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Ashley's American Adventures
Miami (27th - 31st):
Well the flight got delayed an hour which wasn't too bad. But the flight was quicker than I had expected. When I arrived to decided to get the bus from the airport to the accommodation on south beach. Firstly I waited an hour for the bus to come. After that journey which took about an hour, I had to transfer to another bus. However, it had stopped running coz of the time at night. So I had to get a taxi - finally arriving at 10:30pm.
The hostel was called 'jazz on south beach' set about 2 blocks from the ocean. I stayed in a four bed shared room with three other girls: Shannon from Australia, Laura and Orliath from Dublin.
That night I went to check the place out - and found the beach. The sand was pure white, and the water is a beautiful crystal clear emerald green colour.
So the first day, Monday 28th, was such a great day. I went to the beach for the morning. The locals are so friendly; they would just come over and talk to you. One old guy offered to take me out for coffee and show me round the town (I declined hahah). It is the kind of beach where people have gym classes on the sand - doing yoga, running, volleyball, etc. Although it was a really nice and quiet beach for the majority of the day. Also there were plenty of people surfing the waves. That afternoon I went to check out the shops. There were so many designer shops, each with their own beautiful unique layouts inside. One guy approached me and said he was a photographer and that I had a 'great look'. He wanted to do a photo shoot with me the next day, so gave me his number and told me to ring him if I was interested in making money. Errrr NO!!! I did see him later that night in this massive car, and he called my name, and pulled his car over. I ran away hahaha.
So that afternoon I found some art galleries - with the actual artist studios where u could just wonder around and look at the work on offer.
The area which I was in was the art deco district, so all the buildings had great designs. It is such and expensive place, and especially expensive to try and eat healthy food. I don't think I will go back unless I had a lot of money. It does have a great atmosphere - really laid back - just like Spain.
The next day was when the storm began, the start of hurricane Ernesto. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get out of the place so I booked a flight to Newark for the 31st. There were emergency evacuation busses on hand, and people boarded up their homes and shops. Also no one was allowed in the water - except surfers. The winds were incredible - I could hardly stand up - and this was only a storm - two days before the hurricane was meant to it. I thought that if it was like this now, what would it be like when the hurricane did actually come? Fortunately, the hurricane didn't hit - it passes Miami, but the weather was still bad. The airport did get closed for one day too.
I just had to stay in the hostel watching television. It was a good atmosphere in the hostel, as no on knew what was happening, everyone was away from home, and people started a party - so there were a lot of drunken people. Although - some were really stupid and decided to go to the beach at night time when they were drunk - in the bad weather.
The next day there were rain showers again. I met some people from Liverpool in the hostel - but they hated the camp that they had been to for the summer.
The internet at the hostel was really expensive - about £7 for 50 minutes.
On Wednesday evening, I sat on the beach for 4 hours looking at the waves - as the rain had kind of gone off, and the winds had died down. There was a storm in the distance, as the sky kept lighting up with brilliant shades of red.
It was great going to Miami alone, and it gave me a lot of time to think about things, relax, and appreciate things. It gave me chance to think about what I have achieved, and what I want to achieve.
Thursday was the day I few to Newark airport. My flight was at 8pm. It was such a hot day - typical - I missed the good weather. I just walked along the beach in the morning, packed, then got the bus about 2pm. It took 2 hours to get to the airport, but luckily there was air-conditioning on the bus.
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