Round The World and other travels

Once again, I felt under no pressure whatsoever to get up early, so instead enjoyed a relaxing lie-in. By the time I'd had some breakfast and packed away all my things, it was nearly 1100 when I got round to checking out of the Doubletree. I was already on Highway US41, known in these parts as the Tamiami (i.e. Tampa - Miami) Trail, and this road was to dominate the day's proceedings. But first ... another shopping stop, this time at some of the major department stores.

By the time I was through with my latest shopping spree, I thought I'd have a quick Starbucks coffee and sandwich to keep me going, before setting off in earnest on US41. As I'd used I-75 ('Alligator Alley') in both directions last time I visited Naples, I thought it was high time I gave the more traditional route a go. Apart from anything else, it afforded me the opportunity to stop along the way, in the Everglades, for an airboat ride through some of the seemingly infinite maze of mangrove swamps.

Then it was a case of pushing onwards towards Miami and the airport Avis depot. As my hotel for the overnight stop had a free shuttle to and from the airport, I thought it would make sense to ditch the car as soon as possible and use the shuttle from that point on. I'd driven in the Greater Miami area on four previous occasions and always thought that the driving there was crazy. On this occasion, I was thinking that maybe it wasn't so bad after all. Then, on a congested freeway ramp in stop-start conditions, some idiot using a cellphone ran into the back of me at very low speed. Thankfully, there was no damage whatsoever.

Despite the non-appearance of the hotel's shuttle bus, I eventually made it to the InterContinental West Miami. My upgrade on this occasion apparently consisted only of the granting of Club access, which was a tad disappointing. To be fair, though, the room was very nice and certainly adequate for a one-night stopover. I had a light meal from room service for dinner.