Outstate, out of the country, all pull me to South Beach.

Before choogirl, I had a friend from Missouri fly down to Florida to spend a weekend in South Beach. Let me tell something, I love Florida, I love the Beach, but I only drive to Miami for friends. It is too crowded, too overpriced, and too wild for me. Plus, there is nothing in Miami you can't find near me. So why drive there if I can avoid it, right?

Anyways, choogirl is from Miami. She wanted to spend some time in Miami, so off to Miami I go. She recommended I take an Uber or bus to the airport then take their free shuttle to the hotel. I have a car, but I didn't want to drive there because of the traffic, the tolls, and the parking would have been a nightmare. Plus, when I found out it would cost $40 a day to park I started thinking about choo’s recommendation. It sounded so simple and in the end it was very easy and inexpensive.

Take train to airport. From Airport take free shuttle to hotel.

I knew I wanted to leave early incase the train was delayed, or choogirls flight was delayed, or I temporary became confused as to where I was or where I was going. Some people say lost, but I refuse to. I do eventually find my way, thus I am not lost just temporarily confused as to where I am.

Pre-meetup meetup day

I was very excited to meet my steemit bestie. The morning of the grand adventure, I asked dad to drop me off at the train station. He works across the street from the station and, he said leaving my car there was unsafe.

Lesson learned.

Always questions dad! We will get to why, but I trusted him without question and it wasn’t ideal. He had to be at work by 7am. I ended up taking the 7:24 am train to Miami Airport. Surprisingly it only took an hour. Once I arrived, I realized that I mixed up choogirls arrival and departure times and arrived REALLY early.

Apparently pancakes is the way to my heart.

Getting off the train and heading towards the airport there was a sitting area before the shuttle that would takes me to the airport. I needed to think of a game plan. I was roughly eight hours too early. My ticket was round trip and I could have gone home then come back. I could have hopped on a bus and explored, but then Max asked where I was from.

Turns out Max had a wife, a desk job, and his own business before and after his divorce, quit his job, and paused his business he decided to travel.

According to him, he rented his place out while he was traveling and either overbooked himself, mixed up his travel dates, or was offered double from the couple staying at his place. If they could spend an extra night. I forget why exactly, but he needed a place to crash and being that it was spring break places were either booked or over priced.

We started chatting. I really didn't want to leave the airport to explore. I didn’t want to go home then come back either. He mentioned breakfast. I immediately thought of pancakes and was sold on the idea. I've never been very successful at refusing food.

Probably shouldn't share that with strangers, should I?

As you can imagine, our conversation gets deep really quick. He tells me his whole life story and I share my recent one.

I receive a phone call about a potential employer. Somehow he thinks he can crash on my hotel sofa.

Before I know it, we meet Rebecca. A homeless person or so she appeared to be asked for money to buy a plane ticket back to Europe. Max offers to buy her food, but she is very picky about food. Only accepting one type of meatball pasta from one italian place in the airport. She rambles about food, not being crazy, then walks away.

Four hours later, we sit outside for some sun. It was particularly chilly this day. Roughly 12 celsius and 50 fahrenheit, but the sun was warm. After a while, I find out my bus is hiding on the other side of the terminal. Max wanted to take a nap and find a place to sleep. We hug goodbye and we chat randomly throughout the week.

My random adventure

Max is convinced I need to find my purpose and passion. Only then will the right job come along. He may be right. Until then, I'm blogging, I'm applying, and I'm hopefully seeing him on steemit soon. As a world traveler I'm sure he has more stories then I to share.

After my train ride, eight hour wait, I find my bus and get to the hotel. I was ready for a nap and a shower. I take the stairs up and find a beautiful little room. The bathroom looked brand new and the kind bed looked comfy. Had my real life bestie been traveling with me, I wouldn’t question the room. However, my steemit bestie was a stranger. I’m pretty sure sharing a bed before meeting was outside her comfort level.

I check the reservation and the beautiful two twin bed queen bed room was indeed an error. Yes my friends, the reservation team though it best to change our reservation from two beds into one big one.

The front desk agent, the manager, and the owner scrabble for about two hours trying to find another room. In the mist of their hunt, a group of spring breakers arrive. They needed to clear their lobby of twenty-three teens, so I wasn’t priority any more. The bartender was kind enough to make some cuban coffee and watch a soccer match with me.

This group arriving at the time they did was a blessing in disguise.

I felt an amazing upgrade coming our way and the owner made me proud. I was given two options. One had a rooftop and a pool and the other I don’t remember, but it wasnt selected. Throughout this process, I had been text choo. I knew she wouldn’t have internet connection, but hoped she found wi-fi soon after landing.

Soon enough, choogirl landed, attempted to find internet connect, and finally made it to the second hotel. We received a lovely upgrade.

Choogirl discovers free drinks.

Apparently ladies hour isn't common in other parts of the world. Well, at this hotel between 7:00-8:00 pm every hotel guest receive unlimited drinks. Granted no wine or beer. Wasn't the best, but we made the most of it. Did I mention choogirl is vegan? part of the adventure was walking 5k to her favorite vegan place. The amazing Whole Foods. We walk across the island to a magical place called Whole Foods. Determind not to walk back we hopped on to the confusing free shuttle. The free shuttle maked a wrong turn, but eventually made it back.

Walking in flip flops might have hurt my foot. The beach and pool allowed for lots of tanning. When the sun would hide we would freeze a little too. It was a blast and if my steemit best and I definitely made the most of our getaway.

Friday

We took the shuttles and train back home. I decided to do some light cleaning. This took far too long. By the time we got in the car @lenadr landed and we were stuck in traffic for an hour. Then stuck in traffic again for another hour on the way back home. Ten minutes after arriving home our first guest arrived for dinner. Soon everyone else joined too. So many hugs were had! They ate, we chatted, and before I knew it I kicked them all out. A girl needs her beauty rest after all. Don't worry, there are plenty more stories to come and of course many more hugs.

More to come

@lenadr is the strongest woman alive!
@choogirl, the nonehugger asks for hugs!
Aggy likes to dance. THIS IS PRICELESS FRIENDS!
We also travel to Orlando, we also tan some more, and so many selfies are taken!

To be continued...