What Is So Great About Miami?

I used to like the beaches when going on vacation there. After living there for a few years, I started hating it.
 
30 years in the US and I rather be anywhere but Miami...it is the shopping center of Latin America.
 
Disney World is my own personal hell. The one time I went there several years ago, I must have seen at least 10 young people (no more than 40) who were so fat that they had just decided to give up walking and zip around on those personal little scooter chairs. At least DW doesn't let them zip right up to the front of the line anymore.

Most of our Argentine friends truly came to visit the US to say hi and then SHOP. The first time I was a little offended (The US isn't just a big shopping mall people! We do have some sights!) Now I just enter the nearest outlet mall into their GPS, wave goodbye and go get a real California burrito.
 
When i was there i did some shopping but it was pathetic.
Rome is ten times better and 30% cheaper.
 
My shopping paradise in NYC! stylish, good prices and good sales. i am not looking for dirt cheap prices
 
Rome probably has a closer BA style than NYC (European vs American) but I imagine either is fine.

I'm from greater Ft Lauderdale... to make my life simpler I say I'm from Miami or close to it. Almost every Argentine I know that travels has been to Miami. It's on everybody's must-go (at least once) list. I think NYC would be a much more interesting place to visit, but Argentines are obsessed with sun-tanning and mall shopping, so it doesn't surprise me that they like the place. (And to be fair, NYC winters are harsh. There's a reason all those snowbirds come down during the winter months.) There is an obsession with Disney World as well... much more so than in Europe or even the US. Last time I went I was surprised at just how many Argentines we ran into. What's funny is that none of them seem to really love Miami the city itself... they just need to check it off the list of where they've been. It's a status thing.

And yes, the whole don't-even-have-to-speak-English-at-all thing helps a lot as well. Lately even I get spoken to in Spanish by the majority of clerks... even when I respond in English. Now a lot of them speak Portuguese as well. South Florida has always been very popular with Latin Americans, both to live and visit, but it's changed quite a bit in the past 15 years.

In any case, although I've never loved South Florida (two seasons of summer and hell and I can probably count the number of times I went to the beach on my fingers) I really enjoy going home and having a break from Argentina. The roads, the cleanliness and order, safety, the food... I actually find myself missing the place. :p
 
When i was there i did some shopping but it was pathetic.
Rome is ten times better and 30% cheaper.

Yes its 30% cheaper for Ferraris but certainly nothing else. My Arg wife auntie came back from Rome last month , she said it was horrible. Expensive and dirty. And shes italian born, and goes to Miami every year.
 
Back
Top