Doing the Nomad: August 2013

Team America

With my time in Colombia coming to an end and saying goodbye to my last travel buddy Paula I found myself just chilling in my hostel in Cartagena surfing the interwebs and trawling Facebook. A co-worker and good friend of mine Roger who is an avid Facebook poster had just been bragging that he was starting 1 months leave. Being the caring friend I am I jokingly replied in a teasing manner that he should join me in Miami in a few days time. About 4 days later I'm looking at him in arrivals at Miami International Airport catching up on all the goings on from work & home. Thus begins the 17 days I got to spend with Rog as Team America, tormenting the east coast of the USA.

This section of my trip I had left completely unplanned, my aim being to just to meander up the east coast and see where the winds took me. The arrival of Rog did not change this at all, he is as laid back and easy going as me. We spent 2 nights in Miami which included a rather large night on a Friday evening in Miami Beach South. Miami Beach is exactly as you imagine it to be; overly fit guys and girls running, on bikes, rollerblades and working out all along the beach front. As luck would have it my local AFL team Geelong was playing on pay TV that night so we lined up with a Irish bar to get it put on at midnight. Needless to say in my excitement I accidently got a little bit drunk by 3am when the game finished and after a couple of games of pool we were suddenly stumbling into our hotel at about 6. Waking up in a panic at 10:30 for an 11am checkout and the 2km return walk to get my laundry the next morning in boiling, humid, typical Florida weather was not quite the hangover cure I had in mind. Alas we survived and continued stumbling to the airport where we hired a car to cruise around in for the next week or so.

Miami Beach

Not quite the mustang convertible we had in mind but it did the job

From Miami we drove down to Key West along one of the most amazing stretches of road I have driven upon. A 113 mile chain of small islands called Keys, there are 42 bridges connecting each one. The drive is a testament to the engineering prowess of the USA as well as a gateway to Key West at the very tip, the southern most point of the continental US.

7 mile bridge

Sunset Pier at Key West

I was lucky enough to enjoy my 29th birthday in Key West which was a highly civilized, gentlemanly type night with just a couple of quiet ones.........

From Key West we drove back up through the Keys to Fort Lauderdale for the night where I was able to have a catch up with Lanie, a friend made on my travels through Central America. Great evening eating Mahi Mahi on the waterfront telling Rog our tales from the Caribbean.

One of many drawbridges along the coastline

Cape Canaveral

From Fort Lauderdale we wondered up to Hutchinson Island where we just relaxed on the beach for 2 nights before our busy schedule in Orlando. Roger is a massive Kiss fan and 90% of the reason he came to the US was to see them play in their home territory (the other 50% was to see me). Upon arrival in Orlando we checked into our hotel then made our way to the Amway Centre in downtown where I got to see an absolutely amazing show. I am in no way a Kiss fan, I only knew 4 of their songs but it was a very impressive show.

For being in their 60's these guys put on a good show

The next day at 1pm we went to the very same stadium which had been transformed into an Arena Bowl Stadium (indoor gridiron) and that was quite the cultural experience as well. Arizona for the win :) - Just for you Clay & Brenna

We dumped the car at Orlando Airport and flew up to Washington yesterday as we were running out of time to drive the entire way up. It turned out to be a great decision as we got to spend the whole of today roaming around Washington and it is one of the most picture perfect cities I have been too since Paris. That however will have to wait for the next post.

To think that 2 weeks ago I was travelling around Colombia, I could not have come to a more different place. Don't think you would find the sign below anywhere in a US hotel.

Pool etiquette in my hostel in Santa Marta, Colombia

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Solo traveller in the home of Pablo Escobar

Have left Panama and my Intrepid travel buddies and headed to Colombia for 2 weeks as everyone has raved about it and my god they were right. I can now see why Colombia wins the Miss Universe competitions so often, the girls here are some of the most beautiful women I've seen in the world. Colombia also has a very bad reputation for its drug problems as well but in the areas I have travelled in it has not been evident whatsoever.

Harley Davidson given by Pablo Escobar to his cousin - later seized by the police

My time here started in the capital Bogota, and had I arrived 2 days earlier I could have found myself on a Colombian TV show. Apparently at the hostel I was staying at a film group came around looking for tall foreigners to do 1 days work for their show. I could have been a star. Only 2 days in Bogota before I flew up to Cartagena and getting there was half the fun. Upon arrival at the airport I go to check in with Viva Colombia, their version of Tiger Airways over here. Of course the 8:30am flight I booked on the internet was not booked because it rejected my credit card but they failed to send me an email telling me that. Not the end of the world, I walk over to the LAN airlines desk to book a flight. We have 1 at 10:30. OK I'll take that, how mu...... Oh wait that's full, you'll have to go on the 6pm flight. OK, 10 hour wait at the airport, good news is I can check in my large bag now. Get to check in desk and suddenly they have room on the 10:30 flight, more good news. Wait until 10:00 to find out this flight is now cancelled, back to check in gate, put on some new 11:30 flight. Ahhhh South American transport, you have your own unique way of getting from A to B.

Bike riding around Cartagena

Old Spanish fort in Cartagena

Doing some hard yards at Boca Grande, Cartagena

The good thing to come out of all that trouble was that Cartagena was magnificent. If Colombia has the most beautiful women in the world, the best of the best resided in Cartagena. This is also where I met up with Javier, my tour leader from Central America who was also travelling solo between tours. Now Javier didn't have the most luck throughout our time together. Firstly in Boca del Toro after quite a big night out at a nightclub on an island Javier jumps into our water taxi only to go straight out the other side, ruining his iPhone in his pocket, a bit of a disaster for a tour guide. In Cartagena he manages to lose his wallet, apparently for the 5th time, and in Santa Marta the flight I booked for him was not recorded, similar to the story above, so he had a hectic last minute run around to make sure he could get to Bogota. All of these are the qualities you would expect from a tour leader. Mishaps aside we had an awesome time running around Northern Colombia.

Still have 4 days in Colombia before flying to Miami on the 7th, looks like my time there is going to be pretty good based on the first hostel I booked the other day right on Miami beach, check it out. www.bikinihostel.com