Our last day of work under the offer was September 15th, but due to the approaching Hurricane Florence, many vacationers left and there was no work at the hotel. Everyone living in the danger zone was strongly advised to evacuate, but like true Russians, we stocked up on juice and sweets and sat in front of the TV, waiting for the hurricane (my high school safety teacher would have had a heart attack if he knew about this). But the hurricane never reached us; on our last workday, we just went to work and said goodbye to our managers and the guys we had worked with all summer.
For the last two days of our stay in Virginia Beach, we walked along the beach, drank coffee, and just enjoyed the moment.
On the evening of the 17th, we started our journey.
Virginia Beach - Orlando - Miami - New York.
There were five of us, and we went by car. It turned out that none of us had planned the route taking into account the hurricane in North and South Carolina. The main highway and some other roads were closed; they were flooded in places due to heavy rainfall.
For about 20 hours, we zigzagged in search of an open road, periodically receiving GPS notifications like, 'Beep, beep, evacuate this area immediately, flooding will occur here in a few hours!' It was scary; there was no gas at the gas stations. The Americans we asked for directions told us to wait a couple of days in a nearby hotel, but again, the Russian spirit inside us said, 'Are you kidding? Orlando is waiting for us, we can't just sit in some hotel just because everything is flooded and the roads are closed!' And so, tired and sleepy, we reached Orlando and checked into a hotel.
Here is a cool life hack: if you worked at a hotel like we did, ask your manager for a corporate discount; it will save you a decent amount of money.
On the second day, we went to Universal Studios. These are gorgeous attractions, the whole atmosphere, the scenery... simply the embodiment of a childhood dream. The park will appeal to everyone, both fans of science fiction films like me, and those who are not thrilled with sci-fi, like my friend. By the end of the day, there were no lines; we were a little tired, but we still went for a second, and sometimes a third, round on the rides.
