Miami

Day 28


We docked back in Miami port at around 7:30am – another sparrows fart wake up call as we had breakfast in bed, yes it’s a hard life :p Since we were efficient and pre-packed our bags the night before, we promptly left our cabin, said goodbye to the Carnival Liberty and headed for land.


We caught a taxi to South Beach Hostel – it was hoootttt. This, coupled with the fact that we didn’t shower on the boat = sweat and stink, so we were keen for a scrub. Because it was sparrows fart o’clock we couldn’t check in – so we dumped our bags and headed to south beach for a walk. It was still really early so nothing was open –which meant we were now hungry, smelly and sweaty – attractive.


We walked along the beach and Ocean Drive and ended up at Lincoln Bvd – the home of the Miami shopping. We went into Footlocker and decided it was finally time to buy those sneakers we had been talking about since Vegas – clearly we failed at this, so we thought it was about time we actually bought some. Footlocker had a sale on, so Totti bought a pink pair of converse high tops and I bought the traditional black and white version – the only difference (aside from the colour) was that Totti’s shoes cost $25 and mine cost $45, her midgety genetic makeup allows her feet to fit into children’s sizes.


We kept strolling and settled into a pizza place for lunch and to watch the Argentina game. It was pretty cool as the restaurant had the game broadcasting direct from the Spanish channel - we were both very amused by the enthusiastic commentary. So after the game we walked some more and decided to watch a movie at the local cinema, which p.s was 5 bucks and was like cinemax back home, so we were very excited about this. So to improve our already awesome movie experience, we bought some Cold Stone (which is like goodberries, but a million times more awesome and yum) and went to see the Killers. It was nice.
We decided that because we had been talking about our new sneakers since Vegas – that we should bring them out to play in Miami. New city, new shoes. Made sense at the time, no? Initially we were getting strange looks, to the point of walking past people in restaurants and entire tables stopped in mid conversation to stare at us. I mentioned in passing “maybe it’s ‘cause we’re the only ones wearing shoes” and that may have been the cause for all the sideways glances. So mere seconds after I made this observation, every other person was stopping and telling Totti how much they liked her shoes. “Oh hey, cool shoes” “I like your shoes girl”....... so I had shoe envy, and really couldn’t understand why hers were so much cooler than mine, since WE WERE BOTH WEARING CONVERSE!!!! *exhales in frustration*. And it just seemed to get worse, for me anyway – everyone loved Totti. Every second person on the street would just say hi to her, for NO REASON! Totti said she had been told in the past that she had “trusting eyes” and that she was very approachable. I found this highly amusing – as I know that she pinches increasingly hard, I have the bruises to prove it, and that she will attack while I am unsuspecting. She will lull you into a false sense of security and then make her move. When I pointed this fact out to her, she did indeed agree. So as we continued, the hello’s kept coming – in the end I was like “ok, do I have the words “F**k Off” written on my forehead?!


So it just kept getting better for her, she was told she was adorable, that they liked her shoes, at one point we were strolling down the footpath and this mighty ripped African American chap kindly obliged Totti when she asked if she could have a photo with him. We then heard beeping from the traffic lights and looked over to see the hottest looking boys we have ever laid eyes on. They were indicating that they wanted us to take a photo of them, as if to say, we’re as hot as that guy. Then to our surprise, they came and pulled up on the footpath next to us ....shirtless....tattoo’d....muscular....Puerto Rican.... They just seemed to love totti and her friggan shoes....actually, they just loved her (it’s beyond me why, they don’t know her farts could clear a room in about 5 seconds)...... So she got a photo with them, sat on their Vespa, touched their muscles – while I watched from the footpath and took the photo. Woo. The only salvation came when the boys asked Totti for her number – all of a fluster, blushing, but couldn’t wipe the grin off her face, priceless :p The funniest thing about the entire situation was that she seemed to have a momentary lapse in concentration, probably because she was too busy salivating, she gave the boys her phone number without the country code. Bless. But so the moral of the story is, clearly black and white converse are just too average in Miami. So by this stage I was pretty much sick of everyone loving Totti and told the boys they could have her, that I’d wait on the corner and they could bring her back in 20.


Oh, did I mention she had cool shoes?


So we strolled back to our hostel, Totti with a spring in her step and me dragging my average converse shoes along. We hopped into bed and set our alarms for 5.30am *cringe*. Universal studios the next day.
Day 29:
Another sparrows fart start – that was clever wasn’t it :p A 3.5hr bus ride to Orlando, but well worth the wait – universal is pretty friggan awesome!! We spent the day going on as many rides as we could – Shrek, The Mummy, Jaws, Terminator 2, Jimmy Neutron – THE SIMPSONS RIDE!!!!
So by this stage we were well peckish and decided a hot dog would go down a treat. While enjoying our footlong hot dogs, our pleasant atmosphere was interrupted by a monosyllabic and unenthusiastic drone of a voice “whack a mole. Who wants to whack a mole? It’s the funnest game at universal. It only takes two players to start a race. There’s a winner in every game. Whack a mole. Come whack a mole. Did you guys go see jaws? Did he kill him? He always does. I’ve been on the ride a million times and it’s just as scary as the first time. Whaaaaaaaaaaaack a mole” and so it went. Stupid mole. Whack her mole.
Unfortunately, well much to my distaste anyway ( I suspect Totti planned this intentionally so that we would in fact miss it) - we missed the grand opening of the Harry Potter theme park, which by the way, is SO friggan cool. Let us move on, I am still in mourning over this fact. And so before we knew it, it was time to hop back on the bus and head back to Miami. It was such a long day that we were glad to get back to our rickety bunk beds and pass out.
Day 30:


We expected a cruisy uneventful day, so we just opted to walk around Miami some more and maybe do some shopping. We were in Alvins Island – just a souvenir shop, t-shirts, shot glasses etc. We were casually browsing stuff – Totti was looking at sunscreen when through the door, walked Francesco Totti. I was literally lost for words, of all the people, in Miami??? I was like “Totti!!! It’s the REAL Totti!” I am still reeling from this fact, as I am now the envy of my entire family and can totally have bragging rights for like the next ten years. It was pretty friggan cool!!!! He was how ever a man of few words.....actually he didn’t say anything at all. But it completely made our day :)So on that very high note, we proceeded to do some more shopping and while away our afternoon. We went back to the same pizza place and watched Italy vs Paraguay. I opted to keep the fact that I was going for Italy quiet – everyone including Totti was keen to see us lose, plus everyone in the pizza shop was from Argentina, so I guess they had to hate us on principal. Lame game but anyways it was a good feed.
We were pretty pooped by our super eventful day, so headed back to the hostel, showered and went to dinner at TGI Friday’s. We weren’t really in the mood to go out, so we went back to the hostel and packed our stuff, in preparation for another super early wake up call, as we had a 7.30am flight the next morning.
With the prospect of New York upon us, we settled into bed and passed out. Lucky for me the farting was kept to a minimum on this trip – as we had a shared room *praises lord*.
So until next time Floggers and Boggers – Miami is worth it, lots of fun, lots to do, lots of hot people to see. Maybe try buy some bright pink converse and see if they love you as much as they love Totti.
Say hi to your dad for us,


Ela & Kate


Xxxx