It's 5:37 and I'm sat here in Mobile, Alabama. I'm 20 hours in to a 24 hour coach journey from Miami to New Orleans. I shouldn't really be this tired having slept like a baby on the last trek between Washington DC and my departure point. That hasn't been the case this journey though so what better time to write a blog and reflect on a crazy 10 days or so.

I'll start with our arrival in Washington DC, where we found our lovely Comfort Inn about 15 miles out from the centre. Unfortunately the US hasn't fully equiped itself for travellers and we were forced into booking a budget hotel for the 3 nights. It meant a long journey into the centre hence our decision to stay local for a day and rest our sore limbs from the great NYC walks. The local area was your stereotypical American suburbs and I don't think they'd had many English people there. That was backed up by the waitress laughing uncontrollably at our accents. 

But anyway, onto the important stuff, the sights and sounds of this iconic capital. We started our sight seeing tour by taking a walk up to the White House which is surprisingly small but not so surprisingly over protected. Inevitably you had swarms of tourists outside but what struck me was the moronic protestors or people trying to enforce their opinions of the American govt on others. After our walk around the place, we started making our way to the unmissable Washington monument. It was staggeringly huge and could be seen from anywhere in the city. Being up close to it you really appreciated it's scale and he efforts made to build it. It lead us directly onto the Licoln memorial which basked in glory in front of a stretch of about 1000m open water. It's safe to say America does not hold back when they want to remember something! The memorial itself was as iconic as you'd imagine and it was fascinating to look at it's history. 

With he day not getting any longer we made our way back across town to Smithsonian, a district full of museums and home of the capital building. We went in our favourite, the natural history museum which was largely similar to NY. It's exibits were still great though including the giant squid which was once over 80m in length! We also visited the museum of art for a leasurely stroll before watching the sun start to set in front of the capital.

Our day in Washington had been really 'productive' and it was a great insight into the countries way of rememberance and political history. However, we were on our way to a long awaited rest on the beach - only a 30 hour greyhound trip (coach) stood in our way! The journey itself was not that bad, but the stop overs in various places were largely unwelcomed. It didn't make much of a difference in the end though as we caught sight of the sun, sea, sand and gorgeous women!

We strolled in to our hostel after walking he length of South Beach to take in the sights and sounds. In hindsight this wasnt the best of decisions carrying huge backpacks in 30 degree heat. But it didn't matter, the South Beach hostel had it's own bar, was 2 blocks off the beach and was full of bronzed (and red) travellers. 

Our first day was declared a beach day by default. We were literally the 2nd to arrive and were rewarded with some free beer from 4 women who were leaving as it was their last day, result! The weather was slightly overcast and the ocean breeze strong but you couldn't miss the heat. We were straight in the sea joined by an Aussie Chris we'd met at the hostel the night before. In total we were on the beach for about 6 hours and came off feeling warn but not showing to much of a burn. But hey, we're English tourist. And what do English tourists do when they finally get moment in the sun? Burn. We woke the next morning with huge red patches all over us... It's safe to say we wouldn't be having another beach day for a couple of days which gave us time to relax elsewhere and explore Miami's shops and restaurants. 

As such, the next couple of days consisted of walks around the tattoo parlors, surf shops and fashion stores of Washington Ave. George bit the bullet and got his tattoo done in Miami ink and we were loving the lifestyle. On the evenings we'd generally chill out at the bar enjoying the $1.50 a beer happy hour. This lead to us meeting a ton of really cool people who were either there on holiday or as part of a larger trip. I can fault the hostel we stayed at in any way because there was always events on in the evenings and the bar staff were really cool too. 

We hit the town on the Friday night, after splitting a bottle of vodka 4 way from the local liquor store. We ended up with a crowd from the hostel consisting of 2 Norwegians, 2 Swiss,  6 English guys (including us), 1 Aussie and a Scottish lass. We went to the Clevelander club which was situated right on the beach with an outdoor bar and dance floor. It was an awesome night out and the whole club was rocking full of sexy mofo's! Quality night out and one to remember from our stay. It was hilarious reminicing about it over breakfast the following morning too. 

I've got to admit that I was totally in love with Miami. Yes, the sun, sea and sand helps, but it's got so much more. The actual vibe of the place was incredible and you could easily find yourself waste the day away people watching and taking everything else in - a place I recommend everyone to try and visit at some point in their lifetime.

Anyway, I think I've written more than enough and the coach is about to leave. Hope everyone at home is well and I hope New Orleans has as much to offer as the rest of what we've already seen - I've no doubt it does! 

Nick x