Thread: Anyone coming to Orlando for Orit workshop?

Originally Posted by Mayliz

Ok. Who is counting down the days? I'm raising my hand. Nine more days. Who-hoo. I can't wait.

same here! i can't wait!!

Originally Posted by loribelly

same here! i can't wait!!

Yay! Did you make it to Florida already? How was the move? I hope everything went smooth for you. And I'm not going to make it to the Miami Bellydance Convention, even though Nathalie's awesome - such a sweetheart - and a friend to my instructor, Suspira of Orlando Bellydance, and others in the area. I'm going to try to do it next year, if they do a follow up. I think they will. As far as I've heard, they've almost sold out of rooms. Can you believe the price? $115 for Intercontinental is such a great rate. We stay there sometimes when my husband works from Miami and I tag along.

Anyway, I could only afford one or the other.....cr.:

Hope you have fun if you go... and report back, please.

Originally Posted by Mayliz

Yay! Did you make it to Florida already? How was the move? I hope everything went smooth for you. And I'm not going to make it to the Miami Bellydance Convention, even though Nathalie's awesome - such a sweetheart - and a friend to my instructor, Suspira of Orlando Bellydance, and others in the area. I'm going to try to do it next year, if they do a follow up. I think they will. As far as I've heard, they've almost sold out of rooms. Can you believe the price? $115 for Intercontinental is such a great rate. We stay there sometimes when my husband works from Miami and I tag along.

Anyway, I could only afford one or the other.....cr.:

Hope you have fun if you go... and report back, please.

I'll get to Miami on sunday... I can't wait!
I will only go to the Bellydance Convention on saturday for a few workshops and to enjoy the show! I don't know anybody in the area so I'm eager to see who's teching and dancing. I've seen videos of most teachers, but met just a few... it's gonna be fun to finally study with them!

Originally Posted by loribelly

I'll get to Miami on sunday... I can't wait!
I will only go to the Bellydance Convention on saturday for a few workshops and to enjoy the show! I don't know anybody in the area so I'm eager to see who's teching and dancing. I've seen videos of most teachers, but met just a few... it's gonna be fun to finally study with them!

I hope you have a safe flight to your new home. The next time I'm in Miami, we'll have to hook up.

Looks like I am not going to be able to make it afterall unless a miracle occurs. A $1500 repair to my van's transmission just ate up the trip to Orlando plus some other plans I had. I do plan on ordering the show dvds so I can share in the fun that way.

Have a wonderful time all you Bhuzzers!

Souzan

umm...Florida is in a state of emergency due to the incoming storm Fay.

Visitors urged to leave Florida Keys ahead of Fay - Yahoo! News

here's the projected trajectory...

Hurricane 2008! From AccuWeather.com

This will make the family vacation very interesting. I've never been in a hurricane before...any advice??

Originally Posted by Souzan

Looks like I am not going to be able to make it afterall unless a miracle occurs.

Me either. ..cr.: Not even a miracle could fix things for me now. Between financial issues (can't take the week off) and a family crisis, I've had to cancel my flight and all my plans. I'm brokenhearted. This was going to be my ONE indulgence this year.

Oh, Lauren! Say it isn't so!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Me either. ..cr.: Not even a miracle could fix things for me now. Between financial issues (can't take the week off) and a family crisis, I've had to cancel my flight and all my plans. I'm brokenhearted. This was going to be my ONE indulgence this year.

Originally Posted by nasila

umm...Florida is in a state of emergency due to the incoming storm Fay.

Visitors urged to leave Florida Keys ahead of Fay - Yahoo! News

here's the projected trajectory...

Hurricane 2008! From AccuWeather.com

This will make the family vacation very interesting. I've never been in a hurricane before...any advice??

The only thing I can say is stay tuned to the news. We went through Charley, Frances and Jeanne back in 2004. Pure disaster. This shouldn't be so bad, maybe lots of rain. If it hits on Monday/Tuesday, we should be fine by Thursday. This one's still not packing a lot of punch. Charley hit the coast as a Cat 4 and by the time it made it inland, it was Cat 1. Just wanted to add - storms do change overnight. They can pick up speed, shift direction, or disintegrate rather quickly. Not even forecasters can predict where exactly they will land. I remember that over a million people evacuated Tampa for Charley, which ended up entering way south of Tampa. Everyone who came to Central Florida in search of refuge ended up getting run over by the storm, anyway. So it's a tricky situation.

If you're flying, prepare for delays. I wouldn't recommend the roads unless it's absolutely necessary.

Being in a hurricane is one of the most god-awful experiences ever. But this shouldn't be one of those storms...well, it doesn't look like it, anyway. Keep watching the news. That's what we do over here. Where I used to work, we used to tape the projectory on our doors...wishing that the storms hit on a work week so we got the day off. That was fun until we got pummeled by our first real hurricane.

..c::

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Me either. ..cr.: Not even a miracle could fix things for me now. Between financial issues (can't take the week off) and a family crisis, I've had to cancel my flight and all my plans. I'm brokenhearted. This was going to be my ONE indulgence this year.

I'm sorry to hear this, Lauren and Souzan. This year has been one of the toughest, financially, for us, too. It's just dreadful.

One more thing regarding the storm: here's the link to our local newspaper in case you want to track it.

If it keeps on it's current predicted path, I might be better off in Orlando to avoid a direct hit from the center of the storm!

National Hurricane Center

But Mayliz is right, just keep an eye on the developing situation and hopefully it will come and go without much ado. It's very hard to predict where these things might go and what kind of punch they might pack in any portion of the storm. For those of us who are inland, rain and flooding is usually the worst part.

I am wondering at what point the workshop will either be canceled or a definite go....

Well, by Thursday when the workshops start, the storm is supposed to be well up into Georgia. So as long as the hotel and surrounds aren't flooded when it passes through on Tuesday I'd guess it'll be a go.

We're flying into North Carolina for a layover on Tuesday afternoon and the storm is supposed to be smack dab between us and Orlando. I wonder what that means...

The workshop will most likely NOT be cancelled. The storm will be long gone by Thursday and it is unlikely that Orlando would have much damage. The state of emergency was declared to prevent insurance companies from suddenly cancelling policies in coastal areas, to allow mandatory evacuation orders if necessary, jump start the laws on price gouging, and get the emergency operations center going. Florida stresses preparedness.

The biggest problems could be from air travel delays and some heavy rains for those driving to Orlando from points north. If I hadn't already determined that I can't afford to go, I might have had to miss Thursday since I would have been driving through the storm on Wednesday to get from Tallahassee to Orlando.

But having lived in Florida all my life I can tell you that storms change course, grow and fall in intensity, and that most damage is from storm surge and coastal flooding where there storm comes ashore. Orlando is well inland and on high ground.

A good source for info would be Orlando news, information, weather, hurricane coverage, sports, entertainment, shopping, restaurants, real estate, jobs, business, classifieds -- OrlandoSentinel.com, the Orlando newspaper. Right now Orlando is expecting tropical storm conditions overnight on Tuesday. That means lots of rain, some trees down, thunderstorms and clear blue skies by Thursday.

Souzan

i'm flying in wednesday, and hoping this wont cause any problems.

ps, anyone else booked the shuttle service andrea send the link to? i did, and the money went of my credit card, but i never receiced any reservation code or confirmation pick up time or anything.

i'm supposed to book chris's shuttle too (he's arriving on the saturday), but i'm afraid of doing so now (and loosing even more money..)

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

i'm flying in wednesday, and hoping this wont cause any problems.

ps, anyone else booked the shuttle service andrea send the link to? i did, and the money went of my credit card, but i never receiced any reservation code or confirmation pick up time or anything.

i'm supposed to book chris's shuttle too (he's arriving on the saturday), but i'm afraid of doing so now (and loosing even more money..)

Artemisia, I really think everything is going to be okay. This is a tropical storm and not a hurricane. There is a chance it may become a Category 1 hurricane but the projected path us is to pass near the Florida Keys, enter the Gulf of Mexico and make landfall on the Florida mainland around Tampa, which is 50-60 miles west of Orlando and then continue north up the Gulf Coast of Florida.

By Saturday when Chris arrives it will be long over.

The biggest concern is damage from flooding from storm surge along the coast where everything is built right up to the water and the land is at sea level.

Orlando should be just fine.

Souzan

oooh noooo! i was sooo looking forward to meeting you!!!

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Me either. ..cr.: Not even a miracle could fix things for me now. Between financial issues (can't take the week off) and a family crisis, I've had to cancel my flight and all my plans. I'm brokenhearted. This was going to be my ONE indulgence this year.

Originally Posted by Souzan

By Saturday when Chris arrives it will be long over.

thanks souzan. and my loosing money comment was just about the damn shuttle service (airport to hotel) that doesnt answer my emails!!! chris is crap at traveling and sorting this stuff out, and after over 20 hours of train, waiting in brussels, train, waiting in paris, airplane, waiting in washington, more airplane, he is going to be like super grumpy so i wanted to get this sorted for him...

I would talk to Andrea. Maybe there is a different shuttle service she could recommend. Andrea is really good about making sure the details are right.

Souzan

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

thanks souzan. and my loosing money comment was just about the damn shuttle service (airport to hotel) that doesnt answer my emails!!! chris is crap at traveling and sorting this stuff out, and after over 20 hours of train, waiting in brussels, train, waiting in paris, airplane, waiting in washington, more airplane, he is going to be like super grumpy so i wanted to get this sorted for him...

He can always catch a taxi. It's only about fifteen minutes from the airport to the hotel, a very easy drive, too.

Mayliz, where do you live? I am in Tallahassee. In 2005 Hurricane Dennis didn't even officially hit Florida (stayed out in the Gulf) but lost part of our roof anyway when one of the feeder bands spawned a tornado and then had our insurance cancelled and the claim denied and ended up having to pay for roof repairs ourselves. Go figure.

I think the state of emergency is a precaution so that the Governor can mobile the guard, get disaster assistance in place before the storm, give local governments the authority to close schools, etc.

My friends living on St. Pete beach are sandbagging and packing up to leave in case the bridges are closed.

Souzan

As far as inland effects, they've always been very slight in the eighteen years that I've lived here. The storms fall apart by the time they make it here. It wasn't until Charley hit that we experienced our first real hurricane.
I know people on the coast suffer far more damages than we do, and I don't mean to sound like I don't care. And I'm sorry you guys went through so much because of Dennis. Tornadoes are the scariest part of these storm systems, and a lot of people don't realize that tornadoes can cause some of the worst damages during storms.

Hi Mayliz, my sister lives in Winter Haven and I remember that summer of 2004. Because her disabled daughter was on a ventilator they would have to evacuate to a hospital for each storm just in case power went out. Fortunatley she never had any damage to her home but a lot of homes in Polk County had the blue tarps for a long time. It took us 6 months before a roofer could get to us and so we lived the blue roof life for a while too.

No closing up here yet. I guess they are wait and see what happens in the next 12-18 hours.

Souzan

For those of you flying in tomorrow night, here's the link to Orlando International Airport. So far, no delays for OIA.

Hope everyone gets here safely.

the workshop has been held already, isn't it?
So, tell me how you find her. I as surprised that there was no messages on that matter, unless it is coming this week-end

Yes, it was Aug. 21-24.

Orit's website is ×�ורית מפציר - ריקוד ×”×*שמה

Two other threads here:
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/rest-belly...t-orlando.html
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/bhuz-meet-...rit-aziza.html

Originally Posted by picotine

the workshop has been held already, isn't it?
So, tell me how you find her. I as surprised that there was no messages on that matter, unless it is coming this week-end

By the way, THANK YOU to the above posters for all the links! They were very helpful while we sat around waiting to see what the storm would do to our flights.