Day 291 – Miami
Once again, I was surprised that we slept at Blue Ocean Hostel, as I awoke to thumping music at 4am, from the nightclub below. After a few hours we got up and had breakfast at Taste Bakery Cafe, which was a short walk away. While we were enjoying breakfast, we could see lightning once more.
Wolfsonian-Florida International University
We walked to the Wolfsonian-Florida International University Museum, which was closed yesterday due to the rain. The entrance fee was 12 USD / $17.70 AUD per person. The museum has a total of 7 stories, of which 5 are typically accessible. Level 3, with the library, is pretty much a library that requires an appointment to enter, Level 6 was closed for installation, which left the lobby, level 5 and level 7.
The lobby doesn’t have much going on and the other two levels are okay, but I didn’t feel like it was something I enjoyed. There was a bit of everything, from history to old retro equipment and artwork.
After buying a phone cover for my wife’s Samsung S7, we ate Subway again. In Miami, there seems to be a sub of the day deal which rolls through the various meat options.
Airport Car Rentals
Since we wanted to go to the Kennedy Space Centre, we would need to rent a car. There was no public transport that we could find from any town. We had asked a few places around town about rentals, but they appeared to be more expensive than the prices we were seeing online at the airport.
Sixt Car Rentals in Miami Beach was offering the following rental prices for an economical car:
- 1 day = $72 USD / $106.45 AUD
- 2 days = $121 USD / $178.90 AUD
- 3 days = $171 USD / $252.82 AUD
Therefore we went to the airport to compare prices. In retrospect, we should have done this on the first day when we arrived to Miami. We caught the 150 Bus to the airport for 2.25 USD / $3.33 AUD. Here we checked out several car rental places. The price of the cars were only $7-10 USD, but the taxes and insurance made the prices sky rocket.
We found that Ace Car Rentals was the cheapest, and the gentleman was really nice. They also have plenty of cars, so that we didn’t need to come one day early to book. We could have driven off in a car right now if we wanted. So we decided to come back tomorrow to make the booking.
Back to Miami Beach
We left the airport on the 150 Bus to South Beach once more. Travelling on public transport is definitely easier without luggage. Once near Miami Beach, we got off the bus just passed Espanola Lane. It’s a very nice walking street, with restaurants on either side.
Despite being a Spanish Lane, we ended up having lunch and dessert at a French place near the end of the street called A La Folie Cafe.
Miami Beach
Then we went to swim in Miami Beach. It was very cool. Despite being such a busy beach, the fact that its so big, meant it didn’t take too long to find an area just for us to swim in. As we had suspected the water was pretty shallow, maybe chest deep for around 15 metres from the shore.
Also the water was very calm and clean. It was amazing to just relax in the water. It wasn’t as amazing as the Dead Sea (Day 260), but it was pretty nice. We spent a few hours at the Beach.
Night Scene
Our accommodation, Blue Ocean Hostel, actually has a deal with the nightclub that kept waking us up at 4am, Voodoo. We could get 2 free drinks every night, just because we were guests. We had not tried it out until tonight.
The free drinks, were massive. After 2 of mine, and 1 of my wife’s we were buzzing. It was around 9pm, and the nightclub was empty. We decided to leave and get some food. We never suspected the drinks would be so big, especially since its free.
Mood lighting in the Dorm rooms Voodoo Nightclub
We ended up walking to Peppers, which was an Mexican restaurant, which had nice food. We then headed back into the main strip and people watched as we slowly made our way back to the hostel.