A recent catch up with wonderful friends Stateside has had me reminiscing on my days in the good ol’ US of A. If you’re just getting to know me, then I shall explain: From age 11 to 21 I lived in the States and was lucky enough to travel around a bit and see some of this rather large country.
Key Largo
Being an East Coast girl, I explored the Atlantic side a good amount, from time in the sun on a family Florida holiday to freezing my little derrière off during my university days in Massachusetts. Two very different places. Pretty incredible when you think about it. That’ll always be the selling point of the US (in my humble opinion) – it is seriously crazy how different each region of this country can be. Okay, you’ve heard that before, but hey, I speak the truth.
Swimming with the dolphins
In Florida, my best memories are of visiting the Keys. My parents hired a car and we travelled down towards the States’ southernmost point. Road trip: The classic American holiday. Oh yes.
In Key Largo it was all about swimming with the dolphins. The feeling of being pushed through the water by a creature like that was amazing and is hard to forget. We had two different experiences – one was playing with the trained Flippers of Florida, and the second was simply swimming in a natural ocean water enclosure with untrained dolphins. Just hanging out with the dolphins, as you do. The second experience scared me a little. Turns out I’m a bit of a chicken. But looking back, it was truly amazing getting to see these creatures close up.
Got to love those tourist hotspots
Then of course there was Key West. Florida is fantastic because they live for visitors and that’s visitors of all kinds. I was young when I visited, and loved the street entertainers at Key West’s sunset parties. I loved the Key Lime pies, and I loved the ridiculous cheesy tourist spots like the southernmost point. If I went back to Florida now, I’d love the unrivalled nightlife of the Keys, Miami’s Strip…and probably still the Key Lime pies…
I need to get back there soon. Getting hungry…
*This post was sponsored by Ocean Florida however they were not involved in the writing of any of the content.
Marianne McPhee was born in London and has been a traveler throughout her life. She spent her summers in France and Spain on a boat, her teenage years living in the USA, and months backpacking through Europe and Morocco. She has spent eight months traveling through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia where she also taught English and then ventured to Australia for more exploration. She is a graduate from Boston University and currently works in the travel industry in London.
