich ($3.99 each + Tax) – Tom already had the one he’d bought last year at the Rosen Inn Gift Shop. We arrived at the Sea Screamer at 1:40pm – I checked us in for our 2pm sailing, and we covered ourselves in even more Factor 50 Spray…   Our Skippers started boarding us at 1:50pm, taking a photo of each group in front of the dolphin statue before we boarded. They suggested that Tom leave his Body Board and bag in the “office hut”, so we just had my bag to take on board. We got seats on the back row, nipped to the loo (the flush was a foot pedal), and we were setting out bang on time at 2pm. We paid $2 each for a can of soda (which we thought was great value), and they had beers too if we’d have fancied them. I’d taken so many photos already today that my camera battery was running out, so I switched to my phone for the rest of the day – I took a LOT of photos and videos…      The whole Sea Screamer experience was absolutely awesome! It was only an hour, but our Skippers packed loads in – we saw the "Belle Air" of Clearwater…  The house on the left is Lisa Marie Presley’s home, and the big brown one set back a bit is the former Busch residence – it sold a couple of years ago for $19m. Can you imagine? We had to slow down as we passed under the bridges, but once we were out in open water we really built up some speed. The Skippers would stop if they spotted any dolphins – we saw quite a few just bobbing about in the distance – it was lovely to see them. Once we found a largish pod, our Skippers explained that they were going to create a wake to see if we could get them to follow along – this was fabulous, and I managed to capture it on video too (hopefully the link below works, sorry about the partial finger over the lens at the end) … Here are a couple of screenshots...    Rich had seen them do this on YouTube when he was researching the excursion, but when the music kicked in it was a complete surprise for me and Tom – they couldn’t have picked a better song, it really was a brilliant moment! We sped out up the coast, to just past the Hilton, and then down again...        The Skippers had another attempt to get a pod to chase us, but they explained that it was feeding time for them so they might not be interested. They were right. Eventually our hour was almost up and we made our way back into the Marina…  Beach house goals...  It really was a fantastic experience, and one we’d highly recommend if you are ever in Clearwater. As we pulled in our Skippers reminded us that they work for tips - this isn’t something that we are usually fans of and it can put us off (we do tip, but don’t like to be asked), but they had been so good that we put $10 in the Tip Bucket as we disembarked. We did decline our souvenir photo though, it wasn’t a great pic and we’d captured so many photos anyway. Tom’s bag and Body Board had been fine in the office. We topped up our sun spray as soon as we were back on dry land (we’d used nearly a full can today and it was only 3pm). We wandered down past The Hilton (reminiscing about our stays there as we did), to where the old Outback Steakhouse and arcade used to be (so many memories that felt like months ago not years). We were hoping to spot Hogan’s Beach Shop, and were pleased that we found it…  Time was ticking on, so we had a quick mooch at the WWE memorabilia, and bought a Fridge Magnet ($3.50 + Tax) …    It was already 3:30pm by now which meant we only had an hour and 15 to squeeze in a bit more beach fun and a stroll on Pier 60, so we quickly popped into CVS to get a drink each – Dr Pepper ($1.99) for Rich, Grape Soda ($1.59) for Tom and a bottle of Water for me ($1.77). I also picked up another can of SPF 50 Spray ($11.79) and a Maybelline Lipsalve ($4.49) as my lips were quite dry today (this all came to $22.71 with Tax). We topped up our Sun Spray (again) and headed for 40 minutes of beach fun - Tom changed just inside the little lounger storage building, with me protecting his dignity with a towel. I chilled out on the sand, looking after the bags and taking pics whilst Tom played with his Body Board and Rich took some photos on his iPad…               Rich and I swapped for a couple of minutes so that I could quickly dip my toes in the water, and I picked up a couple of shells to remind us of our lovely day. The water was lovely and cooling after a hot hot hot day! Another quick change in the storage building for Tom, and it was time to have our wander up to the end of Pier 60 and back. We stopped off to use the restrooms and lost about 10 minutes waiting due to so many people using them to get changed. We still had just enough time to walk to the end and back…      I was going to buy a lovely souvenir scented candle for Mom on the way back, but the vendor wasn’t there. The nearby vendors said he was just in the restrooms, so I waited a couple of minutes but had to give up as it was 4:43pm and we needed to be at the bus by 4:45pm. I did take a couple of minutes to pop into the ladies, and we were sat back in our seats by 4:50pm. Madeline was happy as we’d all made it on time, which meant that she could leave a couple of minutes early (she’d explained that there would be lots of traffic due to Rush Hour on the way back). Madeleine handed out some survey cards and pens, and asked us to complete them on the journey back. She also explained that she would try to drive straight through, but that she’d let us know when she was coming up to a rest stop in case anyone really needed to stop. She put on the rest of Dolphin Tale and we chilled out watching it as we made our way out of Clearwater and towards Courtney Campbell Causeway. Tom and I tucked into the last of our Boardwalk Bakery goodies as we drove out of Clearwater - the Apple Tarte for me, and the final Blueberry Muffin for him (Rich wasn't hungry)...   There was quite a bit of traffic on the Causeway and all the way through Tampa. The sun was setting behind us, and I tried to capture it as we were driving along, but by now my phone battery was dying and this was my last shot...  I did manage to get a couple on the camera, but as the battery was low, they didn't come out great...   I then tried to capture the final moments of light on my iPad and these weren't much better…   We were pretty much at a standstill on the Interstate by Tampa when Madeleine asked for Mr Huxley to come to the front if the bus. We thought that maybe she had something for Tom (he was the only pre-teen child on board), so sent him down, but she told him she needed an adult, so I walked down to talk to her. She told me that she’d be able to drop us straight off at Caribbean Beach, as the other Disney family (the mom and son from earlier) were staying at All Star Music. She asked me to keep this quiet as she wasn’t supposed to do unscheduled drop-offs (so we should have been going back to The Swan). I think it’s because we were running a bit later than planned due to the traffic. After Dolphin Tale had finished, Madeline put August Rush on. I’d never seen it before, and when it first started I thought it was going to be dire, but I quite enjoyed it. Tom mentioned that he needed the loo, and we realised that Madeline hadn’t asked if anyone needed to stop for the restroom break. We were almost in Orlando by now though, so he was ok to hang on. We were all quite tired after our day, so decided on the journey back that we’d have dinner at Old Port Royale again. We ended up being the 3rd drop off (after Maingate Lake and All Star Music), and we were pulling into Custom House just after August Rush had finished at 8pm, with the Star Wars Fireworks in the sky as we stepped off the bus. We handed our survey card and pen to Madeline, along with a $15 tip (we gave her an extra $5 as she’d saved us an Uber fare). We’d decided that Rich would take Tom’s Body Board and bag back to the room and pick up our Resort Mugs, meeting me and Tom at Old Port Royale, so he headed straight off whilst Tom and I nipped into Custom House to use the restrooms. Tom and I agreed that we didn’t mind walking to Old Port Royale (via Barbados and Martinique), but as we were crossing the road to Barbados the Internal Shuttle was just pulling up so we jumped on that instead and saved our legs. We grabbed a Turkey BLT for Rich as he’d enjoyed it so much last night ($10.99) – I asked for Jerk Chips again (it was a choice of Chips or Salad), but ended up being given a portion of Fries instead, which was Much better. Tom wasn’t mega hungry, so he and I shared a Jumbo Pepperoni Pizza ($9.99) and an 8 Piece Nuggets and Fries ($9.49). We swapped our drinks for a side of Fries for Tom ($2.99), a Cheesecake for me ($4.29) and a Mickey Premium for Rich ($5) – this would have been $45.20 inc. Tax, but we used 3 Counter Credits, and we could come back to collect the Mickey Premium after we’d eaten our entrees…. NB: No food pics tonight due to all the various device batteries all running out, so here is the BLT from Day 5, the Nuggets from Day 4 and the Pizza from Google, to break up this part of the day with some pics ...    By the time Tom and I had sorted out the food, Rich had arrived with our Resort Mugs, had got us all some drinks and had found a table. Everything was tasty and hit the spot. We boxed up Tom’s half of the Pizza to go, and also took my Cheesecake back to the room. Rich was too full to get his Mickey Premium, and neither me nor Tom fancied it, so we didn’t bother collecting it from the freezer. Absolutely shattered by now, we topped up our Resort Mugs and walked back to Aruba. I had to have a quick shower before I got into bed as I was feeling very salty from the sea air. I discovered that I was a little bit pink on my shoulders (even with all that Factor 50), but it wasn’t sore and didn’t even need any After Sun. After my shower, I sat on the bed to eat my dessert. When I’d picked it, for some reason I had thought that it was Key Lime Pie (even though there was no meringue on it), so when I had my first spoonful I was completely surprised by the taste. I usually like Cheesecake, but this one wasn’t great and I’d been looking forward to something tarte, so it ended up in the bin. As I settled into bed we could hear Illuminations banging overhead, and I was fast asleep not much longer after that. It had been a truly awesome day, and we’d definitely do a day trip again. The only thing that would have made it even better would have been a 7pm pickup, so that we could have had a little bit more time after the Sea Screamer, and a chance to see the sunset, which I know would have been even more stunning from the beach or Pier 60, and possibly would have meant less traffic on the way back. Today's Totals... Step Count: 24,210 (18.47km / 961 kcals) Dining Plan: 9 Counter Credits / 0 Snack Credits ($114.50) QSDP Credits Left: 16 CC / 26 SC OOP Food / Drinks: $22.00 Other Spending: $57.17 Tom Spending: $9.50 Ubers: $6.20 Day 7 is Here
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Ems 🎢🎡🎠 Complete | Huxwolds (et Lola) En Tournee - DLP Feb 24 WIP | Huxwolds New York New York (June 24) - Pre Trippie Previous Trips | The Huxwolds Vacations - All Our Trippies In One Place Edited at 07:26 AM. |
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29 Apr 17, 06:51 PM
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VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Apr 04
Location: Rugby
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A great day out nice to have a day at the coast
 Joan 
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29 Apr 17, 09:37 PM
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Imagineer
Join Date: Jul 14
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Great day.will pop back later for rest of pics.just watched Scientology and the aftermath on sky.i had no idea that Clearwater was the home of their h.q till I watched it.
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29 Apr 17, 11:49 PM
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Thread Starter
Dibbing with Tink
Join Date: Jun 11
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__________________
Ems 🎢🎡🎠 Complete | Huxwolds (et Lola) En Tournee - DLP Feb 24 WIP | Huxwolds New York New York (June 24) - Pre Trippie Previous Trips | The Huxwolds Vacations - All Our Trippies In One Place |
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29 Apr 17, 11:51 PM
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Thread Starter
Dibbing with Tink
Join Date: Jun 11
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I knew about the HQ but was surprised when Madeline told us it had been there since the 70s (it was a luxury hotel before then).
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Ems 🎢🎡🎠 Complete | Huxwolds (et Lola) En Tournee - DLP Feb 24 WIP | Huxwolds New York New York (June 24) - Pre Trippie Previous Trips | The Huxwolds Vacations - All Our Trippies In One Place |
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30 Apr 17, 07:54 AM
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VIP Dibber
Join Date: Feb 16
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What a fantastic day. It looked gorgeous in your photos.
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Abby  New pre trip report - Summer 2024 Link to all my completed trip reports 2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston. 2018: Orlando. Berlin. 2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC. 2020: DLP. 2021: Jamaica. Rome. 2022: Orlando. 2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto. |
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30 Apr 17, 07:54 AM
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VIP Dibber
Join Date: Jun 14
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What an amazing day, Clearwater is beautiful and your pics are amazing 😊
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30 Apr 17, 11:19 AM
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Imagineer
Join Date: May 13
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A great day Clearwater beach looks amazing!
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Danielle Gryffindor's do Florida August 2017 trip report *COMPLETE* Gryffindor's back again August 2018 pre trippie |
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30 Apr 17, 03:37 PM
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Imagineer
Join Date: Mar 16
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Great day! Clearwater looks absolutely stunning
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30 Apr 17, 04:49 PM
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Thread Starter
Dibbing with Tink
Join Date: Jun 11
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__________________
Ems 🎢🎡🎠 Complete | Huxwolds (et Lola) En Tournee - DLP Feb 24 WIP | Huxwolds New York New York (June 24) - Pre Trippie Previous Trips | The Huxwolds Vacations - All Our Trippies In One Place |
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