Back in 2019, I decided to take the reins on my birthday celebration. I decided that year that I would travel for my birthday every year following (pre-COVID obviously). I hadn’t done a lot of traveling in my life but I was getting better at it. That year was the Orange Beach trip. We all know what happened in 2020.

Unfortunately for most of 2020 I was housebound. Too many things were on lockdown. There were new surges of COVID-19 happening all year long. It seemed as though it would never end. Then 2021 stepped up and gave me hope. I watched as the world began to open back up again and so in the summer, I began planning my “annual” birthday trip. This time, however, I had an extra person in my traveling pack - my boyfriend.

After much thought and consideration we chose to visit Clearwater, Florida. The beach was nice, it was near Orlando and (bonus) one of my high school best friends lives there now! The idea was to do one day at Universal Studios since none of us had ever been and my son is the ultimate Scooby Doo fan (they had the gang at Universal). The rest of the time was dedicated to being complete beach bums!

First things first, we decided to fly out of Chicago because it was the only airport with a direct flight at the time and the cost was cheaper. I will say, after experience, that this was a poor decision on our part. Driving the 3 hours to Chicago was okay. We did this in the evening. But our flight kept getting more and more delayed. We didn’t leave the airport until around midnight, getting us to Orlando and checked into our hotel around 4am. We had planned to start our day at 8am so let’s just say…we were on the struggle bus.

Universal Studios - Orlando

We arrived to Universal Studios and getting into the park was a piece of cake. The crowd wasn’t too bad (we visited on a Wednesday in October). It was a gorgeous day and we were excited to get our start. Right away, we saw a “ride” for Shrek which we hopped in line for. Although we didn’t pay for a fast pass, the line moved pretty quickly.

I’ll say this….Universal Studios wasn’t at all what I had expected. I didn’t realize that the park was mostly simulators and not rides. So, throughout the day I was less than impressed. We didn’t enjoy a couple of rides like the Simpson simulator and Mason really enjoy the Woody the Woodpecker coaster, but overall I probably wouldn’t go back.

It wasn’t until we entered the portion of the park that was dedicated to Harry Potter that I was actually impressed. You enter Diagon Alley behind a secret brick wall and suddenly you are immersed in the world of Harry Potter.

If you’re an HP fan, you will absolutely love this portion of the park. There is a coaster/simulator experience that really is incredible. The ride makes you feel like you’re in the movie.

After we visited Diagon Alley, we decided to take advantage of our park hopper pass and head over to Islands of Adventure for the remainder of the day. We took the Harry Potter train over to Hogsmeade and were met with a beautiful scene of snow-covered buildings.

Personally, if I had to make the choice between the two parks, I’d choose the Island of Adventure next time. I feel like it was more our speed - more rides and coasters. We spent the rest of our day there which wasn’t much and only got through about 1/5 of the park.

Clearwater, Florida

We spent the 2nd day of our trip lounged out on the beaches of Clearwater. I ended up renting us an AirBnB that was right on the water. It had a fabulous view. Check out our AirBnB here! I told Russell that all I wanted to do for my birthday was just lay on the beach and relax…and that’s exactly what we did.

Our AirBnB came with lounge chairs and access to paddleboards and kayaks. We ended up taking the toys out on the water. While I was paddle boarding a single dolphin swam RIGHT past us. It was truly an amazing experience.

The morning of my birthday was calm. I was the first to wake up. I made myself a cup of coffee and went out onto the balcony to watch the waves crash up on the shore as the early risers got in their morning walks. The seagulls were already scrounging around trying to find something to eat. And, every once in a while, a small crab popped out of the sand to take a peek at all of the action. This…was paradise.

Things to Do

If you’re looking for a vacation where you don’t spend a lot of money, staying on the beach is where it’s at! There are plenty of things for you to do. You can build a sandcastle, go kayaking, paddle boarding, look for shells or shark teeth and of course, swim!

If you’re looking for a little more adventure, there is a place about 20 minutes down the road called John’s Pass where there are plenty of restaurants, shopping, water sports and dolphin tours. We did end up visiting but didn’t stay very long. We got an ice cream on the pier and walked around a little bit before we headed back to our condo.

I will say that one of our biggest regrets was that we didn’t visit the aquarium where Winter, the dolphin was. It’s called the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. We had thought about it numerous times, but ultimately wanted to spend most of our time just being beach bums. We had no idea that Winter would end up dying shortly after we had been at Clearwater. Opportunity missed. So, although she isn’t there anymore, I’d recommend to at least visit the aquarium and support everything that they do there.