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Ooh I love a bit of controversy in a Trip Report! For me, I don't care if I don't know the plot (listening to a soundtrack actually doesn't tell me all that much about the plot anyway), but I love being familiar enough with the music to be able to at least recognise it when it comes up. Just...

AA1170 MCO-DCA First Class. 27,600 Qantas points plus A$5.60. “American Airrlarnes… Have the prrtiest playynes…” Come From Away is one of my favourite musicals, and that line kept playing through my head as I walked into the terminal and saw that the American Airlines “Priority” check-in was...

Reflections on my time in Florida: I really have no superlatives to describe my time here. I’ll let my posts speak for themselves. Every time – every time – I reflect on these last two days, I tear up. This is the only leg of my trip which has been entirely dedicated to space-related stuff. I...

Today is moving day. I gave myself a much-needed sleep-in and awoke just in time to grab some of the buffet breakfast before it closed. I also had a look at what will be awaiting me later today: After breakfast I did some packing and then I attempted a walk. I say “attempted” because I was...

Oops! Yes, it's still there, I took it, and I agree that it's amazing. It fell through the cracks in my report because (a) it was closed in the morning and I came back and did it later in the day, after my bus tour, (b) you can't take photos once the ride starts, and (c) I was quite weary by the...

Having yet another dinner at Cracker Barrell didn't even bother me. And it was very easy to resist the temptation to have dessert. After a day like today, I did not feel any need for comfort food!

Immediately after that was an “Astronaut Encounter”. The astronaut in question was Julie Payette. She flew two Space Shuttle missions and was a Mission Specialist who helped construct the International Space Station. After her time as an astronaut she spent some time as Governor-General of...

I then ventured into the “Journey to Mars” exhibition, which, likewise, focuses on current and future Mars exploration. It was good seeing lifesize models of the Mars rovers: I’d seen pictures of them many times, but like all the other spacecraft I’d seen, it’s difficult to get an accurate...

At first glance, the rest of the day might seem a little anticlimactic. But it wasn’t for me – I was on a planet-sized high and just taking in everything I could. After several minutes I returned to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, and spent some time walking around the Apollo Garden. I then...

That is very, VERY good advice!!

I SAW A ROCKET LAUNCH! 😃😃😃😃😃😃 I have now officially run out of superlatives to describe this trip so far. It was still very cold today – in fact the morning show on the TV in the hotel dining room was leading with the cold snap in the SE of the United States. So having checked that the...

Thanks for letting me know about that documentary -- I hadn't heard about it. I'll watch it as soon as I get the chance. To anyone who's interested, I’d highly recommend the documentary movies In the Shadow of the Moon (2007), Apollo 11 (2019), The Farthest – Voyager in Space (2017) and TV...

Can anyone recommend a restaurant I can use the credit at in Washington, DC? I'll be staying in Navy Yard, on Potomac Ave -- I notice that there are a few options that seem to be in the vicinity. Off-topic but sort-of related-ish question: to use the DC public transport system (WMATA) can I...

At my hotel, there is one, and only one, dinner option that does not involve risking one’s life by sprinting across a busy freeway that has no pedestrian crossing. That option is the Cracker Barrel. So for the second night I went there for dinner, determined to eat more healthily than last...

Then I headed back to KSC for an excellent, and moving, IMAX movie on the new James Webb Space Telescope and its amazing discoveries. It was then 10 minutes before closing time. But I was pleasantly surprised to be let into the “Heroes and Legends” exhibition, which was also excellent...

The bus then dropped us of at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. After another excellent multimedia presentation, the doors opened to reveal a full Saturn V rocket. Yes, it was the second one I’d seen in 4 days, but as I’ve always said, you can never have too many Saturn V rockets! It was equally as...

And then it was time for my 11am bus tour of Cape Canaveral. I’d paid US$26.75 extra to upgrade to an “Explorer Tour” which was longer and with more stops – a no-brainer, given how far I’d come and how long I’d waited to be there! This is Cape Canaveral from a distance. First stop was the...

After looking at a couple more displays, including one of the abovementioned Hubble Telescope, I went downstairs to have a look at the underside of Atlantis, as well as more displays. There was also a memorial for the dead Challenger and Columbia astronauts which was quite moving.

The first stop was the Space Shuttle Atlantis building. The first part of the experience was a couple of short, but excellent, multimedia shows outlining the history of the Space Shuttle programme, then the wall literally opened up and I found myself face-to-face with a Space Shuttle! A...

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but today was another 10 out of 10 day. I keep asking myself why I deserve this – one dream fulfilled after another. But first things first: the rocket launch was rescheduled to tomorrow. That works out better for me anyway. If I can catch the launch tomorrow...