As winter approaches in Europe, temperatures are falling, days are getting shorter… Yes this seems very depressing! That’s why I decided to write about my recent SWISS flight to sunny and warm Miami.
Miami is probably one of the most amazing destinations SWISS flies to, especially with sunny Miami Beach along the city’s shoreline. Wanting to escape from the rainy and grey European weather, and having a dear friend living in Miami, I decided that a trip to Miami would be a good idea. Who would not agree with that?
When looking at the weather in Switzerland, no words could explain how I felt when the captain announced the weather forecast for Miami:
Sunny, warm, ready for take-off…
Bye-bye, Zurich! You won’t be missed for the next week.
The flight time from Zurich to Miami is about 9 hours but the thrill of anticipation makes time pass very fast. Moreover, with the service on board, especially the broad offer on the inflight entertainment system, long-haul flights such as this one feel much shorter. When you are travelling on a long-haul flight, I recommend that you use the advanced seat reservation option while you are booking, in order to get the best seat! I always check out www.seatguru.com to find the best ones.
After some food followed by a well-deserved nap, I woke up just before the First Officer told us to look out of the left window. We were currently flying over the Bahamas. I have never been to the Bahamas but, wow, what a stunning view. And, what a change of view compared to before take-off.
I arrived around 6 p.m. Miami time on LX64 and I was lucky enough that my friend picked me up. We had dinner at his place and went for some drinks after. Sorry, no pictures of that…
However, the next day my friend decided that we should start my Miami vacation with a nice, light American lunch at a local “Duffy’s” Sports Bar. The chicken wings there were amazing… Considering the tropical temperatures and humidity, my water and ice-tea consumption increased exponentially. Additionally, you really feel like a tourist if you ask the waitress to eat outside and she gives you this “in that heat? Well, it’s your choice” look. But it was a nice place to enjoy some American sports and especially to experience supporters who are really into the game, shouting “U-S-A, U-S-A”. Among many other things I ate some delicious and mouthwatering spare ribs in a “Grand Lux Cafe”. If you like this kind of stuff and meat that almost falls off the bone, go for it! By the way, the popcorn you see on the pictures above came with fried lobster inside. I am pretty sure this gives Michelin chefs grey hair. But hey, I was always told that you should never judge before you experience something yourself.
I could go on forever describing the food I ate in Miami but I am sure some of you don’t really care while the others are maybe craving to have lunch or dinner, so I will just show you some pictures of the delicious food I ate above. Watch out, you may gain calories if you stare too long at them.
Enough about the food, because the landscape was also a feast for the eyes.
When you are in the region, I would recommend taking an afternoon to visit Fort Lauderdale. It is very touristic but worth it. Go for a walk along the beach and enjoy the sun as well as the beautiful people and the nice muscle cars that are shown off on the streets along the beach.
Miami is very close to Latin America and the Hispanic influence is without any doubt clearly noticeable. Si si, a lot of people speak Spanish, and I even had the feeling that I heard more people speaking Spanish than English. My knowledge of Spanish doesn’t really go further than “dos tequila por favor”, but do you really need to say anything else? No, yo no lo creo…
As on one of the days the weather was not really great we decided to drive to the city of Miami.The sky was indeed very grey and not very pleasant. We visited the Freedom Tower, which was constructed in 1925 and featured as the headquarters for the newspaper Miami Times, according to a very popular and yet not so reliable online source (Yes I mean Wikipedia).
However, if you are in a city like Miami and the weather isn’t great, you can always find another activity, like going to the movies. You can find a picture of my friend and me holding a MEDIUM-sized coke. Yes, as a European, I thought this was worth a picture. Another very famous, probably the most famous, part of Miami is South Beach. If Ocean Avenue rings a bell, you know exactly what I mean. Moreover, the beach is huge, the sand white and smooth and the water… like in a bathtub.
It was a pleasure in Miami and I hereby take the chance to thank my friend for letting me stay at his place during my vacation.
And of course thank you to SWISS for bringing me back home safely.
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