THE MAGIC CITY

MIAMI ( Part I )

Ok Miami, we didn't start on the best side, but I hope you will show yourself in a better light in the coming days. This journey began with many obstacles, and I honestly wondered if I would be able to get anything positive out of it at all. First, my flight was delayed two hours, and I wasn't sure if we were going to take off at all, because rain was forecast in Miami. I already started checking other ways I could get there, but luckily the flight was still on and I finally landed. I had booked a flight from Tampa to Miami Fort Lauderdale on Spirit Airlines for $20, which included only a small personal item. The plane was supposed to take off at 10:20 and it was supposed to take 1 hour, which means I was supposed to land in Miami at 11:20. But due to the plane delay we took off around 12:20 and I landed in Miami around 1:20pm.

Of course, my travel problems did not end here. When we landed the rain was already falling in a considerable amount. I wouldn't be me if I didn't experiment and try to travel like the locals. So I decided to catch a bus to Miami since I landed at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Since it was already raining heavily, I was only looking to get into the bus as quickly as possible, which was parked in the place designated for the bus that I was waiting for. I saw the sign of the A bus and quickly got inside, bought a ticket and settled into one of the seats. It wasn't long before I realized that I had actually gotten on the wrong bus and was actually going in the wrong direction, that is, on the opposite side of Miami. Rushing to get on the bus, I didn't notice that it was going in the opposite direction. At the first next stop, I got off the bus and hid in the bus stop. It was raining more and more and they were announcing a big storm so I decided not to experiment anymore and call an uber. Significantly wet and after almost an hour of driving for which I paid almost 40 dollars, I managed to reach the hotel.

I am a person who likes to have everything planned before the trip and to have a plan and program that I would stick to, of course there is always room to change the plan if I come across a more interesting activity, or something that I could not postpone. So I had booked a hotel and activities several months before I came to the USA. Miami itself is quite an expensive destination, so hotels are also quite expensive. However, when I travel to a destination, I almost always make sure that the hotel is in the center of events, that way I won't waste a lot of time traveling and I can use that time to visit an additional destination. In Miami, I booked a hotel in Miami Beach Townhouse Hotel By LuxUrban, which is located 10 meters from the famous Collins Avenue, and 5 minutes from the beach. For two nights in this hotel I paid 172 dollars, which was also the cheapest accommodation in Miami Beach, which is not a hostel and which had a solid rating, and divided opinions in the reviews, some good and some bad. Personally, when it comes to accommodation, the most important thing for me is that it is in a good location, and that it is not too expensive, because I spend the least amount of time in the accommodation, it is important for me that the room is clean and has the basic needs. I arrived at the hotel a little before 3 o'clock, managed to check in and settle into the room.

The wind and rain were getting stronger and I decided to go to the nearest restaurant to eat and go to the CVS across the street from the hotel to buy some snacks as it was obvious that I was going to spend this day in the room and i wouldn't be able to go on the night tour of Miami I had booked. I entered the first open restaurant I saw. It was Sultan Restaurant, where Mediterranean food was served. The interior was quite interesting, the walls were decorated with many pictures of famous people who visited the restaurant and the interior itself was in true Mediterranean style, just like I have seen in Turkish movies. The waiters were very helpful and pleasant, I chose a Turkish gyro with chicken and beer from the menu. The food was delicious and the portion quite large, enough to satisfy an adult person. When I finished eating, the waiters offered me Turkish baklava that was from the house. I also quickly went to CVS where I bought some snacks and went back to the hotel. That night I had booked a tour, an open-top night bus ride through Miami, which of course I couldn't go because of the floods and heavy rain, but shortly before the start of the tour I received an email from Big Bus Tours, the agency through which I booked the tour, that the tour was canceled due to high winds and rain as well as flooding in Miami Beach, and I was able to rebook the same tour for the following evening. I spent the rest of the evening watching movies and lying in the hotel room. The storm was getting stronger and stronger, with winds of 50 km/h and heavy rain. I can say that this was a "good" welcome. I wondered what the rest of this trip had in store for me.

The next day started a little more optimistically. I woke up around 7:30, I put on several layers of clothes because the wind was still blowing hard, now at a speed of 30 km per hour, the rain had stopped but it was still quite cloudy and the forecast called for occasional rain during the day, so I put on layers clothes in case the temperature changes so I can take some of my clothes off. I was thinking about how to organize my day and what activity to do first. I had booked a hop on hop off tour for the next two days and it included a boat ride through Millionaire's Row as well as a visit to Everglades National Park. I booked the tour through the Get Your Guide app, the tour provider was Big Bus Tours, and I paid $78 for this whole package. I packed my backpack and decided to start my adventure by visiting the Everglades National Park. The starting point from which the tour started was about 10 minutes on foot from the hotel where I was staying, which was another reason why I chose this particular hotel. When I arrived at the place designated for the start of the tour, the bus was already here and the passengers were slowly getting on. The driver scanned my ticket, gave me a wristband indicating that I was part of the group, and I entered the bus, which was already half full. Shortly thereafter we headed to our destination passing through downtown Miami which was showing the effects of the heavy rain and storm that raged the previous evening until the early hours of the morning. Many streets were partially closed as firefighters and other workers worked to remove water that had accumulated in some areas and caused flooding, and worked to clear fallen trees from streets. The driver, who was also our guide, gave us some useful information during the drive, after half an hour of driving we left the central part of Miami. We drove through the suburbs where you could see a different image of Miami without those tall skyscrapers, without the glam and shine of Miami Beach. After an hour and a half of driving we started to approach the national park, you could see on both sides of the highway how swamps are slowly being created. We finally reached the place where our Everglades adventure begins. The bus parked in the parking lot and we all got out, our driver explained to us where we should go, what the whole tour looks like and where the bus will be waiting for us after the end of it. We all headed to the small harbor where a large number of speedboats were lined up. We all took turns getting a picture with the boat and one by one we got on them. We were instructed by our boat driver on how to behave while on board and what to expect from this ride. When the engine starts working, it becomes clear to you what kind of power it is and you realize that this adventure will be one to remember.

Our guide-driver was quite an interesting guy who in a fun way tried to explain to us what we were seeing and what to expect from this adventure through the Everglades National Park. It is quite difficult to remember all the information you get from the guide at that moment, considering that your emotions are intertwined with excitement, happiness and anticipation. We managed to see a huge number of birds that are characteristic of this part of the world, as well as other animals that our guide managed to spot while driving the speedboat. But still my greatest desire was to see an alligator in its natural environment, (Although I have already seen an alligator in its natural environment in Clearwater in a park, the feeling is different when you see it in the swamp of the Everglades National Park), but at first on the tour we were told that it is not guaranteed that we will see an alligator, it all depends on how lucky we are, it is possible that we will see a dozen alligators and it is possible that we will not see a single one. As time went on, my hope that we would see an alligator slowly faded. We had already been driving for about 40 minutes and the search was fruitless. We slowly started to return to the starting point and after a bit of disappointment, I tried to console myself that it was still a very good tour and a great experience that I may never repeat in my life. As our driver turned into one of the many canals in the swamp, he began to explain to us that we should be watching and said that there was an 8.5 foot (2.5 meter) male alligator in front of us. My happiness was endless, the reason why I wanted to visit this National Park so much was exactly that moment when I saw that huge alligator swimming by our boat, and you realize how powerful, beautiful and special these creatures are. Even though they have a bad reputation, no alligator would attack you without a reason, that is, if they don't feel threatened by you, or if you don't present yourself as food. Their jaw is so strong that it can tear a hole in the hull of a ship which is made of metal, for that reason we didn't get too close to the alligator, so imagine what that kind of force could do to your body and bones. We made several laps around the alligator so that all passengers on all sides of the ship could get a good look at it and take pictures and videos and slowly returned to our starting position. Overjoyed and excited, I got off the boat and headed to the other part of this visit, which was the alligator show. These are alligators that have been rescued, that is, the law in the state of Florida states that if an alligator is observed to attack, that is, kill, a pet such as a cat or dog, or enter the private property of a resident, such as private pools, the owner has the right to contact the wildlife service, who are obliged to catch the animal and euthanize it. But luckily there are non-profit organizations like the one we visited that catch and remove these alligators and keep them in separate fenced pools for the rest of their lives, because these animals are not allowed back into the wild because they are considered dangerous. . These organizations make money through donations, that is, they allow visitors to see these animals up close and everyone can donate as much as they want. After this show we headed to the bus that was parked in the parking lot and after everyone returned we headed to the city.