bienvenido a miami

A week before graduating flight attendant training, our June schedules were released. Schedules are released for flight attendants in individual bases on different days depending on how large of a base it is. The smaller bases are able to release their schedules a day or two earlier than others since they have less flight attendants to account for. Most of us were going to NYC, but one of our French speakers was assigned Cincinnati as her base and being that Cincinnati is smaller than NYC, she got her schedule first. We were all eager to see what our schedules would look like and expected ours to be similar to hers since we're all on the same seniority level. Her schedule? Three Paris trips and a long layover in Vegas. We.were.pumped. To our naive minds, that schedule was a glimpse into the luxurious trips we would hold in June. Unfortunately, the day we were awarded our schedules was a big huge reality check. First of all, we didn't have our passports back yet because they had been sent off for a Russian visa, meaning we could only hold domestic trips. Also, since we hadn't graduated yet, we weren't allowed to bid and preference our June schedule. Essentially, we got the leftover, garbage trips. *facepalm* 

Seeing that this was the case, I made sure to learn as much as I could about our online scheduling system and immediately swapped most of my trips for better ones. Thankfully, I was able to trade one of my crummy trips from a long layover in Canton/Akron, Ohio to a longer layover in Miami, Florida. Umm...I'll take it!

Welcome to Miami. Bienvenido a Miami.

I had never been to Miami before and was ready for sun, sand, and the sea! We stayed at a beautiful hotel in downtown Miami for 18.5 hours which gave me plenty of time to explore.

I looked up the weather the night before arriving and it didn't look good. When the forecast is like 99.999% chance of rain, you know that can't be good for my 'sun, sand, and sea' dream. I was determined to explore at least a little though, so after a short nap I decided to make my way to a well-known nearby market, Bayside.

Little did I know, the NBA Finals were that evening so traffic was crazy!

The closest public transportation to my hotel was the Metromover which was perfect because it passed over all of the NBA Finals traffic. I only had to walk 5 blocks (give or take) to get to the market after getting off the MM.

Public transportation has it's downfalls...cramped. But I'm all about the price!

I made my way to the entrance and found myself in the midst of an adorable market on the marina.

The weather you see rolling through the skies in the above picture was just the start. That should have been my indication to head back to the hotel, but noooo. I wanted to explore! Well, exploring bought this girl a walk back to the Metromover in a monsoon.

As I attempted to wait out the storm, I decided to get a virgin strawberry mango daiquiri. When I was planning my 'sun, sand, and sea' day, I pictured sipping a virgin pina colada on the beach, reading a book, and soaking up some much needed vitamin D. Since none of that was happening, I figured I should at least try and check off one of those goals! Being that the sun was no where to be found and I wasn't at the beach, I was left with the delicious tropical beverage plan.

After walking through the market and window shopping for a while, I realized that the rain wasn't going to subside and it was getting dark, so it was time to brave the storm.

I said goodbye to my cute little market and began my long trek back to the Metromover. There was literally not a dry spot on me when I got back to the hotel. Well, I was looking for an adventure, right?

Fortunately for you, I didn't capture a photo of me looking like a frightening blend of wet dog and raccoon. I'll let you visualize that for yourself. A hot bath and a bag of popcorn welcomed me in my hotel room and I called it a night.

Not the fun-in-the-sun type beach layover I was hoping for, but hey, I came...I explored...and I conquered or something like that.

Until next time!