Todays timing all centred around picking Neil up from Miami airport. The problem was he hadn’t replied to my question of which exact flight he was on………
We were slightly later up but had had breakfast, packed and in the car well before 10am. Our first destination was the Garden Mall at Palm Beach which was 79 miles away but we found easily after a straight forward drive.
We were at the Mall to pick up my birthday present from Karen and to upgrade my phone at the Apple Store. As Karen is to have my iPhone 7 we decided to take advantage of the USA discount scheme to have the battery replaced but had to wait an hour for them to do so. Whilst waiting we had lunch in the Mall at Sbarro in the Food Court.
From here we drove into Palm Beach and had a short walk on the beach itself and then sat for 30 minutes in the picnic area in the shade as Karen was again suffering from the heat. During this time we had one of regular conversations of what we would do if we won £1 million. We agreed we would probably buy a second home in Florida, but the question was where? The coast? And if so which one? Kissimmee? Would we get bored returning so often to the same place? A nice problem to have should it ever happen.
After this we drove down to Miami North Beach to the apartment we had booked through Airbnb. There was much confusion as we arrived as we had arranged to meet someone called Michael who was going to give us access. The apartment was in a huge complex. Now Michael’s English was poor and my Columbian non existent, which meant we totally confused each other as to where we were meeting. I ended up paying for valet parking in the building which was unnecessary as the apartment came with a parking space. When Michael & I eventually found each other he managed to get my car park valet fees refunded much to the parking guys disgust.
The apartment was adequate but not brilliant. The furniture was well used. But the place was clean, and considering where we are and the fact we needed 2 bedrooms it was a good value. We quickly dumped the bags and then drove to the airport.
We are used to picking the boys up from USA airports and wait in the Cell Phone parking lot for them to get their baggage. Normally these are well positioned and have large screens telling you when flights have landed and when the baggage has been delivered. This one had nothing and didn’t actually seem to be at the airport (although at the end of one runway). Coupled with us not knowing what actual BA flight Neil was actually on, meant we were waiting for over 1 hour before we heard from him saying he was in a very long queue at Immigration. We didn’t mind that as at least we knew he was safely here. Another 45 minutes later he messaged again and we drove round and picked him up from outside arrivals. He was frazzled from the flight and like us moaned a lot about the BA flight.
We went back to the apartment so he could shower but within 30 minutes nipped out again to get some food (for the second night running at his choice, we sat at the bar in an Outback just a mile from the apartment.
Another early night followed as the long day caught up with us.
