Edinburgh Channels

Oct 9th Monday

The usual last minute panics as we wrap the house up, wrap the orchard up, delegate ,and pack. Daughter Gina takes us to Kings Lynn station and we are off. Two bags each, crash helmets and motorbike jackets. Clive also has a loose camera bag. 4 bits for him and 3 for me. I chose a ruck sack and a waterproof bag with add on wheels. Clive has his wheeled cabin luggage bag and a waterproof bag…just like in Brazil, though this time I am not taking his cabin bag on my bike! None very heavy as we travel light. Premier Inn for the night near Heathrow ready for the flight to Miami tomorrow.

Oct 10th Tuesday

Relaxed plod to terminal 3 with bags. Flight with Virgin Atlantic. Not full so relaxed cabin crew who were nice and friendly. The whole flight was good if long …9hrs. Got in early to hot, muggy weather.Checked in to our Days inn hotel which is disappointing in comfort but adequate . By 6.30pm Miami time it is 11.30pm our time so eat a little up the road in the recommended Liquor cafe. Everyone is Spanish speaking. Colombian, Cuban or whatever. Order too many (3) tapas as one was very large. Buy water and milk…got to have our cup of tea. Do see signs of hurricane damage but guess tomorrow will reveal more as we head for the Keys.

Oct 11th Wed

Our hotel was on the “in need of some attention ” side. Breakfast was friendly but poor value. The English breakfast of ham, eggs, muffin, cheese ended up as one mass in the muffin….really a kind of cheese omelette on a piece of ham stuffed in the muffin. Clive disappointed.

Uber taxi came very quickly but ended up at the back of the hotel and not the front where we were standing! He tried phoning, I did not want to take the call but in the end we got there with texts and made our way to the back. Nice Cuban driver. So far I think we have met more Cubans than Americans. Whole place seems to speak Spanish, all very odd when I imagined Florida to be out and out American. Uber man takes us to the car rental spot. Yes, we are hiring a CAR, not two bikes right bang now. We are headed down the Keys to Key West …at the end. Two bikes here in Miami would have cost a silly amount for 24 hours, so a car it is. It’s a Kia Soul!! Clive drives and I take photos of the hurricane Irma aftermath. It happened on 9/11, not a happy date for Americans it seems. Now one month later the clear up is still very much on going.Read more