Cruising.

This is the BEST photo of me, I love it. I remember at the time thinking I was heavy and everyone had a better body than me. But right now I would sell my soul to look like this again. I should try and learn a lesson from this.... but what?

Anyway, I've leaving next weekend. Before every trip I blog about the itinerary, mainly so I can have it but also to share it and give myself a place where all the info is collected.

My flight was changed. I'm leaving at 15:15 on US Airways from Terminal One. Indirect flight (joy!) and landing at 16:45 in Philly. Leaving 18:00, landing 20:57 in Miami (joy!). Now lets see if the Miami buses run that late. (An aside, every time I've flown indirect they've lost my luggage)

I am staying at the Miami Beach Hostel, and the directions say "Take the J bus to 41st Street and Indian Creek where you should transfer to Bus C, K or H going south." This gets better and better, the buses run once an hour! So if I arrive at 8:57 pm, the next bus is 9:45 pm. This gets me to 41st and Indian Creek at 10:21 pm. I just emailed the hostel to check if they're still open that late. Sigh. Luckily the C bus should be there in 2 minutes, hopefully it's not early, so I'll get in before 11.

Did I not do this last year? I just checked, apparently not. D'oh.

The boat starts loading at 1:30 and I have to be there by 4:30. I think I may have a ride, otherwise I'll take a cab.

Good, so that's got me on the boat. The first port is an island owned by the cruise company so I don't have to worry about that. We went there last time too. I saw it as a cheap ploy by the cruise company to get us to spend money so I stayed on board and slept in. I don't regret it. We'll see what happens this time.

Second port is Grand Cayman from 8 am to 5 pm. Let's see what they have there. A lot of diving! I have a slight fear of water so I'm thinking no. Something historical? I have found the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. The iguanas look cool. Oh, it says 40 minutes from the cruise ship. d'oh.

There's a turtle farm excursion that is says is $63 US. A 3 hour bicycle tour for $72 US. Ok so walk around and window shop sounds good!

There's got to be something cool to do in Cozumel, Mexico. I'm there from 10 am to 8 pm.

The Telum Ruins sound like the best thing. It's a flipping 45 minute ferry ride each way though. D'oh. Couldn't the Myans have built this stuff closer? It's $100 US offered by the cruise ship which seems crazy. Plus when you do these things through the cruise ship you have to be up at dawn, you're on their pace, etc.
But it appears to be a long trip and I don't think I could do it on my own. Also the "ferry" is apparently a rickety boat that you lose your lunch on and pray to survive. Sounds fun. I'll decide later.

Back in Miami for two days, I need to go to Walmart at some point. Every time I go to America I go to Walmart. Nearest one is a one hour 20 minutes bus ride? Am I cursed? We'll make that a maybe.

Finally, the reviews say the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial is the nicest in the world, and I've see quite a few. A 40 foot hand.

Hooray, it's a one mile walk. Finally something goes well. Will see that.

Otherwise, there's the zoo, or the Historical Museum of Southern Florida and Miami Art Gallery combo.

I'm think sitting on the beach sounds good. Actually the museum and art gallery is only 6 miles away, one bus. Maybe on the Monday...