Welcome to Miami...

1am-Cancun 12th July
Buy M+M's from an oxxo in cancun. Start eating them at the hostel and get weird stomach cramps so i stop. I possibly fall asleep or pass out from the pain. Wake up and grab a taxi to the airport. We find out our flight has been delayed just over two hours so i catch up on some reading at the airport. I am reading The Time Traveller's Wife, slow i am enjoying it yet utterly confused by time travel. I Sleep through take off and landing at Miami airport. Our hostel turns out to be a really cheap hotel. We have a private bathroom and even a kitchen area with a fridge. There are two double beds and a tv for quiet tims. We go to dinner at IHOP (International House of Pancakes). It is like little chef but the quality of food is superb compared. I have a toasted sandwhich patty burger with grilled onions. It might be vegetarian, i'm not sure. After dinner mark feels ill so he goes back to the room to sleep. Jamie, Dan and I take a really long stroll to South Beach down Collins Avenue. We start at 63rd and end up at 13th. Miami ink is on 14th washington ave. We all go out dressed in our sunday best as we've beent old South Beach is where all the beautiful people are. My impressions of Miami are good. It is full of pretty tall buildings that reach the skies. It is immaculately clean and superb. The waters are pristine as it is situated on the lagoon and beach. You are never far from water. I have always like cities that are built around water. The cars are new and shiny and big. We dont see one bad looking ugly car on our walk. We even walk down a stretch on mid beach that smells beautiful and we all notice it. We walk past Miami Ink but just glance so we dont seem like typical tourists even though its about 11 at night. Lots of people we walk past have tattoos. On the way back our legs and feet start to feel the burn of our ten mile walk so we grab some huge gatorade bottles from a convinience store. The energy drink then later stops us from sleeping. When we get back we cant get in because we left Mark the key. This old lady reluctantly lets us in and calls the room to get confirmation from Mark. He does not answer. She takes us to the room and knocks on the door. After a while he answers in his boxers half asleep looking really pale. He is confused about it all but finally tells the lady that we do belong in the room. She tells him we better not be joking, but this time we're in stitches at her southern accent being so stereotypical. We're not sure if shes seriously or joking. We laugh and hate our legs.

July 13th
Wake up around 9. Dan talked in his sleep again. Something about "Kings cross". We all woke up and found it hilarious at the time. I get pancakes for breakfast. We take a bus to south beach and spend around two hours sunbathing and swimming in the heat of the day. The sand is hot and the water is calm and see through. I swear a shark nuzzles me in the belly button but mark says its just fish. My ipod wont work. This makes sunbathing dull and i have to lay on my front and read. We are all red and roasted by the end of the day. We take a walk back though a shopping district that has nice shops but its too hot and we have no money. Dan enquires about tattoo prices. We bump into aussie aaron. It's a small world. He's heading to madrid tomorrow. We eat at IHOP AGAIN and see Bruno in the evening. We laugh.

July 14th
Jamie wakes up telling us we have to get up and check out. We take a bus to Adventurer mall up in North Miami. Its about 140 streets from where we are staying. Mark buys a trilby hat from the quiksilver store and the woman in there talks to us about england and her son. She is mid 40's, blonde, ex sufer type and tells us to get in contact with her son in California cos hes in a band. She gives us his number. I buy All Time Low's new cd and and a Black Tranformers vest from Hot Topic. Hot topic is not punk rock, MC Lars once said. Am i selling out? We take the bus back and some guy shouts at us about Tony Blair in a friendly manner. In subway a woman asks me if i'm from australia, i reply england but thanks for the compliment. She's from birmingham. I say we're from high wycombe. Close. I eat an Italian BMT. Bus to catch to Atlanta.


Hannah xoxo