Unbeknown to everyone I'm close to I booked at ticket to Miami back in February. Why? The real question is why not? Was it spontaneous, yes. But was it worth it? In the end I'd like to think so...despite all the mishaps and let's just say there were quite a few of them.
I'm going to honest with you, I didn't have much of a plan beforehand. Frankly, the only goal was to finally see the ocean. I know...in all of my twenty-two years I had never seen the ocean. So naturally, I was determined to check that sucker off my bucket list.
Due to complications prior to the trip I had to scramble to find a place to stay and while I'm usually a fan of Airbnb, this time I was a little disappointed. My friend and I were looking for a cheap place to stay and somehow purchased four nights in hostel in Little Haiti. While I can respect the culture of that area, (there were beautifully painted murals on the sides of almost every building) we didn't research the crime rate beforehand. Fun fact: it is higher than the rest of Miami. So, we needed to make other arrangements.
The day I flew into Miami I took a Lyft Line (which you MUST use if you're looking for a cheap way to get around all the different areas in the city) over to the Brickell City Centre mall to meet with my friend Jess from 26 and Not Counting. It just so happened that she had found a photographer in the area and booked a slot for a shoot.
You know when everything that could go wrong, does? Welp. It started to rain as soon as she began the shoot.
I tried my best to not take this as another foreshadowing for the rest of the trip but we ended up making the most of it and actually had fun shooting in the rain. We then made our way over to Jess’ friends apartment, conveniently located in the heart of downtown in the Brickell district. This made it super convenient to walk everywhere. It just so happened to be Lorin’s birthday so we celebrated with some delicious tacos from Tacology - this place had THE coolest vibe. I had the mushroom tacos with truffle oil and they were seriously AMAZING!
On our way back from lunch we were able to finally do a little sight seeing and in that instant I fell in love Miami - the colorful buildings and relaxed feel. I'm all about it.
Did I mention that Lorin’s dog is Instagram famous? Oh yeah his name is Thugoulas (Thug for short) and he’s a French Bulldog - he was the cutest thing known to mankind. After we took a nap we, of course, headed out for more food (because what else are you suppose to do on vacation??) at a place called Batch and waiter was entertaining as hell.
“Why should you date a Spanish man? Because once you go Spanish, black and white vanish”
Yep. He got an extra tip for that.
So, the first 24 hours I spent in Miami were a little chaotic but overall a lot of fun! Let just say...things got a little interesting Friday afternoon...(really this is just an excuse for me to post more photos because I'm excited with how they turned out)!