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Published: January 6th 2011
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I woke up at 5am as we were driving down to Miami. It was a long drive and most of us in the car were sleeping. I caught the beautiful colours in the sky for the sunrise and the great temperature hike as we drove down the east coast of Florida. The drive down Florida was around 1/3 of the time for the total drive. When we were around two hours away from Miami we got out the car and changed into summer clothes. We were wearing big jackets, jumpers and scarves from the below freezing weather we had experienced the previous two weeks.
We grabbed a coffee at Starbucks and then proceeded onto Miami. On the way, we saw a really cheap buffet lunch deal so decided to stop at the casino that it was being advertised at.
As we parked and left the car, we all had smiles on our faces because the weather was so hot – 28 degrees Celsius – and we also had someone on a golf cart pick us up from the car to take us to the casino free of charge. When we arrived to the casino, we were all a little disappointed
that the price advertised, was not the price on the menu that they appeared to be charging.
I decided to try to handle the situation, by asking them if instead of charging $11.99 they could offer us the $9.99 they had advertised on the billboard.
The girl replied “How about $6.99 as that is the deal we are doing at the moment?”
We were all shocked, as that is not the reply you would normally expect. We had bottomless soft drinks and all you can eat. The buffet included ham, steak, fish, potatoes, pasta, baked potatoes, vegetables, turkey, sandwiches, cakes, ice cream and lots of other stuff.
I tried swordfish for the first time and didn’t find it tasty enough to want to try again. The other things on the buffet were really good, and it was really nice to get a bottomless fresh orange juice. The service was unbelievable with a new drink arriving before I could finish the previous drink.
Trying to get value out of the meal, I ate until I felt almost ill, and the tiredness from the journey didn’t help. A quick 30 minute rest helped solve that problem and I was very excited
to visit Miami, the views from the car were amazing and it was the first time we had all the windows in the car down for the whole trip.
Our first stop in Miami was the beach. We were recommended South Beach by everyone we asked so we looked for there and then searched Expedia for the cheapest hotel near South Beach and booked it for the duration of our stay.
We found parking difficult at first, but after 30 minutes we finally found a spot – cheaper than the valet parking on offer on the main street.
I really understood why Florida is known as the sunny state as I stepped out of the car once more into the 28C heat and blazing sunshine. Wearing just swimming trunks I headed to the beach and ran straight for the water. The water wasn’t as warm as I expected it to be, but it was still not too bad. I spent a good hour or so swimming in the sea before relaxing on the beach.
We took photographs and watched the sunset behind Miami and then headed back to the hotel.
The hotel was the worst hotel we had visited;
the room was small and didn’t look very nice or clean.
But it was suitable and we could use it for its main purpose – to sleep.
I showered after the beach and got changed into slightly smarter clothes to go out and celebrate Ace’s birthday in Miami. We went to a restaurant that he chose which was really nice but a little pricy. I decided to have just a small salad, the cheapest on the menu at $12.95 but it turned out it cost a total of $17. The meal was nice. I had a tuna and mango salad – something I wouldn’t normally have.
We left the restaurant feeling slightly overcharged and walked around Miami to find somewhere to go out. After realising there is nowhere with cheap prices, we headed back to the hotel to sleep.
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