Day 268 (Tuesday 8th) - Miami
I had to be up at half five to get my cab to the airport, and as always happens when I have an early deadline to meet, I slept fitfully and dreamed wierdly. The flight was fairly dull, and just involved a mixture of dozing and looking out over the desert, while failing to capture any of it on film. I arrived in Miami without incident, and proceeded to the prebooked hostel, which I found to be a bit scuzzy. There were people asleep in my room the whole time I was there, day and night, which hardly makes for a welcoming atmosphere. It'll be fine though, as I don't think we're staying here for too long. Starving, I wandered to the beach and had lunch on Ocean Drive, where all meals were half price (in the Primetime restaurant at least). I had cheesy gnocchi, forgetting how crap American cheese is, which allayed my hunger but also made me feel rather queasy, so I walked to South Beach to sleep it off. I lay in the astonishingly hot sun for a while, was disappointed by the lack of girls at which to gaze, and so instead I wandered the streets relatively aimlessly, eventually getting my hair cut by a small Cuban man. He took loads off, as Hailie's haircut was a little "Cleopatra"ish. This wasn't Hailie's fault however, rather it was mine for not properly explaining what I wanted. It is now really short, shorted than it's been in years, and I'm not too sure about this either. Back at the hostel I did my laundry and a few other boring things, and hung around in the common area. A game of beer pong was organised by an American couple down there, and as it progressed I managed to accidentally get quite drunk, or at least enough to collapse into bed for a very very sound sleep. In spite of all this, I am getting very bored, and can't wait for Pat to get here.
Day 269 (Wednesday 9th) - Pat's Arrival
I spent the morning lying on the beach, as that seems to be all there is to do in Miami, then headed to the airport to surprise Pat. This turned out to be a bad idea, as I had no idea about the specifics of Pat's flight. Somewhat inevitably, I completely missed him (not helped by the fact that the flight came in early as well), and I received a call from him asking where I was. "At the airport" I replied, "you?" "At the hostel. Bugger." Around 4 o'clock we finally rendezvoused at the hostel. Flash Pat had already organised a private room for the two of us, so we headed out to Ocean Drive for lunch. What was intended as a snack rapidly evolved into a minor binge, starting with shrimp and avocado salad, going via two enormous drinks (mango daiquiri and a caipirinha, over a pint of each in a cocktail glass a foot high) and ending with a fine Cuban cigar each from the girl selling them on the street. Consequently, Pat and I were both accidentally drunk (again) and had to go for a nap. We weren't aided by the fact that it's incredibly hot and humid here, so all the moisture is being constantly sucked from our bodies. We didn't rise from our stupor until around 10, so we decided to sample Miami's legendary nightlife. We grabbed a bottle of JD to have at the hostel, then headed out to Mansion, in the recommendation of some Irish girls Pat had met earlier that day. To be honest it was a bit odd, all we really did was steam about getting turned away from various VIP sections. Upon our return to the hostel we met the Irish girls again - Pat was chatty and friendly (read loud and slightly abusive, as we found out the following day - one of them couldn't believe he was the same guy) whereas I was knackered and went to bed. To be fair, it was roughly dawn, I think.
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