Roman Malanke

The Miami Experience

During my previous visits to the U.S. I had a chance to see three corners of the country: the North-East, where I’ve been to NYC, Boston and Philadelphia; the South-West, where I’ve spend some time in Las Vegas and in the Bay Area; and the North-West, where I’ve explored Seattle with its suburbs. That’s why before my fourth visit I was secretly hoping that my company will select the remaining fourth corner — Florida — as the location for next annual meeting. And so it happened!

I’ve arrived to Miami International Airport on Monday afternoon carrying only one backpack, which is my favorite Dakine Network model. This was my most minimalistic travel to date, and it demonstrated cleary that having quality gear combined with smart planning can make travelling much easier. Despite the small load I brought all I needed, including laptop, photo camera, casual clothing and shoes, 2 sets of official clothing, swimming gear, and even 2 thick books.

Now, given that I’m a bit lazy today and knowing that pictures are worth a thousand words, instead of describing my experiences in detail I will recommend you to check out my Miami and Key West albums. I will just say that besides work-related meetings, during my 5-day stay at Miami Beach I’ve enjoyed swimming in warm and incredibly salty ocean, acquainted myself with Art Deco architecture, participated in beach volleyball tournament with my colleagues (in fact my team won bronze medals), partied at one of the best nightclubs of the U.S., talked in Spanish with my colleagues from Argentina and Chile, did yoga on the beach, traveled all the way down to Key West island, seen alligators at Everglades National Park, and had lunch at an authentic Florida farm.

After all that it was kind of sad to leave Miami but there’s time for everything so I moved up to Seattle where I’ll stay for a couple of weeks, working from the local office of my company.

2011-05-08