Back in the spring, I knew my friend would be flying to a completely different place in America... very far from me... to Oklahoma. And as always, I set off to America without knowing anyone. But I knew that we absolutely had to meet up and travel together.

Since I'm one of those people whose plans never work out... I do everything at the very last moment so that things don't fall through.

Until the last moment, I didn't know when my employer would be able to give me a week for travel. My friend Lyusya had been saying for a long time that as soon as I knew, we would buy tickets. We decided that it would be easier for us to meet in Miami. In the end, I found out that I would indeed get that week of so-called vacation in August, and we slowly started deciding how to buy tickets and where to stay. Lyusya had never bought tickets on her own or booked a hostel before, so we had to connect via Skype and I had to give her instructions so we could fly on the same planes and stay in the same place. For convenience, I always use the same sites, which make traveling really easy. In the end, we immediately bought tickets to the Miami airport so that the difference between our arrivals would be small, and then from there, we would head to our accommodation together. Then we bought a ticket to Washington on the same flight because our plan included Miami, an amusement park, Washington, and New York. That was the end of our preparation.

My flight was at 6 a.m. from Reagan Airport. I lived in Fairfax, Virginia, this summer, which is about 40 minutes by car from Washington; a taxi costs $50. I didn't have any friends with a car again, so I had to do this: come home after work in the evening, finish packing my backpack (which is enough for traveling), freshen up, and take the second-to-last bus to the airport, spend the night there, and fly to Miami calmly. It turned out to be terribly boring at the airport; nothing is open at night, only one Dunkin' Donuts. I had to order coffee there so I wouldn't fall asleep... it was cold as always, but I didn't bring anything warm—it just wouldn't have fit, and why would I? I was going to Miami, and it's hot there... Anyway, I barely made it to the morning. When I flew, I had to take a ticket with an airport change again, so I first flew to Detroit—in my opinion, the most beautiful airport I've ever seen. When I was flying to Miami, I talked to a guy who thought I was American and that I had an accent, but that I was just from another state. He was clearly surprised that I was from Russia and flying somewhere alone where I didn't know anything. Anyway, after arriving, I waited for an hour; that time was just enough for me to get oriented and find the gate where Lyusya would arrive... and I stood there waiting for this meeting...)) When I saw her, it was so great, I even teared up... the Americans around us didn't understand what was happening at all. Anyway, we quickly got our bearings and started waiting for the bus to Miami Beach. We waited, and while we were riding, we talked about everything that had happened to us over these 2.5 months. It was unusual for Lyusya to be in a new city, and Miami seemed very beautiful and unusual to her after Oklahoma. I realized that such beauty must be seen with one's own eyes and suggested getting off the bus a little earlier... about 10 blocks from the hostel. But I miscalculated... it was 30 blocks... and we had to walk a little longer... but at least we saw the neighborhoods and walked along the beach line. The only inconvenience was the heat... it was hard to walk, it's good that there are drinking fountains there. After reaching the hostel, we checked in and decided to go swimming, then we decided to walk around the streets, then we went to grab a bite. The most annoying thing was that I was very tired, and I really wanted to go somewhere at night... there are plenty of bars there... and another minus, I'm still not 21((. The next day we took photos and decided to buy tickets to Orlando for the evening so we could arrive there in the morning and visit an amusement park. Lyusya supported me; we didn't just come to lie on the beach, right? So we checked out and went to the bus station. And we ended up at the bus station in Orlando at 5 a.m.—the most unusual thing was the police officers standing at the entrance and checking bags... Then they explained to us that this is not the most favorable area of the city. We sat on a bench at the station at 5 a.m. and couldn't decide which park we would go to... About 5 minutes later, a police officer started talking to us, we got to talking, and word for word, he helped us make a choice and choose SeaWorld so we could have a normal day (we only had one day), and we already had tickets back in the evening. In the end, the police offered to help tourists like us get to the park, and they even took us to McDonald's for breakfast. Thank you very much to them—I didn't expect them to be so kind, they even let me hold their handcuffs in my hand... We spent a wonderful day in the park; first, we went to the water park, then to the regular park, and managed to ride almost everything. By evening, the weather had deteriorated so much, there was a very heavy rain, that the rides were closed, and it was time for us to head back. We were soaked to the bone, got to a taxi, and paid $49 to the station. Near the station, there was no more rain, and we warmed up in the sun... we rested a bit from visiting the park... and waited for our bus. So, we got to Miami by bus... from there we needed to get to the airport... the most interesting thing is that we could see it, but it's impossible to get there on foot, there's a highway you can't cross... we wanted to wait for the bus, but were afraid of being late... we were waiting near a gas station... a shuttle stopped there, I asked the driver how much it costs to get to the airport, he said he doesn't take anyone except his hotel guests, but then he said, 'I'm going to pick someone up now, and then I'll take you.' I asked how much—it's free!! I was in shock, it's good that I had the courage to go and ask, otherwise we could have missed our flight... then we flew to Washington...