5am has never been the Mavrix favorite wake up time especially after a night spent on the airport floor listening to the all Spanish cleaning staff talk at the top of their Illegal Alien voices over the sounds of their "Made in America" vacum cleaners. So groggy eyed but excited to start a new chapter in the adventure we went off to check in. It is here that we met a very friendly but ultimately very stupid Delta employee who would determine our future for the next few days, here the American stereotypes would play themselves out loud and clear!
This "gentleman" (I use the term loser-ly) looked at our passports, read the Thai immigration code and decided on the spot that he would not be sending us to Thailand as we did not have a visa. We told hm that we had researched this and that we could just get a visa at the airport on arrival just like everyone else in the free world. To cut a long story short he had determined that because we wanted to go for 3 months and the visa you get on arrival was for 30 days we could not go! Sigh...sniff...woe is us!
Over the next 3 days against overwhelming stubborness we managed to prove with the help of the Thai Consulate, who had "Never heard of anything so ridiculous", that Delta was wrong and we were right all along (1 month down the line we have recieved an apology and $150 credit on Delta flights each in the future...whoop-dee-twang).
This did mean that we would spend 3 days in Miami though so we sought to make good on the time we had there and see some of American life...it's scary...
First off let us say that Miami is an anolmaly in America, while it is very much still America, it is also the most spanish city in all of America and therefore has some cultural differences. It is however very much still America! Everywhere you look there are giant and expensive cars, Harley Davidsons, American flags waving proudly, huge pizzas, Paris Hilton dog parlors, Obama Tshirts, fake boobs, fake tans, fake people, yellow cabs, an arrogance that this is the best place in the world and a sense that this is a first world country without the sophistication of Europe but enough rules to keep everyone heading in the right direction. It was however fun for 3 days even if it did hurt the wallet a little i.e. $5 for a slice of pizza, imagine what the healthy food tastes like, no wonder there were so many fatties.
We did get to walk around South Beach though which was beautiful and dotted with Baywatch towers and volley ball courts all the way down and marvel at the art deco buildings that make up the area.
After our obligatory 3 days waiting for our next flight we spent another enthralling night in the Miami airport listening to the PA system anounce every 5 minutes "Welcome to Miami, and the beaches". This time our 5am start was much easier with a smooth check in and a sideline security search for the M (maybe he looks like a terrorist?).
Goodbye Miami, goodbye the Americas...Hello Thailand!
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