Florida

Arrived in Miami early afternoon on Saturday, and picked up my rental car. I have driven on the "wrong side" many times in the past, but for some reason this seemed particularly stressful. I now know what learner drivers feel like when they are driving for the first time! The hotel was immediately across the road from the rental garage at the airport, but due to construction & freeway overpasses etc, it took 15 mins to get where I needed to go!

On the Sunday I needed to drive around & check out a couple of beach locations for suitability to land cables. I "missed a turn" at the beginning, and ended up cruising the South Beach strip. It is very interesting with all the art deco decor, altho I was surprised at how quiet it was. I went back later in the afternoon on the way back to the hotel, and it was pumping then. I also passed where all the cruise liners berth, and it was impressive to see 6 very large cruise ships lined up together.

Basically drove slowly up the coast for 20-30 miles, then cruised back down again. Saw some very spectacular waterfront houses on the other side of the canal, with some amazing private yachts parked in front. Along with a lot of the cars you see, there is obviously a LOT of money here.

Had dinner with some friends on the Sunday night, then flew to Jacksonville on the Monday morning. Again, it was a maze getting into the rental car return garage, and even though I filled it up the previous night, I think the fuel gauge was showing 1/4 empty again! Domestic check in in the US is an absolute nightmare, with SOOOO many people. And then it takes forever to get inside due to the security checks. I normally allow 2 hrs to check in for a international flight, and in Australia you can leave it to less than 1 hour. Here, 2 hours is still tight for a domestic flight! And there are SOOO many different law enforcement agencies, all with uniforms & guns (local police, state police, sherriffs, DHS, etc etc). Not just noticeable at the airport, but even outside. I passed a night roadworks site last night, where they have police babysitting them for traffic control (this always happens), and I swear one of the cars - complete with red & blue lights on top - was labelled "Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement"!!

Anyway, I am digressing from the travelogue to the random observations, so I will get back on track. Arrived Jacksonville at lunchtime, and decided to head out to the beach to check it out, allowing me a full day the next day for "non-work tasks" ie do the tourist stuff! Lucky I did, as it rained the next day (torrential) so it would have been very uncomfortable going to the beach in this rain. As it was, the tourist bit was not much fun.

The hotel I am in is at the airport, which is in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to catch up with another friend for dinner, wanting to have a few drinks, but the only option to get anywhere was to drive (Americans are not big on public transport). A taxi would have cost ~$50 each way. Loads of things are cheap in the US, but taxis are not one of them!

Today (Tuesday) I did the tourist things. Firstly I checked out the local Budweiser Brewery. Not bad, but the tour guide really rattled off the talk so fast, I did not have a chance to catch my breath & read all the posted information. I recall the same thing at the Boeing factory years ago... the tour was way too fast for my liking. I also note that if any American has a "script" to read from, they really rattle it off very quickly. Due to years of watching US TV, I have no real problem understanding them, but I wish they would slow down a little. And they ALWAYS have trouble understanding me. As a rule, Americans have very little tolerance for understanding anyone that is not speaking in their own particular accent (even regional).

Next was a visit to the local Science Museum (yes, here is the closet geek coming out again). I was a little disappointed, as it was quite small, and very much geared for primary school kids. The planetarium showed some promise, but was again geared for the very young schoolkids.

Was looking around for a fast food place for lunch, but could not find anything that appealed to me. There are MILLIONS of food places, but none caught my fancy. Also turned off the interstate to check out one shopping mall, but felt a little nervous as it was obviously an "economically depressed" area, with loads of closed shops, pawn shops etc, and no white people! I ended up (mistakenly, originally) in a fancy restaurant on the riverfront (complete with white tablecloth & metal cutlery!), and had a very nice chicken breast meal for only $12!!! Including drink!!! OK, it was $15 with the tip, but still SOOOO cheap!

I will try & organise photos later.... altho don't hold your breath.

Off to Colombia tomorrow (Cartagena).