Last morning in Miami Beach and first Uber
We grabbed breakfast at Aroma’s, it had to be done a nice Israeli breakfast for Ingrid. After breakfast we ambled down Ocean Drive admiring more of the Art Deco Hotels. We walked to the very end and overlooked Fischer Island and the Ocean. I was able to play with my new camera as a container ship sailed by heading for Miami dock. The sun was shining but not too hot. Barrie wanted to walk back but I decided it would take too long (an hour) and we needed to get organised for our flight.
We are not big Uber users but decided this would be a good way to travel in Miami so we put it to the test and called our first Uber outside a Haagan Daz store. Initially it said 12 minutes then 1 minute later it was there. Getting into an unmarked car was a little bit unnerving but we soon arrived safely at out hotel. The main advantage with Uber is the payment is taken directly from your card so no need to carry cash and mess with change. It also avoids that embarrassing shall I tip or not moment.
A quick shower and time to pack up from our luxury hotel and head to the airport. Uber number 2 that day was a fabulous leather seated Toyota Camry. We were dropped off by a concourse check-in point and within 5 minutes of getting out of our taxi we had checked-in and handed over our baggage. Next stop security, being America and as they started all this no liquids we disposed of all our liquids only to find when we went through the security they wanted everything left in bags, laptops, coats and never asked for the plastic bags. Within a hour of leaving the hotel we were through to departures, Barrie was feeling slightly uncomfortable at how fast it had been 🙂
Flight number 2 departed on time 15.39 Miami to Quito. The flight was just over 4 hours, on a new 737. We had not realised that to watch films on this you needed the American Airline app but were able to rely on our back of film already on our ipads. Immigration was very quick but then we had to wait for our luggage. One unusual practice was to scan all the luggage on leaving the airport. This was a customs check for anyone bringing illegal goods in or locals trying to avoid tax.
We were met by Eugenio from our Spanish school which was a great additional service offered by him. Eugenio is the director of the school and told us he likes to try and meet new students personally at the airport as it gives him the opportunity to get to know people. He took us on the hour drive to our accommodation, AirB&B in Quito old city. We knew Quito was hilly and from the flight over this was also evident but I think we can both say it it far more hilly than Sheffield or Haifa. AS we drove up and down very steep road I was glad I was not driving.
Our AirB&B accommodation was just as the photos, a spacious loft apartment that will become our home for the next 10 days. It was past 9 when we arrived and too late to start looking for food but we were delighted to find some basics left for us so we were able to make a quick cheese omelette before heading off to sleep..