2022 USA Trip Part 3—Didn’t Expect Such Great Urbanism In The US

As we settled down into the hotel in Bricknell, Miami, my mother wanted some stuff from the supermarket. Thankfully, there were 3 shops a short walk away. I got what she wanted and headed back at which point it was time for dinner. My sibling wanted to join and we walked to what I thought was a Popeyes but was only a ghost kitchen. With my annoyed sibling who hated all the walking, we then found a McDonald’s that was about to close. We were a bit confused given that it was bright out (compared to the winter of the southern hemisphere). We had trouble using the machine so we talked to the cashier. Surprised that we were from Zimbabwe in Africa, we got the typical questions (have McDonald’s there? etc).

I had to find needles for my mothers insulin pens and all the pharmacies required a prescription. We passed by CVS then headed back to the hotel, had dinner and called it a day. I saw those fridges with the TV screens doors to help us see what’s inside and I appreciate the innovative solution to such a pressing problem. Carbon taxes plz. Honestly, I was shocked at how walkable Bricknell is. Sure the roads are still a bit wide, but it does a great job enouraging walkability and it even has 3 mass transit lines connected to it.

Next day we went for the hotel breakfasts which are always terrible in the US. I recommend their mocha machines and sparkling water machine though. I also get why La Croix is popular now, though too much makes me bloated. TMI, anyways we then went to Ross to buy clothes taking an Uber there. My mom took a while so I headed to an ATM which are so annoying to find since the one near my hotel wasn’t working.

We then walked back which was rather much but anyway. Putting our stuff down, we then went to the mall and spent 5 hours at Apple configuring our phones. My mom got a new phone, my sibling got the phone I was using (which was from my big sister) and I got the phone my mom used. While Apple has super fast internet, but given that we had hundreds of gigs to transfer, physics gave us patience so I sibling got an Apple Watch and AirPods in exchange for he old phone (could be sold for more, but whatever).

Next day, we planned to see my cousin by he forgot so we had lunch at Chipotle. $50 for 3 people, but anyway. Forgot what else we did but I got a $16 ice cream cone which while expensive, but tasty. Shout out to Mammamia. We then checked into the cruise and prepared for it.

Let’s just say there’s a reason Miami is known as the “Capital City of Latin America”. Besides the many people from Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador and other Latam countries, a lot of the workers didn’t speak English. Even if I called a place, they’d answer in Spanish. Not saying that people (especially those fleeing the nonsense in South America) should “speak American”, just that you should be prepared with a Translate app.