I arrive at Miami airport late into the evening and grab an Uber to my hostel. I am staying at in South beach. Miami already feels very different, after the small showers in Texas, it’s great to feel some heat again! It’s 23oC here and its 23:00! Miami also feels very glitzy especially the area I am staying in on Miami Beach. Feels like a summer vacation rather than the Christmas break but I had thought that if I was going to spend my first Christmas away from home somewhere else it should be somewhere hot!

I have a few cheeky beers when I get settled and go through my photographs taken over the last week as well catching up on some writing for my blogs. I am so busy meeting people and organisations and having such a great time, I am struggling to keep up to date! (I am actually in Detroit whilst writing this! Hello from the future!). Hoping to get back up to speed though. Anyways I digress, the next morning I head to the holy land that is Whole Foods and stock up on some supplies as I will be in Florida for a week. After taking my food back to the hostel I head out to do some exploring of Miami Beach. I head to the beach itself and also wonder round all the fantastic art deco buildings in the historic area of south beach. I really enjoy different styles of architecture and one thing that’s really cool about the U.S.A, is the amount of different influences of styles around.

Art Deco is not only an architectural style, but an overall design aesthetic first popularized in 1920s Paris, which then spread throughout the world during the 1930s and up until World War II. Most of the Art Deco buildings in Miami were built during the 1930s and ‘40s and are considered to be part of the second wave of Art Deco known as Streamline Moderne. It is a really interesting sight especially with all the palm trees around! I walk so much that by the time I get back to the hostel my feet have a couple of blisters. My new American friend at the hostel thinks it’s crazy that this happened and wondered why I did not get an Uber. But I like walking around and feel you get a better feel to a place and can take things in just a bit better.