Clay Hotel Miami Beach

Miami .... Flew in amazed at the size of the US and daunted by the prospect of what I had taken on. 1 year away from home at 34 years of age, travelling alone, Was I doing the right thing, having only been out of the country on package tours n'all. I Checked into the Clay Hotel / Hostel on South Beach in which I had booked a single room, just to get me started. After 2 nights I was to book into the hostel part of the complex there. Having not met anyone in the first two nights ( hotel life I ...

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Welcome to Miami!! We got here on Monday 23rd after a 5 hour bus journey from Orlando. The weather in Miami has been really good mostly - very hot and little rain. On Monday we checked into our hotel, the Clay Hotel/Hostel which is a 1920's building with a distinctive latino style. After getting our room and dumping our stuff we went out for dinner. We ended up at a restaurant on Ocean Drive, the street that runs parallel with Miami Beach. After that we just wandered round exploring and had c...

O.K we made it through our South American destinations, i guess we can make it through anything. S.A was good while it lasted but it felt good to step foot in America. We no longer were being hassled 24/7 to buy things, We know longer had to drink coke from recycled bottles, and we thought we no longer had to constantly try to de-code Spanish. Unfortunatley for us there was just as much Spanish spoken in Miami as there is in Chile and Peru. We stayed in the Clay Hotel in South Beach. Miami Vi...

Miami is hot. Hot = Good. So we were 2 very happy people when we arrived. Shopped in the afternoon. Wibz even liked the shopping! Thats how good the shopping is here!!! Its the best!!! If only I had more room! The beach was beautiful!! And also safe, thanks to Wibzy Hasslehoff (see pics). Had a fun night out where we took some Canadian guy under our wing. Drank with some other Americans. Reen made friends with some "Jamaican guy" who found it hillarious to take drunk photos of Karrina without...

Our time in Miami was a whirlwind visit. We had decided to prebook our one nights stay at a small hotel in South Beach. It was an older looking place but just off Washington Avenue, a bustling arterial road of the area filled with shops and bars. Stepping out of the hotels other exit led us onto Espanola Road, a pedestrianised strip filled with restaurants and drinking spots. It was immediately obvious why people come here to party. We ate our huge portioned Mexican dishes, but waiting for o...

Been in Miami for 3 days now and fallen in love with the beaches/women/weather/women/atmosphere. Luckily our hotel is 100m from south beach in the middle of the art deco district. We spent the first couple of days taking it all in walking pretty much the length of the island. We feel slightly inadequate with the topless meatheads every couple of meters - so we decided it was a good idea to go for a long run to the park and use the outdoor gym...we ended up in an all american diner followed by...

Miami - another culture shock. Just as I was getting used to NYC, Miami comes along and blows all my theories out of the water. After a hairy ride to South Beach with a guy who was convinced Prince Charles had murdered Princess Diana, we checked into The Clay, a hostel and cheap hotel that was reputedly where Al Capone held his gambling den back when the mob ran the city. Vice had not completely left the building, however, as the owner claimed he had a record of our booking for three days' ti...

Well, we have made it to Miami and guess what... we headed straight to the white sand beach! It is hot, hot, hot and beautiful. It is so nice to be 'homeless and jobless'. We are still trying to unwind after the last week of moving and leaving jobs. Very Stressful!

Today, we got up at a respectable 08:00 and had breakfast at a local diner and then did a bit of shopping and walking around the local area. We ended up hiring a car for the next week too as transportation here is limited. W...

I finally have a moment to capture a few of the memories of the last few days. Jess and I are sitting on the Promenade Deck in the 24 hour coffee and treat shop. We both have been having trouble focusing (she too works in a virtual office) so we made a work date. I have been indulging my procrastination demon and find myself distracted by anything and everything. I need to either hole myself in my cabin which gets old after the first couple days or get some discipline. So when Jess suggested ...