Getting around
This is more a travelling and planing blog so if you are looking for my daily life, you’ll have to look somewhere else :)Archive for 2009 Florida
Garmin is dead long live TomTom
It was a mistake to write earlier that I was so satisfied with my GPS. Yesterday it started to cause problem and this morning it died! I still have som warranty on it so I don’t want to get a new one. But I must have one for the rest of my trip. It is so much easier when you are driving alone.
My Garmin is waterproof, it needs to be, ’cause of the bike. I A new waterproof costs a lot. But I found a TomTom for just $99. And I made it waterproof!
Another point
One thing I often come across on my recently made journeys are different kind of points. One year ago I stood on Cape Point in South Africa. Today I reached the southernmost point of USA.
I spent the night as a proper tourist, walking Duval Street up and down visiting different bars and music places, some quite nice, others I left at once. One nice place was a big bar called Sloppys.
Then I stumbled across a bunch of people dancing/walking (?) Linedance. The first time for me seeing it live. Kind of strange, I prefer to hold on to someone while I’m dancing.
I don´t want to pay WordPress for the possibility of displaying video on my blog so you will have to click on the links above and watch the clips o youtube.
Last time I was here (some 15 years ago) it rained all the time and I had to look after a class of students. I’m glad I decided to come back, It is more fun being able to have a beer or so and not going to bed too early.
This place is really very nice, I remember saying that the last time. Warm and nice nights, lots of fine food and art exhibitions. The wooden houses are charming and looks, especially in the night, very cosy.
Key West on a Harley Davidson
This will be a short one, I just arrived in Key West. The drive down here was pretty good. I didn’t get a red bike as on the picture below, mine is black. Quite a change to my own BMW. The weather is getting even hotter, about 30 degrees centigrade.
My US mobile
Because I have a company phone I can’t use it on vacation. Therefore I got a US number. Feel free to contact me on
9546709575
If you are in Sweden it will be +19546709575
I look forward hearing from you 🙂
New ride and shopping
I went streight to the rental company this morning to get an other set of wheels. And it was no problem. I got a Chrysler 300 instead. Very nice and more comfortable then the other one.
The I went to the motorcycle rental place to book i bike for the next 4 days. Originally I was planning to go from New Orleans to Miami by bike but I missed the cheap one way offer. It’s quite expensive to rent at motorcycle in the US but there was an affordable midweek offer. I will pick up the Harley Davidson Electra Glide tomorrow and set off for Key West.
This morning on my way to Miami I got my first look at Miami skyline. It is said to by one of the most spectacular skyscrapers skylines after NYC, Chicago and LA. It was nice.
It is very easy to understand the environmental problem USA is suffering under. The traffic is really heavy. As I drove back from Ft Lauderdale this night the traffic vas heavy.
Do you know Ida?
And that is not the sister of Emil but a tropical Strom coming up towards northwest of Florida. She makes it a bit windy here in Miami as you can see in the pictüre of the Art Deco district. The storm will luckely not hit me but I will suffer from some rain and wind.
Anyway, I easily found my hotel. I cheated of course by having a navigator. Nowadays I can’t imagine how I survived without one. My ride is a disappointment, a big America sedan. I booked a two door Dodge. I will try to get it today, I was too tired yesterday ta start arguing about this.
The Hotel is nice and clean and very central. I had no problem yesterday finding the nice bars and restaurants in the area and it just 100 meters to the beach.
The beach is empty due to the storm but I can imagine sun, sand and hot water…
Finally i pic from my hotel. Now I’m leaving for some shopping and trying to get another car. I will head up to Ft Lauderdale to a big Mall with lots of factory outlet stores.
Approaching Miami
The over head screens are reading 57 minutes to landing. Nice, I’m getting quite tired of flying. First a small jump to Düsseldorf, just a bit under two hours. Then this part over the Atlantic for ten hour.
On the other hand, it has been nice flying with Lufthansa. They have upgrades all economy seats with individual TV-screens. With 10 different movies and some TV-shows wich can be individually controlled I didn’t even have to turn on my laptop to watch some movies.
Perhaps you heard about the new US immigration procedure. You have to fill in a form on the Internet at least 72 hours before. Fine I thought, perhaps this will reduce the time I usually have to spend at immigration and customs. But no, I still have to fill in this green immigration form on the plane and a custom declaration as always. Bureaucracy is not only in Sweden a big thing…
Anyway, in about two hour I will get my car and drive out to Miami Beach, the Art Deco district, for my Hotel. It’s some kind of spa hotel, they even have a Swedish Massage.
Getting around 