Five and Lime

The daily postings from FOWA Miami which I had intended to write just didn’t happen. I had good intentions but then the workshops, conference, parties and the odd margarita put pay to that, not that I am complaining.

Instead I thought I would post some observations from our six days in Miami, in no particular order…

1. Despite popular belief Miami does do cold and wind.
2. Ocean Drive is a great place to stay, the sun rise at 6.15am is something special.
3. Margaritas are great but age restricts the number I can consume and still function the next day.
4. Cab drivers in Miami are more interesting than those in London, our Russian friend with no teeth had a mean line in bad jokes.
5. Jerry’s Famous Deli in Miami is even better than the one in LA!
6. The Carnival Center is an amazing venue, powered by the one and only Jeremy.
7. The FOWA attendees were some of the nicest I have met.
8. Even in the age of the vCard not having business cards to hand out was a bad idea.
9. The amount of “Tweeting” was surprising. Chatting to Blaine from Twitter was a highlight.
10. At FOWA it felt like every other person had an iPhone.
11. Not sure why it surprised me but the majority of the speakers seemed to all know each other and live in San Fransisco.
12. Apparently (see above) “The left coast is the best coast”.
13. Americans don’t get tea, it’s either called iced or hot. Strange looks abound when plain old “tea” is requested. I actually witnessed an order for Earl Grey result in a very large cold tea latte with the bag left floating on the top!
14. Starbucks barristas do things differently than those in the UK. First up they ask for your name. Mine, despite me brandishing my FOWA name badge, always confused. Second those on the cash register taking the order turn round and ask those making the coffee if they may order, very polite. They then say “<your name here> would like…” and pass on the order. To get by and save embarrassment I adopted a “coffee name”, it was just easier. It got a bit weird when they started talking to me as if it was my real name but they weren’t to know. I am not alone, apparently @t also has a coffee name.
15. Miami airport was the nicest entry and exit to the US I have experienced, the TSA people were even laughing and joking!