We had a great time in Miami! So good to see some familiar faces AND to sleep in real beds in a real house, etc. Ailie picked us up from the airport in a bit more style than we're used to as scummy backpacker surfers, rolling in her awesome black Audi SUV. We got back to their pad in their Truman Show-like gated community to find Mick about to head to work and little Oscar much bigger than I'd seen him a year or so before!
We spent the next few days doing a load of life admin on the net, etc but also have a bit of a look around Miami and Fort Lauderdale. We were definitely in America, huge shiny cars everywhere driving at 70 miles an hour with the drivers jabbering on their phones, massive shopping malls and cheap food in huge portions in the pubs.
We had a great meal of crab on the first day and a bit of a drive-by look at the art deco stuff in the Miami Beach area. Oscar slowly warmed to us, especially to Jack who embraced his sensitive side and became Oscar's favourie psuedo-uncle for the week. We hit up the shopping mall for a few bits and pieces for our next stage of the surf trip. Jack, Mick and I went out one night for beers in Fort Lauderdale and had a good look at all the massive houses with ridiculously huge boats parked out the back of each on the canals. I got a funny stomach bug for a couple days though, starting with hurling my recently eaten fish tacos straight into the toilet before we'd even finished dinner so we were home by about 9pm, sorry guys!
The highlight would have to be walking around the Miami Beach area. I'd heard about all the art deco buildings there but didn't realise how extensive it was, block upon block of amazing art deco hotels and apartments. So cool to walk down the streets and check it all out. Also fun to see all the only-in-America stuff you see anywhere in the States but Miami Beach is even more full on that most. We saw one guy walking about 20 skinny greyhounds at one stage. Also saw a girl with the most out of proportion fake boobs I almost laughed out loud. Even the mannqueins here have huge fake boobs (see pic). Good value, I recommend it.
So once again, we packed up our surfboards and backpacks for another sector of the trip. Pretty damn keen to get surfing again after a 5+ week break but sad to leave such a nice house and family. Thanks again Ailie for the amazing hospitality (I've never had an Aveda gift backet laid out for me before when I've stayed at a friend's house).
