Travelling the USA

Sunday 4th September

Today started pretty early, we were up at around 6:30 to get ready to pick up our car. Once we had the last of our bags packed, we ordered an Uber to take us to Orlando International. This is where the problem started. For some reason, the driver couldn't find us so we cancelled the Uber and ordered another; turned out to be the same person. After about 30 minutes, he finally found us, we loaded up the car and set off. As we were arriving at the airport, the issues continued as we had no idea where to pick up the car, so we ended up driving around the airport a couple of times before eventually deciding to just get out at the best opportunity and go out on foot. Finally we found the place we needed to be, but then we didn't have the right paperwork to pick up the car, so Bethan and Emma had to go and find out what we needed and how we get the car. Once we got all this sorted and we had the car, we set off on our Florida road trip! For $70, we got a Dodge Journey for the day, with wi-fi and a sat-nav so we couldn't lose our way right? WRONG. The sat-nav decided to keep switching off and wasn't very good at directing. Eventually, we resorted to using our phones on the wi-fi and this was way more reliable.

After 3.5 hours, we made it to Miami (yay!), and decided to take the car to South Beach for a quick dip. This was easier said than done. Getting there was a doddle, but parking was something else. The cheapest parking lot that we found was about $18 for an hour! We decided that this probably wasn't the best idea we've had, so we span around and took the car back downtown towards our accommodation. Once we got there, I called Attillio (the guy from AirBnb) and he met us at the marina, where he showed us to our place... a yacht. We obviously knew we were staying on a boat from the start, but if I'm honest, it was definitely a lot smaller than I expected, but we made it work. Attillio stayed with us for about 20 minutes explaining the details of the boat and what there is to do in Miami. He also agreed to take us out on the boat for a discounted rate of $100 (he normally charges $600); which, between the 5 of us, was definitely affordable. We got the bags onto the boat, I grabbed my swimmers and we shot back to the car to take Heather and Ailbhe to their hotel to get settled. This was an experience in itself and you could tell that some dodgy stuff had happened in this hotel but it's part of travelling; you have to experience the good with the bad or else you'll have no comparison and nothing to learn from. We all then got back into the car and drove to the airport to deliver the car. This was surprisingly easy, we literally just dropped the car off with a guy who worked there, pay for it at the counter and that was it. Bethan and Emma explained to the guys at the counter about the faulty sat-nav and they knocked that off the total price, which was a God-send for a budget traveller.

We finished with the car and headed out of the airport to the bus depot, where we caught the number 150 to South Beach for only $2.65! It took us about 30 minutes, but we made it to 2nd/Washington which was literally a 2 minute walk from the beach. This section of the beach was a lot quieter than I thought it would be (Will Smith lied!) but it was still great atmosphere with a group playing percussive instruments and people with their speakers blasting out spanish music. I was in awe of the beauty of the place, the crystal water was calling me, so I quickly changed into my swimmers and jumped in the sea. I've never felt water as warm as it was and it was 6:30pm! About 7, the sun started to set over the Miami skyline, so we watched this for a while before heading off to find food. We walked off the beach for about a minute before arriving at a place called Big Pink, which seemed to be super popular and busy. We got a table and I ordered the Fire Rescue burger; it was AMAZING. It was basically a spicy cheeseburger, with breadcrumbed jalapenos and it was so good! However, because I hadn't eating too much throughout the day I really struggled to eat it, so I saved some for the morning. From here, we ordered an Uber and headed back to the boat where we just sat on the boat and chatted for a good hour before going to bed.

Monday 5th September

Another early start for us today as our plan was to hit south beach again and top up the tans! So we met the others in the local mall, had a quick breakfast and coffee and set off into downtown to try and find an easy way to the beach. After speaking to one of the lovely locals, we hopped on a bus and headed towards Miami Beach; it only cost us $5.65 for the whole day! We jumped off at 2nd/Washington and headed back to the same place on the beach we were at yesterday. We needed some water and snacks, so me and Bethan set off to find a local convenience store. After heading the wrong way and a sweaty walk, we eventually found a CVS pharmacy and stocked up on snacks before heading back to the beach and meeting up with the others.

I love being by the seaside and as soon as we got back, I stripped down to my swimmers and jumped in the sea. I could've spent all day in this water; it was beautifully clear and so warm! After a good 30 minute swim in the Atlantic, I headed back to my towel to do a bit of tanning. This was the best/worst idea I've ever had; apparently I didn't put enough sunscreen on. By the time we left the beach, I had the reddest tan line ever at the top of my legs, I couldn't put on enough aloe vera. Eventually, we decided to leave the beach as we had to make it back to the boat for Attillio to take us out on the sea. However, as we were making our way to the bus stop, the heavens opened and it started throwing it down; fortunately, it was still super warm so the rain was quite a relief. This did mean that we couldn't go out on the boat as the sea would be too choppy. We headed back anyways and decided to look for the closest McDonalds to us as we were all starving and they're currently serving up a 2 for $5 meal deal; so my inner fat child was incredibly happy. After filling our faces, we walked back to Ailbhe and Heather's hotel to chill for a while.

Shortly after arriving, Bethan and myself decided to head out for a night on the town in Miami; we had a lot of friends who were out, so we ordered an Uber and head on out. When we got there, we ended up on a rooftop bar named Voodoo, where drinks were free for girls, so they were getting theirs and sharing it with Tom and I. We stayed for about 40 minutes, before ordering another Uber to take us to a small bar where my old friend Mick was. For $15, we gained entry to a bar crawl where we had so many free drinks and entry into all the clubs. My favourite part of the night was the travel between the clubs; we had a party bus where we met so many cool characters from all over the globe. At the end of the night and after one too many drinks, we headed on back to the boat for our final sleep there before heading out of Florida and for Austin, TX.