Jenni goes stateside: Up, up and away

Well I don't know about you but I've had a pretty amazing week so far. I kicked things off on Tuesday with my work crew party where I'm pretty sure I drank more than I ever have before because I was already out at 6pm and stayed out until 3am (checking my bank balance the next day was NOT a fun experience). Work nights out are always so much fun (not to mention messy) and even better when the managers are out too because they get generous with the drinks. People slag off McDonald's a lot and it's seen as this really bad place to work but in my (almost) 4 years there I have honestly met some of the most amazing people ever (some of whom I'm pretty sure will be my friends for life), made some amazing memories and had some of the funniest nights out ever. Obviously I had to buy a new outfit for the occasion and so I went with this floral playsuit by Love at Topshop and added my trusty black boots and black bag.

The next day was NOT so much fun because I spent the morning throwing up (and remembering all the cringe things I'd done the night before) while attempting to pack my suitcase (which is probably why I've forgotten my waterproof mascara, my earphones and my hair bobbles) and then had to sit through a 2 hour car journey down to Manchester. But then by the time we were down there I no longer felt like I might physically die and so we went out for dinner at a restaurant called Cau which did the most amazing steak ever. Seriously amazing hangover cure too. 

Then on Thursday morning we were off! For a very long and boring 9 hour flight from Manchester to Miami. And even though it was tedious, I did get time to finally watch Forrest Gump which has been on my watch list for ages.

And so the Jenni goes stateside series is returning! 2 years on from my west coast tour and I'm back again, only this time doing a little east coast tour through Florida. So we flew into Miami then had a very long drive to Sanibel Island which was made extra difficult by the fact it was dark and chucking it down with rain. To say my mum creates maps for a living, she is surprisingly bad at reading one. She couldn't work out where we were in London and she DEFINITELY couldn't work out where we were in Miami. Luckily I've got street smarts and so I directed us. I thought my sense of direction was really bad but I guess it's better than I gave myself credit for. And even though the journey was so long and exhausting, it was totally worth it. Look how amazing our beach house was! It was massive (probably because my dad booked one that sleeps 12 for just the 4 of us, don't ask why) and literally a 30 second walk away from the beach. The main difference I'm noticing between west coast and east coast so far though is the humidity! West coat was pretty much 0% but it's like 80% humidity here so I've come to accept that my hair is going to look horrific for the next 2 and a half weeks.

So after all that travelling, we've had a nice couple of days relaxing by the pool. We started on the beach but then after being in the sea for about 4 minutes, me, my dad and brother all got stung by jellyfish so we didn't risk that again. After speaking to some other people staying there, we realised that the sea is known to be filled with jellyfish and someone even caught a shark there a few days ago so that's probably why we were the only ones paddling! So we definitely stuck to the pool after that. We've also had some amazing meals out including this incredible seafood dinner - who else totally wants one of these fish plates? I may only have been in America 3 days so far but here are 6 differences I have noticed so far between America and Britain;
1. People are much friendlier in America. In Britain we seem to do our best to avoid talking to strangers at all costs. Like if you sit next to someone on the bus, they will look at you like you've just killed their pet or something. Whereas over here, it almost seems weird if strangers aren't talking to you, whether that's other people by the pool or your waiter in a restaurant, Americans are definitely a chattier bunch than us.
2. Eating out is totally different. For a start, main meals are about 4 times the size of the ones served at home. But people here seem to order a big meal, then take half of it home for lunch the next day. Instead of doing that though, we've been ordering off the appetiser or lunch menu; the first meal out, we ordered entrees and they were so ridiculously big that when they took our plates away, we looked like we hadn't even touched them.
3. The drinking age. Last time I came to America, I had just turned 18 about a month before that so at home, I was used to being an underage drinker and having to get mum to slyly order me a cocktail at dinner instead of being able to order it myself. So even though I was legal in the UK, it had only been for a month so it didn't feel that weird being underage again. This time however, I've been legal for over 2 years and am totally used to the freedom of being an adult and being able to do whatever I want. So then to come over here and find that I'm still nearly a year too young to even order a drink is so weird! Time to re-instate mum as my drink-orderer!
4. Tinder. I downloaded tinder at home a month or so ago because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and actually it's pretty fun. I don't use it very seriously and I wouldn't say I'm really looking for anything on there but it's fun to know what/who is out there. And all it made me realise is how picky I am. I swipe no for the majority of people; firstly if I don't find them attractive, then if they only have one photo or no bio because that screams 'catfish', then if they're too young, then if their photos are too cringey (like loads of selfies or topless gym photos), then if they have too many group photos and I can't work out who they are, then if they have something in their bio that makes me cringe, then if they have any photos with children because it might be theirs and I'm not down for that, then if they're pulling the same face in all their photos because it makes me think they don't look as good normally, then if they look too short (trying not to be cliche but I am a tall girl at nearly 5'8 so I can't exactly go for short guys), then if they have any friends in their photos who I fancy more than them. You could say I'm shallow but I prefer to see it as choosy. So as you can imagine, the amount of people who make it through that extensive process of elimination is not very high. I would say that I swipe no about 30 times to every 1 person I swipe yes to. Whereas over here, there's about 1 yes to every 5 no's! And not only do the guys seem better looking but they're much chattier too. They pop up within 5 minutes of matching with them. Although about 80% of the guys have a photo of themselves holding a giant fish they've caught as their profile photo - not really sure what that's about!
5. Distance. In the UK, you can pretty much drive to one side of the country to the other in like 5 hours. Over here, you drive 5 hours and you're still in the same state and only in the next town over. And the nearest store in the UK is probably at the end of our road and yet here, it's like a 20 minute drive away. You can see why everyone learns to drive at 16 because there's pretty much no other way to get around!
6. The weather. Us Brits like to talk about the weather. In fact we love it. We moan when it's raining, we moan when it's snowing, we moan when it's too cold, we moan when it's too hot. Its basically our go to topic of conversation. But in Britain, we get sun for about a day and then it rains for a little bit, then the next day will be windy, then it will rain again, then sometimes that pattern repeats but all in the space of a day. Our weather is very inconsistent and you can't trust it from one day to the next. Over here, it's very consistent but it's just very very extreme. It's ridiculously hot and sunny through the day (and SO humid) and then like clockwork at about 4pm each day, it absolutely buckets it down with rain. I'm talking rain more powerful than your average power-shower. And with thunder and lightening thrown in there too. Well we have come in hurricane season so what can we really expect, but then the weird part is that by the next morning it's completely cleared up and it's back to glorious sunshine!

So anyway, lengthy observation over, this morning we set off from Sanibel Island and drove another 4 hours down to Orlando for the next part of our holiday. We obviously had to stop off at a proper American diner (Denny's) to get a massively over-sized brunch - if I thought I loved breakfast food in the UK then that's nothing. I think it's safe to say that no one does breakfast as good as Americans do! So I'm in Orlando for the next 8 days before we head off to Miami, at which point I'll probably be posting the next instalment of my Jenni goes stateside blog posts. But in the meantime, be sure to add me on snapchat jenniaimee and make sure you're following me on instagram @jenniaimee to see what I'm getting up to as it happens (well kind of as it happens, I'm 5 hours behind UK time here so social media and keeping up with my group chats does feel a bit confusing).