A Day in The Life of a Nomad: Miami

This is a continuous series of posts about random, nonspecific but typical days in the life of my nomadic lifestyle method. –view all days

* MIAMI BEACH, UNITED STATES

    11:00 AM         Before I became a digital nomad and started vagabonding, Miami was my secondary home base during the winters to escape the freeze of my primary hometown, New York City. Miami, specifically Miami Beach is probably the most exotic city in the continental US so it’s always a treat to return.

    11:12 AM         After sleeping in a hundred different beds in a hundred different cities around the world, it’s nice to wake up in my own for the first time in a couple of years.

    11:54 AM         I take a quick dip in my building swimming pool, shower then get dressed. It’s nice to wear shorts and just a t-shirt in the middle of January.

    12:29 PM         Miami Beach is one of the few (if not only) cities in America where scooters (motorbikes) are common and street legal. After riding them all around South East Asia, it’s nice to ride my Vespa again. I scoot on over to South Beach (SoBe) for lunch.

    1:03 PM         The beautiful scenic route from my Downtown Miami apartment to South Beach crosses multiple islands and islets over tiny bridges, a ride that makes you wonder if this is indeed the United States.

    1:21 PM         I arrive at La Sandwicherie, home to the best sandwiches in town. My friends are already eating but I can’t get mad at them because they saved me a seat and had my favorite sandwich and smoothie waiting for me, The Terminator. Good friends, good food.

    1:46 PM         While stuffing our faces, my friends ask about my travels and as usual, I preach how amazing it is to “just go”. Jokingly I say we should all go to the Dominican Republic tonight for a day trip. Being that it’s 2014, one of us naturally does a quick flight search. As it turns out, for less than the cost of driving to the next state, we can fly to DR tonight. Okay, I guess we’re going to Latin America. So much for my staycation.

    2:01 PM         After we pay our bills, we each get on our smartphones and book flights for tonight.

    2:46 PM         Ocean Drive, the famed 2 kilometer beachfront street in South Beach I fell in love with during my partying youth. It seems it hasn’t changed much since my last visit 2 years ago.

    3:24 PM         We walk the length of Ocean Drive and end up at Nikki Beach Club. It’s not what it used to be but it brings back memories, many memories. We have some cocktails and enjoy the eye candy.

    5:36 PM         As the after-work-crowd starts to come in, we decide to go back home and get ready for our flight. Using my intoxication as an excuse to ride in my friend’s Ferrari 360, I call up Tony, someone I haven’t seen in 2 years and tell him I’m too drunk to drive my Vespa.

    5:49 PM         He picks me up and I get in the car. Before I could say hi, he makes fun of me for driving a scooter. Then I make fun of him for being broke because of the Ferrari. We laugh, we drive.

    6:02 PM         Stopped at a red light on the MacArthur Causeway Bridge, a kid in a toxic green souped-up Honda Civic pulls up next to us and revs his engine to the max. Impressive for a rice rocket. Tony revs his Italian beast to signify a race and we wait for the green light.

    6:03 PM         With the green light imminent, I naturally look in the rear and notice a cop car in the distance. I tap on Tony’s arm and say “There’s 5-0 at 6 o’clock”. He then smiles, as do I because I know what he’s planning. Bam! Light turns green and the Honda Civic jets out speeding as we casually accelerate like a normal person. “Bleep bleep!” The cop car flashes it’s lights and goes after the Civic ignoring us and pulls him over.

    6:04 PM         We laugh, we drive. This is Miami.

    6:58 PM         Showered and packed, I wait for my friends in my apartment lobby to go to the airport.

    7:46 PM         Sitting in my business class seat next to an overtanned-farting-cougar-Miamian dressed way too young, I look out the plane window and smile just a bit. Because I think to myself, this is my life – a vagabond.