Miami - parasailing & others
A short trip to Miami, Florida.
The spirit airline did not disappoint us! Our trip was delayed for about ~3 hours. But the view of flight was amazing!
After 3.5 hours travel, we finally arrived at the realm of Miami, and I think it was super close to the ground, but the airplane was suddenly pulled up! The pull was so strong that I even made a little scream... Luckily, the 2nd attempt was successful and there was even some sparse applause in the cabinet.
We got up super early on the 2nd day to catch the bus to Key West. There was fresh sky, crystal ocean along the trip. But our heart was heavy due to the thought of parasailing!! We booked the parasailing tour one day ahead without knowing how high it is or the potential danger! But we found out some news & blogs along the way to the Key West.......
Although disturbed by this, we grabbed some good food at a good Thai & Japanese fusion restaurant. I ordered the Thai style Hainaness chicken rice and it was not bad. We also had the great looking Lobster soup noodle bowl.
After the lunch, we headed to the harbour. However, the closer to the boarding time, the more torture we felt! 20 min prior to the boarding time, I saw some news about a parasailing accident that left one dead (exactly at Key West)! OMG. I never believed my keyword usage for searching is so good. Also some good news (rational thoughts): there were several factors in parasailing we should count. First, the equipment & the crew -- we booked through a large company, and it should be good. Second, the weather -- it seemed good when we were at the harbor. Third, the water -- we could only hope it was not super crowded, and the crew of our boat was careful.
After boarding, we found there was an old lady was on the same boat as us!!! I thought she might be 60 year or older. I suddenly felt calm and that was the power of the model!
Two sets of flight of an Indian family went first. They seemed pretty ok about it! Then it was our turn! OMG, I decided to put on my pants and my coats although it has a bit of risk to get all wet.
Then we started the flight! I almost did not feel the acceleration while climbing the height. Despite of the fact that we were secured by the belts, I held the ropes super tight. There were also some dips when the captain maneuvered the boat so our legs could tough the water (cold). The highest we flew was about 100 m? And we landed to the boat again after ~10 min. So, it was actually ok!!! At least for us. Thanks to the crew members! Only part of my pants got wet.
We went to the Hemmingway Museum & the Butterfly Museum after parasailing:
Miami zoo & Vizcaya Museum
We saw the white ibis a lot of times and they were caught in eating human snack, other zoo animals' food:
Sunset cruise (the cruise started at 6 pm but the sunset time was 5:36 pm, but the sight was super!)
We saw a lot of creatures at the Everglades National Park!
We also saw a lot of other birds!! (comrade, anhinga, egret? heron?) But we did not see manatees!!
1-2 years ago, the excitement of a trip peaked at the first day, usually just the flight, nothing else. Recently, I felt the peak one day before the trip. I came to realize the luggage packing, activities booking, arranging & re-arranging all took time, effort, and experience. I used to think I love the trip planning, but I may just take the effort from others for granted. I was blessed to have those to rely on before and during the trip! If I am the one who plans from the scratch, the trip might be like what I had in this blog: not bad, not super exciting, just mediocre trip! What is the meaning of this kind of trip? Being entertained? Getting a topic which can be picked up during a later conversation? Or just pictured a way of living like others...