Stepping off the plane into heat I liked Miami already, but from our first stop in Wynwood I knew I was falling for this very special city. Imagine an industrial estate and times that by ten, that's pretty much what Wynwood is but unlike any industrial estate that I've ever seen or in fact worked in, this place is uber trendy. It's a feast for the eyes with the most amazing graffiti and around every corner there are cool shops, bars, factory outlets and coffee shops that even grind their own beans on site. It was to one of these trendy bars we headed, and because it was Tuesday night they give out free tacos, and along with a big plastic red cup of margarita I definitely felt like I'd arrived, "I'm in Miami baby!"

The next day we headed down to South Beach. Darren was freaking out because it reminded him so much of the Gold Coast and I was freaking out because of all the Art Deco buildings, there are just streets and streets of it! It's my favourite architectural style and one of the main reasons why I wanted to come to Miami. The beach itself is really nice but the thing that struck me the most were the numerous women posing seductively in front of the water while their friends or boyfriends took pictures of them, it seems to be the thing to do here and it was very entertaining to watch!

After having only decided to go to some of Orlando's theme parks at about lunch time, we hopped in the car and arrived at the ticket centre at 5.58pm, two minutes before they closed! An accident on the turnpike and a late start where the cause of our lateness but thanks to Brandon's driving we literally made it with seconds to spare. Tickets bought, we checked into our hotel and quickly freshened up before heading to Universal Studios for their annual Halloween Horror Nights. Arriving at the gate it was dark, there was eerie smoke and at least a couple of thousand people, we were set to have a good night!

As well as their main rides, Universal set up these haunted houses that you walk through and each one is based on a different horror movie or TV show (such as The Walking Dead), and on top of that they have zombies everywhere! The streets are dark and the next thing you know there's a zombie screaming in your face and then there's another one and another one. I'd either scream, runaway or hide behind Darren or Brandon when they came at me, I was genuinely scared! Having survived the various zombie attacks I was feeling a little better (if a bit shaken up) so I was ready for whatever they could through at me, or so I thought…..

I'll be honest with you, nothing and I mean nothing could have prepared me for the horror and sheer terror that awaited me at the 'cabin in the woods', give me a street full of zombies any day! It was room after room of things jumping out at you from every angle and when you least expected it. I actually stopped a few different times and had to talk myself into taking another step, just saying over and over again "I don't want to do this anymore, I don't want to do this anymore". I was genuinely terrified and completely on edge, so much so that I even jumped at a security guard near the end! Even though it was easily the scariest thing I've ever done, it was awesome… what is that about?!

The next day we were off to the happy and safe world of Disney World to go to one of their water parks: Typhoon Lagoon. What I didn't expect from Disney World was that it has its own highways and is huge, although we are in America now. The waterpark was awesome and so much fun, and we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for any of the slides. I actually brought my book with me thinking I'd have some chill out time, but I was so wrong about that, as from the minute we arrived we hardly sat down. We then paid a visit to downtown Disney before the long drive back to Miami and to bed. We were all completely wrecked but it was so worth it, we're definitely coming back to Orlando!

Back in Miami it was Saturday night and we headed out to this amazing Japanese restaurant near South Beach with Brandon and his friend Anna. We loved dinner and with crazy strong margaritas and lycee martinis we were well on our way to being a bit drunk too. Afterwards we headed to some bars and then to a huge gay club called Twist where the repetitive music and muscle bound men (who were all complete clones of each other) sobered us up a bit and we called it a night. The next day we headed back to South Beach for a day chilling on the beach but the weather turned on us and we had to take cover under the large blanket we had previously been lounging on! All was not lost as we headed across the street to The Palace, which is a gay bar that pumps out music and muscle bound men like there's no tomorrow, but with its hilarious drag queen acts to entertain us, we were happy.

We also took a trip down to Little Havana for a small taste of things to come (i.e. South America). The shops along this street were so authentic, such as proper cigar shops and stores selling foods you don't find much north of the border, but so were the people! Old men who couldn't speak much English congregated in an area full of tables to play dominos and chess while guys played bongos in the street as girls danced to the beat.

Miami has been awesome fun so far and I'm looking forward to part two when we get back from the Big Apple!

Clare