Miami -tag | Globe Called Home

Good guys and bad guys chasing each other around on speed boats in Miami is such a classic scene in any movie set in Florida: if an action flick doesn’t have a scene like this, something’s missing! With this in mind, we headed on a speed boat tour of our own when visiting Miami last June.

Thriller Experience, Miami — The boat’s name was Thriller, and Michael Jackson was blasting on the sound system while we sped away along the canals in Miami.

US Coast Guard in Miami — Route out Miami passed a US Coast Guard base.

The tour’s base was at Bayside Marketplace, where we grabbed a late breakfast before heading out to sea. It took a while to pass the port of Miami and to reach Miami Beach with the boat, but that was also part of the experience. Miami has such a fragmented seaside with dozens of artificial islands, thanks to building of the port, and we took a closer look at a couple of them before heading out to the sea…

Checking out celebrity mansions on Star and Hibiscus Islands is one of the reasons to come on this tour, because you can only admire them from sea; from land, they are blocked by gates and high walls. Our guide seemed to know everything that was going on in the lives of these celebrities and especially their real estate plans, and although I don’t follow celebrities at all, these were big enough household names that i knew exactly who we were talking about. After all, you need to be super famous to splurge $50 million on a villa…

Homes of Carmen Electra and Ricky Martin, Hibiscus Island, Miami Beach — Carmen Electra’s home on the left, Ricky Martin’s residence on the right.

Home of Phillip Frost, pharmaceutical billionaire — Home of Phillip frost, the pharmaceutical billionaire whom we can thank for Viagra.

Properties of Wayne Holman, Star Island, Miami Beach — I thought these were the houses of Will Smith and “Will Smith’s neighbor”, but my memory must be playing tricks on me, because Google tells me both of the mansions are owned by a hedge fund millionaire from New York.

New House to be Built on Star Island — A new house is being built on Star Island by… I forget. Maybe Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? In any case, this just goes to prove that there are LOTS of fine mansions on this tour.

After our little architecture and celebrity gossip tour, we headed out to the ocean for some high speed fun. I’d been a little afraid of this part beforehand, because riding a motor boat into big waves isn’t always a fun experience, but now it was – almost like a roller coaster! You can’t NOT get a little wet on this tour, but the closer you sit to the front, the less you’ll get splashed.

Miami South Beach — Miami Beach’s South Beach, plus some splash.

Most Expensive Apartments in Miami — Houses on Fisher Island next to Miami Beach, only reachable by boat, and is known for being the census designated place in the US with the highest per capita income: around $240 000 per year.

Elina, Iiro & Jenni on Thriller Miami — Don’t expect to have your hair look nice in a photo towards the end of the tour. An hour in high speeds is going to ruin whatever style you have. From left, Elina, Iiro and me.

I can warmly recommend this tour for anybody who’s heading to Miami and interested in boats and celebrities, or just one of the two. If you want to get a grasp of the speeds on this tour as well as hear what Al Capone and Lenny Kravitz have i common, check out this video:

Sponsored by Thriller Miami

This week’s been a busy one for me: together with a couple other Finnish bloggers, we started #matkachat, the first ever Finnish travel-themed Twitter Chat! The premiere session on Monday went so well I’m still all smiles, and I’m already looking forward to next Monday’s chat. But that’s not all…

We quit our cable service a couple months ago due to the outrageous fees, so I’m mostly working from the Community Center pool. The Nalgene’s filled with home made ice tea, my new favorite drink for a hot day.

…I also finally launched a much larger project: translating this blog into English! It’s been a lot of work and you wouldn’t believe the amount of technicalities that were involved, both on WordPress and server level, but now the system’s finally set up, and in the future, I’ll publish most of my posts bilingually. If you spot any weird stuff (like some Finnish on the English site), please let me know! Looking forward to your comments…

Globe Called Home — In case you’re wondering, “Suomi” means “Finnish” in Finnish.

…and moving on to more personal highlights: last Saturday I finished second in a triathlon! It sounds fancier than it really is – my group only had five athletes – but I’m still proud… and slightly perplexed, since my feelings during the event were more along the lines of “I’m so going to lose”. The bike path’s altitude changes were a bit too much for my gears, but in hindsight, a mountain triathlon must have been hard for everyone…

Bison in Colorado — Afterwords we stopped by to check out the bison and especially their calves next to the I-70 interstate in Colorado. Cute, huh?

…and next day it was just the right moment for a little hike to help me recover from the tri. We’d been up Green Mountain once before in winter, and we knew it afforded great views over both Boulder, our city, as well as to the other direction to Indian Peaks Wilderness. (And this all from a city park!!) Last time we’d been tredging through snow, and despite the scorching heat, the route felt easier this time. Check out the difference in the photos below…

Indian Peaks viewed from Green Mountain, Boulder — This is summer. Ignore the snow on the mountains.

Jenni on Green Mountain Summit in winter — Same view in February. I did have the same ballcap on, though.

Green Mountain, Boulder, in winter — Also from February. Green Mountain (2090m) doesn’t have snow in June.

Indian Peaks from Green Mountain, Boulder — The range in the horizon is Indian Peaks, of which I’m able to identify only Mount Audubon, thank to climbing it a year ago. Longs Peak is a little North (right) of the Indian Peaks and clearly visible as the highest mountain in the area.

…and then to the last good thing: I’m going to catch a red-eye flight tonight! Well no, the sleepless night’s not the good thing, but the destination is: Miami!! It’s been hot enough in Colorado too, but I can’t tell you how excited I am to spend a couple days by the ocean: beaches, snorkeling, boating… The reason for the trip is Elina, my friend whom I met in Luxembourg, and who’s spent the last six months in South America. She’s now on her way home to Finland, and I’m meeting her up in Florida for a couple of days. Iiro’s also coming, and besides Miami, we’ll visit Key West. Any restaurant tips are greatly appreciated!

Like always, you can follow my trip live on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and I’m also learning my way around Snapchat, because the neighbors’ preteen girl told me it’s the coolest thing around, and I think she knows what she’s talking about. If you’re on Snapchat, you can follow my Story by searching @globecalledhome.

Tag: Miami

Speed Boats and Celebrity Mansions in Miami

5 good things this week