Kermit on a business trip to Miami

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Day 1 - Wednesday march 15th

After being to work for 2 hours my manager, kermit and I headed for the airport to catch our plane. We were about to leave a rainy cold Amsterdam behind but things almost turned out differently.

The purpose of this trip is a business trip to Miami to attend a conference and then fly on to Santiago de Chile also to do business. When doing the checkin portuguese precision regarding passports almost kept me and Kermit in Amsterdam. To be able to enter the the States you have to have a passport which has a special bar with a code that can be sweeped through a special machine they have at the checkin. Offcourse my beautiful portuguese passport didnt work properly and kept being rejected. Then the groundstewardess went to check with customs and they certified her that it was a legal, valid passport. Still the americans dont allow you to enter the country when your passport doesn't work correctly so someone from the IRS of the united States working at the airport had to be called. Offcourse by now I already saw my trip cancelled and being left in Amsterdam with Kermit. Luckely enough he checked the passport and accepted it and allowed me to take that plane!! He also added: These things are common with mediterranean passports!

Somehow it looked as if the United States didn't want me as i kept getting hints to just turn back and go home.... (Just a tip, never travel with a portuguese passport and wearing army pants and a cap). When trying to go through dutch customs normally they check your passport briefly and let you go. Offcourse in my case it didn't quite work that way, I presented my passport, he looked, started to ask questions about where I lived and where I wanted to go, asked for my dutch residence permit and needed a magnifying glass to check my passport thoroughly.

And that's not all...just before boarding you give your boarding pass which goes through a machine and just a smaller piece comes out with your seat number....In my case the machine rejected my boarding pass a couple of times and I had to go to a desk so they could look me up in the computer. Luckely and surprisingly enough this time they didn't find anything to bitch about and I could enter the plane.

With an hour delay we finally landed at Miami airport after a trip of 10 hours. Now i would have to see if I could really enter the country as i was afraid my passport wouldnt work again. The customs officer normally checks passports, gives stamps and asks to take fingerprints and make your photo...but not in my case! Why are you comming here? What is your job? Marketing manager? Is that guy over there your boss then? These kind of stupid questions but I was already happy my passport worked at the second sweep:-)

After getting the suitcase and just before leaving the airport you have to hand over your customs card. They look at it and let you pass. Not with me....and he asked: You here for work? -Yes! What do you do? - I'm a Marketing Manager! You are pretty young to be a Marketing Manager...Managers are older people! - Well I guess i'm doing pretty well then- Is all i could say at that moment being fed up with cheeky questions and regretting the fact I had put on my comfortable army pants and cap on. So next time i will be flying with a suit on and I am going to ask for a dutch passport! I dont even wanna imagine how it will be on my trip to Chile and then back to Miami and back to Amsterdam.

But i was finally in Miami and we took a cab to our hotel in Miami Beach. Its a comfortable hotel and a bit trendy with nice music, even outside in front of the door at night....and I already heard Madonna a couple of times! so Thanxx Rachel for booking this one! Cause of the jetleg I was tired and went to bed.

Day 2 - Thursday March 16th

Since I went to bed so early I also got up very early and after doing some work on the internet I went for a walk on the beach, its less than a minute from the hotel, Rachel thanxx again! It was 7 in the morning and already hot. As i was walking on the boardwalk along the beach i suddenly realised i was really in the states! At that time of the morning you would see muscled guys and skinny girls jogging and old people with that horrible american look walking over the boardwalk. People on the beach doing Yoga or Tai-Chi. At times i couldn't stop laughing about how all the clichés you hear about americans suddenly all came true seeing these people here. I took Kermit for that walk on the beach and he even catched some sunrays.

Then it was time to put on the suit and go to the conference. I'll spare you the boring work details but I can say it was a very tiring but interesting and educational day! And tomorrow I will have another one!

After the conference I went to the hotel to refresh and into town to eat at a restaurant a a small spanish street calles Espaniola! Now I am back at the hotel, writing this and go to sleep. Its only 9.30 PM but I am still not totally over my jetlag so I am having an early night again!! Tomorrow I will try to tell more!

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