Well it's now wednesday so I've been in Miami for 3 whole days. The flight over was pleasant enough (no screaming kids and a decent selection of movies on the TVs). Didn't get much sleep and consequently crashed out from about 8pm when I got to my hotel until about 6am. The hotel (Travelodge Downtown) wasn't to be honest that great, I won't go into detail, but I decided to head out first thing the next morning to find another. I've come to the conclusion that American town designers must be on something, as the grid arrangement just confuses the hell out of me. I tried a few hotels which were charging $109 a night, but eventually found a nice one over the road from Bayside Park which was a lot cheaper and has a wonderful view of the bay (as opposed to the roof of a shopping mall and bus stop). I really couldn't remember how I'd got there and seeing as I didn't have a map I was fearing a long walk back with my bags. But surprisingly I'd come a full circle from where I started and the new hotel was only a couple of streets away from the old one (but what a difference two or three streets make!).
A couple of other minor gripes, it is ridiculously warm here, it's pretty much unbearable for walking more than a couple of blocks after about 1 (well for me anyway). There was a big thunderstorm last night and quite a lot of areas around have inches of floods (I say nearby areas, we're talking London to Yorkshire distances here). The funny thing about thunderstorms is that they interrupt the TV programs you're watching to warn you about them, and not like a weather flash as we'd do in England, oh no, a high pitched squeal, the sound goes and a green bar appears across the top of the screen to warn you that between x and y hours there may be some sever weather. And for the life of me I can't figure out how pedestrian crossings and traffic lights work. It would appear that at crossroads if you're turning and the light facing you is red, you can just carry on, even if there's a walk sign lit on the road you're turning into!
I haven't really got up to much else, went out for dinner on Monday night to a fish restaurant in Bayside Park, they do insist on serving the beer ridiculously cold (and Fosters did taste decidedly different). Then took the Metroline yesterday across to the Amtrak station to collect my tickets for my trip up to Orlando tomorrow. It's only $1.25 which isn't bad compared to the price of a taxi for the same distance. I'm sure there will be more excitement in Orlando.
Oh and I hope other internet establishments are as cheap as this one: 99 cents an hour and new machines
Posted by Alexis at May 28, 2003 02:20 PMYou want to get yourself into some hostels mate, they're not all fitted with flea bitten matresses and you usually meet some interesting people.
Posted by: Alex at May 30, 2003 05:46 PM