Welcome to the Sunshine State

20 years ago, a colleague once asked me: "You travel so much, don't you want to go to the USA sometime?" At that time, like a shot from a pistol, a clear no came. Nothing about the USA appeals to us. We don't want to go there. As luck would have it, the starting point of a Caribbean cruise was Fort Lauderdale in Florida. From that point on, we were gripped by the USA fever.

We have now traveled to countless places in the land of unlimited possibilities. But no state has impressed us as much as Florida. Meanwhile, traveling to Florida is like coming home. We travel here almost every year and enjoy the sun and the carefree life.

Our travel month, November, is actually a good time. It is no longer as oppressively hot as in summer and it rains less often.

Now it is quite possible that a plug of cold air from the north of Canada and the USA makes it to the south and so we have often frozen in November with night temperatures of around 0 degrees and daytime temperatures of 15 degrees and wished we had the snowsuits included. Thank God the cold goes away as quickly as it came and after 2-3 days you are lying on the beach with 28 degrees, sunshine and a bright blue sky and treating the chilblains of the last few days.

Normally in November you are spared from the dreaded hurricanes that regularly devastate Florida. But the rule also applies here: it is certain that nothing is certain.

This year is an El Niño year. A weather phenomenon that is causing the temperature of the Pacific to rise and causing chaos in the world's weather kitchens. Surprisingly, there were no strong hurricanes this year, although the Atlantic experienced maximum temperatures. I don't know whether El Niño caused that. But I am very sure that a climate scientist knows an answer to this question, which is somehow that climate change is to blame.

After 14 days in tropical Costa Rica, we are now looking forward to cooling off a bit in Florida.

This year we are daring to do another experiment. Practically for us it is also an El Niño year two big changes in one vacation.

Instead of traveling to Venice in Southwest Florida's Cape Coral, we're vacationing in Davenport near Orlando. Our children are recovering here and we join them in the hope that this experiment will be successful. (I already miss the canals of Cape Coral)!

After only 3 hours of flight we reach the capital of amusement parks. It is pleasantly warm, without the high humidity of Costa Rica. Our son-in-law, who picks us up from the airport, says that it has been raining all day and it continues to rain on the drive to Davenport. No need to worry, this kind of rain passes quickly here in the Sunshine State. When it rained continuously the next day, we got a little restless and watched the news. Please what? A tropical storm has made itself at home off the east coast of Florida as it moves from Jamaica across the Atlantic, bringing torrential downpours to the Sunshine State. Great, we were caught in the biblical flood. At times it rains so heavily that we look for the nearest boat dealer who will take a car in as payment when renting a boat.

We spend the day with our granddaughter in Crayola Land. A paradise for children where everything revolves around the famous crayons. Yes, Americans know how to give children fun and games. We paint, melt down Crayolas and make funny figures out of them and we make our crowns that we paint with Crayolas. We are all becoming a little bit like children again. A great experience.

We have planned a visit to Disneyworld for the next day. The tropical storm is stuck and apparently has a plan to sink all of Florida. So we politely asked Disneyworld if we could reschedule the appointment with Mickey and Minnie. The lady on the phone took pity and the appointment was rescheduled for a not inconsiderable surcharge. Thank God. I had already seen myself dressed in neoprene and Mickey Mouse ears riding a boat through the Magic Kingdom, accompanied by Ariel and Nemo.

Eventually the storm runs out of steam and becomes a measly low-pressure area that will surely soon provide the Europeans with rain and wind. But we got rid of him.

Tomorrow it will be thanks to Peter

Kennedy Space Center we have no problem.