By Imran Malik
We landed at Orlando Airport around 1 am. The city was quiet, and the airport looked calm with only a few people around. After collecting our luggage, Asim and I walked toward the taxi area. Suddenly, it reminded me of Lahore Airport, when a taxi driver rushed toward us and offered us a ride.
Asim’s home was almost an hour away from the airport. During the journey, we kept talking and laughing, so the time passed quickly. However, the taxi driver cleverly took a longer route and charged us an extra 10 to 15 dollars. He probably thought we were ordinary tourists. Asim handled the situation with great experience and also released some Punjabi frustration along the way.
Asim’s house was in one of Orlando’s peaceful suburban areas. From there, we took a car and headed toward the hotel. It was around 2:30 am and we were extremely hungry. Stopping at McDonald’s for takeaway food felt like a blessing at that hour. After reaching the hotel, I fell onto the bed as if years of unfinished sleep had finally arrived together.
The next morning, Asim said we had eaten enough English food and that it was now time for proper desi food. Florida, the state strongly linked with Trump and the Republicans, looked very clean and organised. The weather was beautiful and unpredictable. One moment, there was sunshine, and the next, rain started to fall. The sky view from the hotel room was simply stunning.
In the afternoon, Asim picked me up and took me to an Indian restaurant nearby that had an amazing buffet. Chicken curry, lentils, potato bhaji and pakoras were all delicious, but the real star was the mango lassi. Its taste is still fresh in my memory, especially because halal food options at the hotel breakfast were very limited.
One thing is clear: Pakistani and Indian food has successfully made Americans fall in love with spicy food. Interestingly, there were more local Americans in the restaurant than South Asians.
After lunch, we took some memorable pictures outside the restaurant and then drove toward Orlando’s university district. There we found a beautiful Arab coffee shop. The sun was strong outside, but the atmosphere inside was relaxing and lively. Asim insisted that we should drink tea instead of coffee, no matter how expensive it was. With tea, strawberry cheesecake and long conversations, we completely lost track of time.
The place was full of Arab students, and the entire area felt energetic and vibrant.
When we came out of the coffee shop, it had started raining. Our next destination was Disney Boardwalk. During the drive, we kept worrying that the rain might ruin the experience, but luckily, the weather had become perfect by the time we arrived after about 25 minutes.
The walk around the lake was magical. Colourful lights, cool weather and live music at different spots made the evening unforgettable. For a moment, it felt as if childhood Disney movies had come alive around us.
After walking for almost two hours, we were both tired and hungry again. On the way back, Asim found an Indian-Chinese restaurant. The food was exactly like Pakistani-style Chinese food, spicy, flavorful, and served in huge portions. Only the jasmine rice felt a little unusual to me; overall, the dining experience was excellent.
For dessert, I tried fried ice cream for the first time. It was truly a unique and unforgettable experience.
By then, the body had completely given up from tiredness. Around twenty minutes later, Asim dropped me at the hotel, and I fell asleep almost immediately. My eyes opened the next morning only because I did not want to miss the complimentary breakfast.
