Our second stop on the American itinerary was the glitzy, glamorous city of South Beach, Miami. Upon arriving in a taxi from the airport, a few of us were confused as to whether we were actually at South Beach or Surfers Paradise on Australia´s Gold Coast, given the distinct similarities and characteristics of the two. A string of hotels along a coastline, one long open stretch of beach, an array of palm trees and constant warm, tropical weather pretty much sums up Miami, oh and the heavily party-oriented atmosphere of a night. Whilst there was not nearly as many touristic places to see as our previous 5 days in New York, Miami was a lot more relaxed, spending our days hanging by the beach playing Frisbee and touch football, weighing up our toughest decisions of the day; what toppings to get on our pizza slice for lunch? And what combination of drinks should we get for the nightly pre-game antics? Fortunately for us, the hostel we stayed out had the answers to the remainder of our concerns …

Miami Beach International Hostel. Many of close friends had recommended this hostel as ´the only place to stay in Miami´, with Joe also staying here previously and holding it in high regards. Indeed, it did turn out to be one of the biggest and best hostels of our trip; offering free breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, the free meals were hardly its main attraction, rather, the social interaction of the hostel-organised daily and nightly outings were the major highlight; including beer pong, flip cup competitions, pub crawls upon a party bus and entry to a few of the most prestigious nightclubs in not just Miami, but the whole of the USA. Also, with free wifi only available in the lobby, it promoted all guests to get down into what became a large common room, and forced all travelers to socialize. This concept along with the nightly group events made staying at this hostel feel like we were literally on another mini Contiki tour. Within our time at the hostel, we made many a strong friendships with others at the hostel, including a fellow group of Sydney-siders who were loads of fun, a Miami Guido who we think could've been a drug dealer as per the clothing attire of white jeans, a blazer and gold chains that he sported, a cool Danish dude who loved his alcohol, a pommy roommate thats main focus was chasing women, and a creepy 52-year old French dude who we eventually found out was a world-renown DJ who supported the likes of David Guetta and played at the TomorrowWorld festival this year … needless to say, we quickly became best of friends aka ´The Simpsons Family´. With the four of us boys and the large crew of friends we had recruited, the four nights that became in Miami were memorable ones.

The first night we entered into a 4-man flip cup tournament as part of the pre-game festivities that the hostel had to offer. Unfortunately we didn´t do Australia proud, going down narrowly to a bunch of poms, who ended up being the eventual winners. The night took off from there, being picked up by the party bus and commencing a pub crawl, of which involved a $1 shots bar. It was here Jack & I took slight revenge on our English rivals and took them on and beat them in a narrow game of pool to compensate for our flip cup defeat. Just like the Gold Coast, the night ended with a 4am swim in the ocean before realizing police were patrolling up and down the beach on quad bikes looking to fine swimmers; so we rapped up our stuff and called it a night. The second night we ventured out to one of the biggest nightclubs in Miami; Liv. Situated within the Fontainbleau Hotel, in which Barack Obama stays upon his visits to Miami, the nightclub was massive, and obtained super strict entrance requirements of $60 cover charge, a ratio of 50/50 guys-to-girl and an immaculate dress code. Fortunately for us, the hostel assisted in pulling a few strings and reducing the entrance fee, however, drinks prices were not so deflated, resembling the likes of Ibiza super clubs prices; just ask Jack. A round of four drinks and Jack found his wallet significantly lighter as he almost had to sell a kidney to pay for it. I think he was personally funding the helicopter advertisement flying along the beach the following day as it promoted its nightly events. Louis & I decided to call it a night at a decent hour, whereas Joe, as he usually does, persisted on and rolled on into the hostel well after the sun had arisen. The third night was another pub crawl night whereby we went to a bucket bar and tried to perform our party trick of swinging a bucket, filled with Bacardi and coke, above our head without spilling a drop. With Jack heading back to the hostel early and Louis deciding to play Dr Phil with two Swedish girls in a verbal war at the nightclub, a few of us decided to go back to the hostel and display a level of immaturity. A permanent marker and a dorm full of friends in a very deep, alcohol-infused sleep ... I'm sure you can draw in between the lines there. There were definitely some very funny reactions the following morning and a quality video of the suspects in action to match it. The final night we broke off from the plans of the hostel for once and met up with a few of Jacks friends and our Danish mate with his mates and headed to a cool, outdoor terraced bar down on the beach; the Clevelander. What seemed like a calm, reasonably innocent night to end my stay in Miami took a turn when Joe arrived home to tell his tale of the nights adventure. A ridiculous story that if anyone else had told me I would´ve turned away and not had a bar of it; but given it was Joe in the situation, I don´t doubt it for a second. Let´s just say it turned out to be a costly exercise on his behalf.

As like Ios, the nightlife of Miami seemed to be the be-all and end-all of the city, however, we did figure it was only fair to give it a chance and spend one day doing the touristy activities that were available at South Beach. The day tour we decided on was the everglades tour; and we weren't let down. Hopping aboard a hovercraft with a case of Corona´s (definitely not our decision at 10am in the morning but the group of boys we met were shouting and took offence if we didn't take one), we set off into the everglades, seeing turtles, fish and about a dozen alligators at just an arm's length away. That followed with a chance of a photograph holding a mid-sized alligator before a live show, where we watched a man demonstrate the wrestling technique on a six-foot alligator; I think he had a death wish as he was a split second away from losing his left hand not once … but twice.

Miami was just as I had expected it to be, a beautiful aqua blue beach with a hot nightlife. I´m quite bummed to be leaving the boys and the new friends we´d made over the past four days as I head off to Mexico for a week in the Carribean waters of Cancun to relax, detox and soak up the sun which we´ve been missing since Croatia. Meanwhile the boys spend their final two days of Miami heading to the Dolphins v Baltimore NFL game, in which they'll be partaking in the tailgating experience, as well as visiting another two prestigious nightclubs in the South Beach region; Nikki Beach Club and Story Nightclub. After that, we all split up for another week as Joe & Jack venture down on a road trip from Cancun to Belize via the Quintana Roo coastline, whilst Louis heads north again to Pennsylvania to team up with old pals Josh & Keith for a week living the college life ... I´m sure he´ll hate that! We´ll all reunite in 7 days time on the west coast of Mexico; Cabo San Lucas!