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Every time I return to South Florida from a long trip, I look at it with new eyes. That happened to me again on Friday. You see, I’ve been out of the country for nearly a month. (The previous several blogs were written before I left.) I visited some truly amazing places as part of my travel writing assignment. My journey began in Sydney, Australia, where my hotel suite looked out on the famous opera house and bridge. From there, I went to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and then was lucky enough to spend time with a native clan in Papua New Guinea, folks who sleep in bamboo shelters and shoot huge bats with slingshots for food. Then it was on to Indonesia and the Philippines and finally to Hong Kong, where my luxury hotel room overlooked glittering Victoria Harbour. Like I said, an awesome trip by anyone’s standards.
I even was given a limo ride back to my condo after my plane landed in Miami very early Friday morning. As the car rolled north on I-95, I saw South Florida differently than when I’d left – as if I were a visitor. It’s an odd sensation but one that I’ve experienced before. It always surprises me somehow. When any of us have been gone from home that long, we tend to lose the haze of familiarity that clouds the view of our daily surroundings. We really do look through new eyes.
And what I saw around me now was a very clean, very beautiful place. The highway was litter free. The businesses and homes along the side of the road looked tidy and new. Things appeared prosperous. The palm trees and other tropical vegetation seemed as exotic as anything on my trip, but well-tended and thoughtfully landscaped. Even at 1 a.m., South Florida felt sparkling to me in some way. I looked out the car windows and thought, “This really is a special part of the world. I can see why people come from all over to visit here.” Or to live. It is a wonderfully inviting, very American version of the tropics, full of great beaches and abundant sunshine and all the romance of moonlight streaming through coconut palms. But it also is fresh and comfortable and convenient and modern. As the limo neared my condo, I realized there really is no where else I’d rather come back to than Fort Lauderdale. No place like home, indeed.
I even was given a limo ride back to my condo after my plane landed in Miami very early Friday morning. As the car rolled north on I-95, I saw South Florida differently than when I’d left – as if I were a visitor. It’s an odd sensation but one that I’ve experienced before. It always surprises me somehow. When any of us have been gone from home that long, we tend to lose the haze of familiarity that clouds the view of our daily surroundings. We really do look through new eyes.
And what I saw around me now was a very clean, very beautiful place. The highway was litter free. The businesses and homes along the side of the road looked tidy and new. Things appeared prosperous. The palm trees and other tropical vegetation seemed as exotic as anything on my trip, but well-tended and thoughtfully landscaped. Even at 1 a.m., South Florida felt sparkling to me in some way. I looked out the car windows and thought, “This really is a special part of the world. I can see why people come from all over to visit here.” Or to live. It is a wonderfully inviting, very American version of the tropics, full of great beaches and abundant sunshine and all the romance of moonlight streaming through coconut palms. But it also is fresh and comfortable and convenient and modern. As the limo neared my condo, I realized there really is no where else I’d rather come back to than Fort Lauderdale. No place like home, indeed.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 2:50 PM
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