Surprise surprise another early start to the day! We had breakfast in Stabucks, then took advantage of another Ubercab to take us back to the airport to pick up our hire car. We selected the "pool" or share option and the price came in at $15.00. On the way we collected a lawyer going to the court house. He talked for the whole length of the journey advising us on British politics and telling us that there are no Brits living in England any more as we are full of immigrants. Thankfully his part of the journey was only short so we were soon back on on ur own again. We have been impressed with the uber taxi service but did have a problem today with our very nice driver, who's English was not so good. He could not grasp we were going to rent a car at the airport, so took us to the arrivals hall. Not a problem, we just got the transfer tram to car hire. We were very early so it wasn't a problem. We went directly to the garage as the Alamo web site said we could with on line check in. The assistant on duty stated she could not accept our paperwork and we had to go back to the desk. I showed her the screen prints I had taken from the web site about on line check in showing clearly Miami airport listed but she still refused. Back at the main desk I asked the clerk why we couldn't go straight to the garage and he did not know why. However he checked us in again, tried to sell us insurance that we refused, and went back to the garage. A new member of staff was on duty and this time we got thorough. As we were so early it was very quiet and we didn't have to queue at all so this wasn't a problem, if we had just come off a flight we not have been so patient.
We really wanted another Ford Explorer but the only Fords available were trucks, so we opted for another SUV and for the life of me can not remember what it is but will let you know later. An interesting point is that we are now in our car at 10.30 am and our hire doesn't start until 12 noon, no one has commented on this at all. Sat nav set up we set off to drive down to The Keys.
Mr M tells me it's a Chevy Traverse in sparkly black.
The car is lovely and soon we are enjoying the drive out of Miami and onto the Keys, initially we decided to just visit the top part of the Keys but as the sun was shining, the sky was blue and we had a full tank of fuel, we ended up at Key West. We stopped several times on the way down, met some lovely local people at the small state parks, had the most amazing chicken sub at Publix before arriving at Key West. We went to Duval Street past some beautiful houses and B&Bs, I really liked this place and was considering returning to stay on another trip. However once we reached Duval street we changed our mind. It was very busy, with several of the bars in full swing with very loud live music blasting out at 3.30 pm, There are lots of cheap gift shops selling some quite vulgar and crude merchandise (not family friendly) in among some very nice jewellery and clothes shops. The whole vibe felt like Blakpool stag weekends. We turned around and walked back to the top of the street where again there are some really nice shops and ice cream parlours, but it was very quiet here. I hate to think what the place will be like by midnight. We stopped for a drink and some Ice cream then decided to get back on the road. It took us 3 hours to get back to Miami, the route is very easy and the car very comfortable. The radio played some really good music so all in all a pleasant trip. When we got back to the hotel we had a few drinks and some food then fell into bed at 11 pm, the longest we have managed to stay awake yet!! The people down the corridor decided to have a party, I rang and complained, the management were excellent and shut it down with in minutes. Very impressed with the Mondrian and would love to come back again.
big day tomorrow, going on holiday to Siesa Key!
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