The next morning I met up with my cousin at a nice cafe called Cafe Flora, known for its aesthetics of the interior and food, I was really hyped to eat there. There at the cafe I met up with my grandparents, older cousin, my sister and my mom. It was a sunny and warm day, storms did loom in the distance because of a tropical storm rolling in, but as of right now we were ok. Of course warm days call for cold drinks, we ordered some lemonades which came with cutely decorated flowers (definitely not edible) and came in a nice big jug (perfect size). I ordered chicken and waffles because if others didn’t know already, chicken and waffles are one of my favorite foods. Maybe it’s from growing up in the south or maybe it’s because I love the sweet and savory difference between the two. No matter what though, it will always be a comfort food for me. My cousin got some sort of Tiramisu French Toast which is a super interesting hybrid to me, it was really good though and it looked so beautiful and delicate. My sister got an acai bowl (which at the time was her favorite obsession) and my mom ordered a spicy chicken sandwich drenched in a spicy sauce with nice and savory eggs. Lastly my grandpa and grandma shared a kind of breakfast sandwich with a more traditional toasted bread.

After breakfast I looked up some things to do in Miami, finding Superblue Miami (which is kind of like Team Labs of Japan but in Miami). A huge fan of the Team Labs back in Japan when I went in spring of 2024, we had to book tickets for it. The super blue lab definitely did not disappoint, when you first go in you’re greeted in a dark room, beautiful flowers start to grow on the screen illuminating the room in a beautiful light, subtle glow. The flowers once touched broke apart letting the flower petals float around in the dark. You actually have to go up to the stem of the flower and put your hand on the wall, that’s what triggered something making the flower fall apart. It was such a beautiful and peaceful moment to watch these petals swirl around you. The room connected to this one was a waterfall/flower room that was just like the floating flower room back in Japan. You could lay on the floor and just look at the ceiling and relax. I may have dozed off for a few minutes but if you do go, you’ll understand why. The next room was filled with lightbulbs, hanging from the ceiling in a nice twinkling ambience. Three posts were around the room, you place your hand on one of these posts and the lights start to flicker with a specific rhythm, mimicking your heartbeat. It was really funny to hear how fast paced my sister’s heartbeat was vs how slow paced mine was. The room after that was a mirror maze literally. Filled with stairs to spectate the people navigate their ways through never ending tunnels it was a fun little break from the peaceful environment of the place to just relive childhood and have fun. The last room, which is a room you need to specifically buy a ticket for is the bubble room. I know others might be skeptic to buy a ticket for a room full of bubbles but this was one of my best decisions of the trip. It was so fun, running through the bubbles, playing with the bubbles, touching the bubbles, it was in some kind of way therapeutic.

After going through this interactive experience, we decided to go to the Miami zoo. Walking around the zoo was proven to be a nice way to connect with my cousin again after years of not meeting with also admiring the joys of Miami. From Flamingos to seals to birds we saw it all. My favorite part though was we were able to go and take pictures with the dolphins here. Which was a really cute picture opportunity. We also saw a little performance carried out by the seals, just doing little tricks of flopping around on the deck and jumping up to get fish from the caretakers hands.

It was starting to get late and dinner was now looming closer. We walked around a little more and found a restaurant called Italianspiration. I will be honest, maybe we just came at a bad time, but the food was kind of mid. The pizza was ok, it wasn’t spectacular but that’s ok because the tiramisu defiantly made up for it. They had the traditional flavor and then a pistachio strawberry one which was also equally just as good in my opinion.

Our last day in Miami was going to be a chill one, this was the day I was leaving to head back home. Before going, I had to do what any sane tourist would do when they go to Florida, I had to go to the beach! The water was really cold and it took awhile to get adjusted to it. The view was really beautiful though and just sunbathing was nice enough. The tropical storm that was forecasted next to Florida was looming closer to Miami and I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little anxious. I mean flying through a small hurricane isn’t ideal. What if my flight gets cancelled? Some wise people told me however that no matter the situation we must always think about the positive outcomes because thinking about the negative might just come true the more we will it. So after the beach I headed over to this really famous mall in the downtown area, stopping at Moxies to meet up with my cousins current boss and my moms old boss to have lunch, and buying myself a pair of new AirPods. The time loomed closer to my departure of Miami, I went to Rosetta to get one last cup of coffee with my cousin before wishing good luck and leaving to go back home. It’s nice to know that a family member has moved closer to you, I mean compared to India, him living in Miami is a wonderful thing to me because he’s incredibly close. I will definitely come back to Miami again!