this can happen to you if you are bored and have an orange:-)

THE END :-)

Spring vacation

Lenka`s parents came over from Czech republic. I got 5 days off, so I decided to go to a place I have never been before and somewhere where the weather is warmer.
I chose Miami Beach in Florida. My vacation was to last from the 16th of april till the 20th of april.

When I woke up on Monday the 16th, it was snowing. I had to call the Philadelphia international airport to see if my flight wasn’t canceled. Fortunately it wasn’t, it was just one hour late. I was lucky because all the flights were cancelled that day.

The flight was alright, except for the guy who was sitting next to me. He was mentally disabled and he was trying to talk to me all way there (3 hours in all). I should be ok with that because I will be working with mentally challenged people but I was really tired and wasn’t’ in the mood for a long conversation. He kept asking me question after question. But it was fun though.

I arrived at the Miami airport and I couldn’t find my luggage. I always have problems with that. After one hour I finally found it. I then took a shuttle to South Beach. I was staying in the Claremont hotel. I don’t know if “hotel” is the right word for it because plaster was falling down from walls and there were holes in the ground, but it was just a sleeping accommodation so it was ok. I went to the beach after I arrived, but I was the only one in the water because it was already 7pm. The water wasn’t cold; it felt about 80 degrees or more. What a place! On the first night I went sleep at 9pm. I didn’t care about any night life in Miami because I was dead tired.

I slept badly because the main street was under my window. In the morning I was ready to go to beach. I really enjoy being on the beach. It is relaxing: there is no screaming and no stressful people – it’s just me and the beach (and hundreds other people of course).

I got burnt from the sun although I was using suncream, but it wasn’t enough. I burnt my whole body. I decided to go back to my room and thought I would come back out at night, because I thought I would probably not sleep. After the beach I went for dinner and then went out. I went to a club called Mango`s which is a famous club in South beach. Well, my opinion is that it is a gay club, but I spent 2 hours there talking to people, had some drinks and then went back to the hotel. It was about 2 miles from my hotel so it made me tired. The next few days were the same except for going to to the same club again. I also hit some another bars which were alright.

On Thursday I had to wake up at 6am because I wanted go for one-day trip to Key West.
I called Miami Nice Tours to see if they could pick me up in my hotel at 7am. They came
30 minutes late, but the most important fact was that they came at all. We picked up the other people and we were ready to go to Key West. The journey takes 4 hours - we could
spend 4 hours on the islands and then 4 hours to return. It was a long way, but it was beautiful.
We crossed 42 bridges and 32 islands. I was staring at the turquoise, greens, and blues of the Atlantic Ocean on the East, and the Gulf of Mexico on the west for miles. The highway ran from US1, the only route leading to Key West. It was the most beautiful place I have ever been.

We came to Key West at noon, but we had to be back in tour bus at 4pm. I wanted to go
snorkeling, but I would be back at 4:15 and my bus would be on its way back. So I went parasailing which was a lot of fun too. It was nice to see all that beauty from the air. I
enjoyed it a lot. They let my legs go under the water, which was good because it was hot that day. Well, it was good until the guy who was driving a boat started to yell: “Shark!
There is a shark behind you!!!” I don’t wish that feeling on anyone. I started to say a prayer, and pray goodbye to everyone I know, and then he started to laugh. I knew he was just kidding, but that feeling wasn`t good at all.

After parasailing I went to a reastaurant for some sea food. It was good. After that, I still
had one hour to kill so I went to Irish pub. I had some Guniness and then
had to run to catch my bus back. The way back seemed to be longer but it was fun to hear
how others were enjoying their trip. I came to my hotel at 9pm and went for a
walk on beach. It was my last night in Miami so I wanted stay up as long as I could. I met
one man on the beach who was 50 years old. We started to talk about our trips and we were talking for like 40 minutes. It was nice to talk to someone. Than he asked me where I was from. When I said Czech republic he started to laugh very loud. He told me he is from Czech too, so we could start to speak in Czech. It is funny talk to someone in English, a citizen of the same country I am from - but who could guess something like this could happen? This world is really small.

We went for dinner together because it is better to go with someone than alone. Then he
went to his hotel and I stayed for little bit longer sitting in restaurant and watching other
people. Then I was tired so I went sleep.

My last day in Miami. Isn’t it sad? Yes it was sad and I did not want to go back, but I had
to. I packed my things and left my luggage in the hotel for two hours or so and went to say Goodbye to the beach. Then I took some more pictures of that beautiful place and then the shuttle was back waiting for me in front of the hotel.

The flight back was better, but no one was sitting next to me so I could relax. We had some problems with landing in Philly. We had to wait for another plane, so the pilot circled above Philly`s airport for 20 minutes. Then it was ok.

I found my luggage amazingly fast and I ran to catch the train to Fort Washington, where Vaclav should be waiting for me. I was waiting just 2 minutes for the train, and Vaclav surprised me. He was there waiting on time also so it was great. I came home and there were our friends Daniela and Bohous. They made me a big dinner (they thought I didn’t eat all 5 days there). We were talking till Midnight and then I went to sleep. I was back in my bed – it felt good. I would have stayed in Miami for another week though - or longer. Florida is a paradise.