Miami and Eastern Caribbean Cruise October 2009 - Part One

Miami and Eastern Caribbean Cruise

October 2009

Part one - Hello Miami

My vacation time is almost here again: Southern Crete in September. It has brought back memories of last years great holiday. Here it is.

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Travelling on the 10.30pm Tuesday overnight National Express from Newquay to London Heathrow Airport (and surviving it), I awoke on the bus to discover it was Wednesday. By some miracle I had actually managed to fall asleep on the darned thing.This was a double miracle as at first I got nauseated going through the narrow winding country lanes in Cornwall and had to visit the awful portable loo a few times…nuff said….. Well, before I fell asleep proper, my friend got on at Exeter and very kindly took the seat in front so she didn't disturb me (very thoughtful).

Eventually Heathrow Airport loomed and we descended from the coach to the sleepy bus terminal. It was 5.15am….

After finding somewhere to get a mediocre coffee. We sat and sipped it until our other two friends joined us and after a considerable period of waiting around, 9.55am arrived and hey presto it was time to board the plane.

Yes, the time had come and Kay, myself and our friends, namely Cathy and Andrew Haglington of the UK Social Group checked in and soon we were on our way to Miami courtesy of American Airways.

The flight was uneventful, unlike some flights I've been on..(maybe that's another tale) and I had a delightful American air stewardess who served my gin and tonics with style and grace. G and Ts are one of my all time customary rituals when I fly. The holiday had begun.

After spending a long but pleasant nine hours in the air, during which I watched Ice Age 3 and fell in love all over again with Scrat the Squirrel, we eventually arrived at Miami International Airport, a feeling of excitement in the air.

The weather was very hot, hot, hot and very humid and when we finally cleared customs and stepped outside the airport doors I could have sworn that we had been plunged into a sauna.

Melting in the heat and humidity of Miami, we stood and waited for our taxi which seemed to take an eternity to arrive. But eventually arrive it did and whisked us off to our hotel; the first of three accommodations that we were to enjoy on this lovely trip.

On arrival at our hotel, the Airport Regency, we checked in and then off to find our rooms. They were large and spacious as US hotel rooms always are. A quick freshen up and we headed outside to the pool to lounge around and to have a cool refreshing swim. Given that the hotel was full, there were not many people around the pool area, and so we virtually had the pool to ourselves which was great.

And so after snacks and food on the airplane, the obvious was happening; hunger was catching up with us as well as the jet lag. We needed to eat and have something substantial in our stomachs and so we headed into the surrounding streets to find a restaurant. It was not difficult. Plenty of bars and cafes most of which were a hive of buzzing activity adorned the streets even though we were quite a way from Downtown Miami.

We spent three nights in this part of Miami. It was a taster of what would come later at our other hotel on South Beach where Kay and I would stay after our Caribbean cruise. I looked forward to being underneath those elegant, huge palm trees on South Beach, but that would have to wait. A cruise was the next thing on the agenda and that was almost upon us.

Day two and getting into the good old shopping mode, we hit the The Dolphin Shopping Mall for which the hotel obligingly ran public transport to and from. It is a huge mall with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, fountains and just about everything that anyone could think of. It was a shopper's paradise. I got hijacked on my way around, someone wanted to do a professional made up job on my face. It was a pity that I did not have time to linger there and have it done.

The night before we boarded the ship for our cruise, we booked a cab and had a lengthy drive, (all around Miami or so it felt) to The Outback Australian themed restaurant. This was a lively and very colourful place with a great 'bush tucker', menu. The ambience was relaxed and friendly……..America meets Australia…… a great combination. Music, beer and lots of food. It was good to be in the US once again.

We met up on the final night and had a chat about our upcoming cruise. We were all looking forward to it. For Kay and myself it would be a new experience. We had never been on a cruise before. I was just dying to leap aboard, get in my cabin and set sail for those wonderful caribbean Islands; like we were about to step into a TV show.

And so that night we slept and dreamed of sailing the seas and being pampered by big muscular hunky men…….and having lots of fun. We were not disappointed as far as the fun went. The men? Well maybe that's another story. And so on to our cruise and another blog……..

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FOOTNOTE: Picture of Kay, Andrew and myself outside our Airport Hotel