At
4:00pm Tuesday July 17th we landed in Miami, Florida off the back of a 4 hour
flight from Phoenix, Arizona. It was 32 degrees & raining when we arrived.
We found the nearest hotel shuttle service & rode it out to Miami Beach
& checked into Aqua Hotel & Suites where we'd spend the following 4
days. It was Jacy & mine's 8 year anniversary the day we arrived. We'd
decided to go out for tea but not really knowing the area said we'd save the
extravagant dinner for the following night once we'd sourced somewhere nice
nearby. We urban spooned our surrounds after unpacking our suitcases in the
hotel & decided upon an Indian Restaurant named "Guru" the next
block over. The food was sensational. I believe they're toted as the best
Indian in Miami & deservedly so. We shared an appetizer, main & a
bottle of red between us. The portion sizes over here are so large that eating
like this, we've found, is the most sensible way. After our early dinner we
headed back to the hotel to unpack the rest of our belongings, have a few
glasses of Arizona Stronghold Chardonnay, cheese, olive oil & crackers
& listened to the Doors. We had crossed into a different time zone in Miami
& were 3 hours ahead of what we were accustomed to so going to bed was a
little uncomfortable. It stays light until 9pm so we each had a Melatonin
before going to sleep & flicked through the channels of American Television
-of which a large majority are crazy, fanatic Christian channels. Put us right
to sleep.
Wednesday
we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel & were collected at 9:45am to
venture out to the Florida Everglades to board an Airboat & go Alligator
watching. It was a pretty cool experience, although we didn't see a great deal
of gators whilst we were out there. We did however go through the gator
sanctuary afterwards & were given a presentation & feeding by the
outrageous American equivalent of Steve Irwin. The shuttle dropped us back at
around 2pm & we had a disgusting lunch of Nachos & Pulled Pork
Sandwiches at some dive named 'Wings & Rings'. Many regrets. Our hotel room
had a fridge in it so we visited a grocer just up the road, collected a variety
of snacks & beer, returned home & stocked it. We had a craving for
seafood so later that evening we decided to pay a visit to a place up the road
named "Grillfish". The meal of the day was a 2lb butterflied Lobster,
char-grilled in garlic butter over a tomato & parmesan linguine. We shared
an appetizer of grilled scampi, got the Lobster & shared a bottle of
Chardonnay. A mouthwatering meal. I'm getting hungry again just thinking about
it. We returned to the hotel that night so full & content we fell asleep
pretty much immediately.
Thursday
we got up, skipped breakfast, loaded our backpack with supplies & walked
down to the beach where we spent the next 2 hours soaking up the 34-degree sun,
floating about the waves of South Beach. Beautiful beaches in Miami very much
the same as ours back home in Perth. Parched & hungry we walked along the
beach to a little restaurant on the street for Club Sandwiches & a bucket
of Coronas. It was still pretty early in the afternoon after lunch so we headed
back down to the beach for a few more hours. At around 5pm we returned to the
hotel to shower & change. For dinner that night we decided to check out a
Resturant featured on Urban Spoon called "D'Vine Hookah Lounge" which
specialized in Mediterranean cuisine. It was a pretty awesome little Restaurant.
The meals were really nice & the cocktails -out of this world. We shared a
Shisha made out of a pineapple & watermelon which was pretty damn strange
but fun. Tasted wicked. We didn't hang round for too long as it was incredibly
hot & humid. We made tracks back to the hotel but it was still fairly early
in the night so we grabbed a couple of beers out the fridge, jumped in the pool
then sat on the 'sun deck' of the hotel, which is basically a rooftop balcony
that overlooks the street, had a couple of beers, listened to tunes &
watched all the busy night-shoppers pacing the streets in their bikinis.
We
had a proper breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast & coffee at the hotel cafe on
Friday morning. We loaded our backpack full of snacks, water, supplies &
beer & set off for another day at the beach. Today however, we played it
smart & hired an umbrella to avoid the blistering heat. It was a great day
& the water was pristine & crystal blue. I could have spent weeks on
this beach alone but hey, I can wait for Hawaii. After many hours on the beach
& then our showers at the room we headed into little Italy just off the
south beach strip. We wandered into this cool little Italian Restaurant named
"Hosteria Romana" that was seemingly bustling with activity. We were
ushered to our seats & given a complimentary dish of roast pork. A nice
touch. The only one of the evening. Shortly after, we were reluctantly introduced
to our arrogant prick of a waiter named 'Rocco'. Now we've dined at ALOT of
restaurants & have had our fair share of shitty service but this was
something else. We were seated & asked abruptly "what would you like
to drink?" I enquired about a sign on our table specifying happy hour
drinks at very reasonable prices to which he said "No, the happy hour is
only if you are drinking at the bar" which was a meters distance away.
"Ok" I said, frustrated as to why then they'd advertise happy hour on
a pamphlet on our table, "then glass of water each," I told him. We
weren't sure if we felt much like drinking anyway. He returned instantly with
the water & menus & asked again "so what would you like to
drink." We said "we still haven't decided" before exchanging
glances with each other as if to say 'is this guy for real'? He walked over by
the window & stood there waiting for us. He returned no less than 2 minutes
later & asked "so what can I get you to drink?" I said,
"well we're considering a glass of wine but we want something to go with
our meal & we're still looking at the menu, give us 5 minutes." He
left. We cracked up laughing "how pushy is this guy? What's his
problem?" 4 minutes & 59 seconds later he strolled up to the table
"now what can I get you?!" he commanded. We knew what we wanted but a
part of me wanted to turn him away & continue playing this ridiculous game
of back & fourth. Jacy got a seafood linguine, I got the chicken Napoli
& two glasses of Chardonnay. The food came out quite quickly & we got
stuck in. Nothing overly impressive & Jacy's so much so that she called
over our good friend Rocco & asked for some Parmesan. In his pompous,
exaggerated Italian accent he said "No, you don't put Parmesan on this
dish as it does not compliment the seafood." We both just glared at this
guy. He turned & walked away. Is this douchebag for real? Did he actually
just say that? We were flabbergasted. Never EVER should a waiter turn down a
request of their customer. It is us who are paying his wages. After that we both
had a very sour taste in our mouths & left large portions of our meals on
our plates as if to say 'Go f*ck yourself.' Before we had a chance to finish
our wines he had whisked away our plates & returned with the bill. In the
area on the bill, in which you specify the tip amount of your waiter, I had
begun to write the words "Parmesan Cheese" when I noticed that a tip
of 15% had already been included in the overall price of the meal. This is very
uncommon & therefore allows this sort of bad service, as their gratuity is
predetermined. We skulled our wines, paid the exact amount & stormed out of
the Restaurant to later give them a very poisonous review on urban spoon
outlining the unacceptable service of the asshole named Rocco.
We
tend to find, certain things start occurring towards the end of each city
destination, that we take as a sign that it's time for us to leave & jet
onward to our next city. Things like rolling ankles, losing wallets, getting
lost, late shuttles, crying babies, asshole waiters & other general unpleasant
happenings that really aren't anything significant but are yet a vibe to us
that we're getting comfortable where we are & shit is beginning to annoy
us. Incompetence & complacency are very frustrating things & when your
somewhere for long enough you begin to really notice them.
The
next morning we were collected on our doorstep by a shuttle bus & driven
4.5-hours north to Orlando, Florida.
