We’re used to extreme trips here at IgoUgo, but nothing like what launches Monday: the space shuttle Atlantis’ extraterrestrial trek to the International Space Station. Luckily, one IgoUgo member just spilled her secrets to sharing in the adventure--for free.
As she tells us in her Shuttle Launch story, Meggysmum wanted to see a launch while in Orlando but didn’t want to pay expensive launch-day NASA entrance fees that run up to about $80 per person. Instead, she and her family hopped on the Bee Line Expressway in search of the perfect viewing location.
They found it on the bridge to Merritt Island when they noticed several cars parked on the roadside. Arriving before the crowd of onlookers grew too large, they were able to easily park and join the “chatty” group listening to Space Center radio transmissions. And as the only people visiting from England, the family was even interviewed by a local radio station before a “tense” countdown and “enormous boom” transfixed the audience.
"The experience was one of the highlights of our holiday,” she says, “and I would encourage anyone to go and see a launch. You may have to sit around for hours, but the exhilaration is amazing and it is a sight I won’t forget for a long time.”
Another launch-day idea is to check into a hotel with launch-pad views. For this, our travelers recommend the Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort and the Royal Mansions Resort in Cape Canaveral or the Discovery Beach Resort in Cocoa Beach.
And if you do head to Florida’s Space Coast, be sure to consult travelers’ reviews and stories of the Kennedy Space Center for more astronomical fun.
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