Before the COVID pandemic started, I travelled to Miami in USA. My cousin, who lives in Chicago, and I agreed to meet again after long time to go to a sunny place in January and celebrate my Birthday. Miami was a destination of choice.
The first thing I noticed was the big writing at the airport “besame mucho”. It felt like I was in Spain. People were very friendly and nice. Everybody spoke Spanish and not so much English. Miami felt like Greece and not so much as USA. When I first came to Chicago, I felt like on another planet, but Miami felt more familiar, like Europe. The food was so delicious and everywhere you turn. I loved Cuban food. The clubs had too loud music and tacos as street food were everywhere. Some parts felt like Cuba because of the old cars parked on streets. The people were vibrating and the whole atmosphere made you dance. Some parts of the city were like Europe. It was a mixture of different cultures in one place.
On the first three days, I was catching up with my sister and sleeping (mainly because of the trip). We were on the beach and just laying in the sun. Making a plan what to do in the next couple of days. We went to the Everglades national park where we went with the boats all over and saw live alligators. I even tried the gator salad, right after I was holding a baby alligator, made me feel really weird and uncomfortable. We rented a mustang cabrio for my Birthday and were on the road the whole day.
Having the best time of our lives. We visited one small city Naples, close to the national park and watched the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen in my life. The whole place was so peaceful.
The whole place is a mixture of exciting nightlife and sunny days on the beach. It feels like summer vacation with the family in Greece and a crazy nightlife what a big city can offer. It made me very tired but also very happy.
We pushed the limits and snuck into a rooftop pool of a fancy hotel just by being charming. It was nice and nobody realized we don’t really belong there. I even found a bar where smoking was allowed inside and they were playing music from the 90s, it made us feel like we are back in our hometown in Serbia.
This story is shared by Svetlana Velickovic
