Three friends were having a conversation over tea, two of them like to drive for pleasure and one of them was showing early signs of being a travel junkie. So what do you think? What will happen? Well, as they say rest is history; that’s how my friends and I chalked our plan to have our first official road trip from Houston-> Biloxi -> Orlando -> Miami. I still remember how we completed our bookings within 15 minutes and we were all set to discover straight & plain freeways through four different states. But man the excitement level, at-least for me, was way beyond anything before then. And unwittingly it was the Valentine’s Day weekend.
Biloxi
It’s a small city on the gulf and it didn’t seem to have much to offer. Still, we decided to stay in Biloxi overnight and take a rest. Having said that, Biloxi also hosts famous casinos like Hard Rock and Harrah’s. It took us around 7 hours to reach Biloxi, enjoying a picturesque sunset along the freeway. Staying in Biloxi turned out to be bliss, in a way, as we got a free upgrade to the presidential suite at Harrah’s and OMG that room was the true definition of grandeur. After having some midnight snacks in the hotel itself, we decided to try our hand at gambling. I tried my luck with Black Jack and my friends with slot machines. We did observe one weird thing; we were the only ones who were under 50 years of age, which was kind of awkward in a way. But whatever, it was just one night as the next day we embarked for Orlando.
Orlando
This leg of the journey took close to 9 hours, with regular pit-stops for gas and lunch. Orlando a.k.a. “City beautiful”… is a city of theme parks. It hosts over a dozen theme parks including Disney World and Universal Studios. It is a city for everyone. You can relive your childhood if you want to and it could be the best place for a family holiday. We were only there to visit Universal Studios. After checking into the hotel, we decided to satisfy our appetite with Indian food. We landed at American Gymkhana, hands down the best Indian restaurant I have had ever been to, including restaurants in India. The food was scrumptious by all means. Just before calling it a night, we went into an Icebar … where you can rent a mink coat to get in. It’s nothing special but we had a nice time. Next day was completely booked for Universal Studios. The highlights for me were the Harry Potter and Transformer 3-D rides. I have motion sickness hence I don’t like roller coasters. But as per my friend suggestion one needs to try “Rock it”, a ~2 minute long roller coaster with a 90 degree vertical lift, 3 drops and a loop with a twist! We were dead tired after wandering around Universal Studios and the Island of Adventure in a single day. Next day … Miami.
Miami
Gateway to various Keys and heavily influenced by Cuban culture, it is one of the most vibrant cities of all time especially with Miami South beach. Beer, bikinis, speedos, parties, sun & sand … you name it and you’ll find it. After a short drive of 5 hours we were in Miami. To get a glimpse of the culture we went to Miami Beach (traffic was horrendous). I think it is the longest beach I have ever been to … It seems endless. After going through a hassle to find parking, I went straight into a Cuban restaurant “Bella Cuba” and sated myself with some pork sliders. Next day we went to Key Biscayne, the first of many keys over and after Miami, just to visit the beach and a lighthouse. It was really scenic and peaceful. For lunch we decided to get acquainted with real Cuban culture, so we went to Little Havana. With our luck or not we found a Taco restaurant (I know it’s not really Cuban), and if you want to try some different meat in your taco then that’s the place to be. I tried pork tongue … yummy and my friend tried cactus as he is a vegetarian. Taqueria Viva Mexico is the name of the place and it is really inexpensive and low-key, only $3 per taco. One of the most infamous places in all of Miami is the Wynwood Walls, a giant canvas for graffiti artists. I was simply awestruck and I can explain it better through my pictures.
Well, Miami is supposed to have the best clubs and for the evening we decided to do a club crawl. It is simple and hassle free as one can get a “club crawl package” (try to say that 10 times), which usually consist of 3-4 clubs in a night for less than $100. The first venue was a karaoke bar to get acquainted with fellow club goers and it was worth it. Next day we went to Riverwalk for a small city cruise and to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch. By the evening we were homebound on our Delta flight to Houston.
There are a lot of things still unexplored and I am sure I’ll re-visit Miami in the near future because I am yet to go to Key West.
