The Thanksgiving holiday is finally upon us and I’ve been busy planning a Florida travel itinerary for the big week off of school. We thought we might have to improvise a winter holiday sans snow, but I’m going to reveal how creative Floridians can get when faced with mostly palm trees and sand!

Once I started planning an Orlando getaway, a few friends jumped on the bandwagon, saying that they too felt that when you live in Paradise, why go anywhere else?

Selfishly, I admit, I knew I could get some work done and avoid the holiday airport rush. Besides, I just got off a plane from holiday shopping in New York City and was very happy to put the wool coat and boots back in my closet and pull out my flip flops for a few days of family fun with friends.

Last week, I volunteered for the “Great American Teach-In” at my sons’ school and spoke about my career as a travel writer. After all, the fact that I have to tote my kids to all of Florida’s theme parks and attractions as part of my career makes it very appealing to the under-10 set. Hands shot up: “How does my mom get that super cool job?”

You can always count on your kids to bring you down a notch. My oldest son, Jack, confessed that I did not have the best speech. (Well, the veterinarian showed some cool anatomical molds of a dog’s mouth and the Post Office employee handed out awesome stickers. My laptop was having some serious technical difficulties.)

“Don’t feel too bad mom,“ he said, as he tried to redeem himself. “They said you definitely had the best job!“

One thing is for sure. I’ve convinced about 50 American children that if they practice their writing, they will get to see Mickey about 5 times a year!

I polled the classes about their favorite Florida vacation spots in an effort to decide where I should take my boys for this impending holiday. The tally marks showed Disneyworld and Universal Studios, Orlando, as the top choices among first graders. The Space Coast and Palm Beach were close behind.

Universal got my vote too. We leave tomorrow for several days at the Royal Pacific Resort, a Loews property. (www.universalorlando.com and www.loewshotels.com)

I love staying there because the room key gets you to the front of the lines at Universal Orlando theme parks. Why not travel like a rock star? There is no extra charge for this Universal Express ride access. Plus, the hotel offers water taxis and shuttles between the resort, theme parks and Universal City Walk. The restaurant also serves sushi. Personally, I can think of no better pre-Thanksgiving meal than a spicy tuna roll!

We are excited to check out some of Orlando’s nightlife now that the kids are older -- especially Blue Man Group. This may possibly be the one Thanksgiving that three blue men become more exciting than grandpa’s magic tricks. (Sorry dad.)

And, finally, since we are “snowless in Tampa,“ we’re going to check out the Gaylord Palms Resort’s ICE! exhibit on our way home. The hand-carved wonderland is made from nearly two million pounds of ice! At a frigid 9 degrees, the “Florida Fridge” will give the kids a good dose of winter.