Some beach time in Miami

We flew from Boston to Florida as we didn't really fancy making that journey by car, plus by the time we would had paid the car hire costs and petrol, the flight worked out cheaper.

We decided to arrive into Miami and spend a few days there before hiring a car for a week to explore a little bit more of the state (and eagerly anticipate the arrival of Alistair's brother and sister who are joining us for 2 weeks in Orlando at the end).

Our aim for Miami was to rest, enjoy being in one place for more than a day or two, top up our tans a little and let Alistair have some solid time to get work done. Because of this, we actually didn't see very much of Miami itself (to be honest though, having looked at guides and advice of what to see in the city, there isn't much to do except enjoy the beaches and food!)

We stayed in South Beach, about 5 minutes walk to the beach. In the mornings Alistair worked and I wrote the remaining blog posts and then we wandered to the beach in the afternoon and whiled away time there til the evening.

One night we did walk up to Lincoln Road Mall (apparently a famous outdoor mall) to go to the cinema. We popped into a couple of shops but I didn't think the selection was great, I definitely prefer our shopping centres at home! Plus the heat was fierce that day even at 6pm so it was less enjoyable walking around.

I really enjoyed our bit of downtime, not feeling pressured to sightsee or do things. The beach was lovely, albeit quite busy at times and the sea was amazing! Crystal clear turquoise water, and genuinely warm (I haven't really experienced warm sea before - even in Australia there was a chill to the water). We did unfortunately get fairly badly burnt on our third day and so were extremely cautious after that, it was probably our worst sunburn of the entire year; we are still suffering! Apart from that minor blip I really enjoyed Miami beach. It appears quite a party city so if you wanna come and drink all day and party all night it is the place for you but equally if you just want a nice beach break - it is one of the nicest city beaches I have been to and would recommend it also solely for that purpose!