Welcome to the city where the heat is on

“Welcome to Miami”, in the tuneful words of Will Smith.

So who’s been to America before? Probably many of you. Who’s had a great time in America before? Probably most of the ‘many’. Who’s backpacked in America before? Probably none of the ‘many’.

We’re finding that to enjoy America to its fullest, you need at least one, but likely multiple of the following:

1. A healthy budget.

2. A rental car.

3. A roaming Internet-connected device.

We have zero and that’s a problem. To add to that we’ve landed in tourist Florida and Miami of all places! If we were better prepared and researched like we normally are, we likely would have not come here. I say that as if there’s an abundance of choices for countries to visit. There really isn’t. I had a friend guess that we were off to Venezuela as it’s a neighbouring country to Colombia, blissfully unaware that international flights have been blocked there for some time. South America really has been so tightly locked down; as has most of the World.

There are also rumours that America will be one of the UK’s ‘green’ countries so that alone makes it worth the gamble. Then there’s my birthday too. Admittedly there’s an obvious allure to be abroad rather than in rainy WSM for a special birthday milestone. However this means trying to stretch out 3 weeks here in the USA and after just a few days, we’re very aware that we’re going to be limited in terms of what we can do here, financially.

Miami, as a backpacker, is not so great. Basic accommodation is super expensive, food and drink are expensive, there’s more Spanish-speaking than English and then there are the people in general. Definitely less refined, rougher, not overly friendly than other places in the US and anywhere else we’ve been in the last 5 months!

Observe the difference below between our final night stay in the Colombian capital versus the low end of accommodation in Miami – which happens to be twice as expensive with a shared bathroom. I suspect you’ll be able to work out which is which.

Mercifully, we felt the Colombia lady was quite rushed and so we sensed she was more of an, ‘…No idea, that could be a number of things. I’ll let the Yanks work it out on their end’ ‘🤣 Of course she didn’t say that but that’s what it felt. No complaints from us! So she lets us board and again we’re speechless for a short while as we play over in our minds feelings of disbelief and relief that something so serious could “pop up” at the absolute final stage of so many checks. Ridiculous.

Viv manages to get a sneaky pic once the lady had deactivated the “red alarm” and we were given the ‘ok’. The second image is of us landing in the USA and clearing customs without any issue at all. As it should be.

As for Uber, it was effortless but it was 25 dollars. We would discover over the days to follow that Miami has provided FREE public transportation for the last year! The local government clearly understands the importance of the transportation network for the thousands of workers that rely on it and the fact that the city reportedly has so much budgetary money left, it can afford to do so. A bit like many folks back home and how Covid has helped with bank balances if nothing else.

We reach our humble abode only to be informed via a piece of paper on the door that check is at 4pm and that nobody is home. That’s a first, um, ever!? We confirm it’s empty by knocking a hundred times. This is a big problem.

It’s midday, 30 degrees, we are in the middle of American suburbia with no WIFI, no food, Then there’s our luggage. Our options are extremely thin, as you can see from a depleted Vivian. Within an hour I’d thought up a rescue plan where we stayed for 3 long hours.

Amen to the predictability of America; you’re never too far from a Starbucks 🙏

One notable thing along South Beach was this mansion. Guessing not many will recognise it? Here are some shots 25 years apart.

A brief couple of minutes of Miami: