So, Monday, I got back from my second trip in two weeks to Miami.

 

Ugh. 

If only. 

I have been flying down to Miami (okay, twice) for job interviews for next summer. (see previous post). But, I had an idea after looking at my IG feed that -- wouldn't a great post be about the difference between your internet reality and real reality??

For example: 

 What you see:
Da bomb dot com view from my balcony in my hotel room that was totally comped and upgraded and INCREDIBLE.

What you don't see:
The fact that I fly down on Sunday night, to return on Monday night. Hectic. I can't do any of my schoolwork/ extra curricular obligations because I'm such a nervous flyer that I can't concentrate in the airport or on the plane.

 

What you see: Amazing fucking view. 

What you don't see: No, okay, this is just rad. 

 What you see:
Same pic, but IG'ed.

What you don't see:
No, sorry, this view was just too incredible.

 What you see:
IN-FUCKING-CREDIBLE view from the firm where I interviewed.

What you don't see:
When (ONE OF) the interviewer(s) asked me, "so, from teaching, to big law, that's a big change, why?" and I said, "Well, you know, I feel like the two are not mutually exclusive, and I can still contribute and give back to the community outside of work" and the attorney literally LAUGHED at me and said, "I just want you to understand what it's like to work here. You have NO free time to do anything. I've been trying to get through a book for a year, but I can't because my life is here."

 What you see:
Awesome hotel room. Incredible jacuzzi tub. Wiiiiinneee.

What you don't see:
I can NEVER get the temperature right. TOO hot, burned my skin off. OW.

 What you see:
INCREDIBLE Miami Beach. Fucking, GORGEOUS.

What you don't see:
The taxi driver dropped me off on "lincoln road", i didn't know where to go, so I just started wondering around -- this is after my taxi driver put the "a/c" on, which I'm pretty sure was just hell-fire blowng on me. I sweat entirely through my shirt before I got out of the cab (THIS IS NOT A JOKE! THE BACK OF MY SHIRT WAS A DIFFERENT COLOR!). When I stepped out of the cab, it felt COOLER than inside the cab (reference point: weather.com said that the "feels like" in miami beach was 100 fucking degrees, jus sayin) . . . I walked around, down to the beach, up lincoln road - for probably like an hour. I sweat SO MUCH that I thought I was going to faint. It was SO hot.

 What you see:
Hofbrauhaus München -- in Miami

What you don't see:
I was LITERALLY the only person in this bar. All the places on this road were so fancy I was afraid to stop, I finally went in here, because I LOVED the hofbrahaus in munich, but it was so awkward. 

 What you see:
Cool cocoon thing outside the pool at my hotel

What you don't see:
How exhausted, sweaty and hot I was while laying in there. This little cocoon was literally a life-saver, but damn if I didn't have an exhausting day leading up to it!

 What you see:
The outside of my "cocoon".

What you don't see:
Nothing. This is an accurate representation of where I was napping before the airport!

 

 What you see: 

View of Miami downtown/water. 

What you don't see: 

How tired & ready to be home I was!

So there you have it. A FEW of the differences between what you see and what is actually going on. I hate to complain about having interviews, because not many people get them (e.g., the recruiter told me they also invited back two other guys from my class -- so out of 167 people, they invited 3 people bck for interviews), but it is REALLY REALLY draining and exhausting and is basically like another job!

What does your internet persona show v. what's reality??? 

xox, 

Kimbo

Post-Vacation Bluuueeess

How I feel about the fact that I'm no longer on vacation.

This year was a true vacation. We went to Turks & Caicos after I read on TripAdvisor that it was one of the top 10 beaches in the world, and I'm just gonna throw it out there that YES, it was incredible!!! The water was like pool water!

Turks & Caicos is still pretty low on the travel radar scene, it was only in 1985 that Club Med built a resort there and it's been expanding ever since (most people go to Grand Turk when they're on cruises, but we stayed on Providenciales). So there really is not a lot to do there. Which, was just fine for me.

Anyways, on to those blues . . .

 ^^ full disclosure: that's my sister not me but how cool is this picture??

 Somehow I got roped into eating the "spine" of the conch, fear-factor style . . . also, doesn't that background look fake??

 THAT WATER THOUGH!! They told us they do victoria secret shoots out here . . . well, duh!

 Oh, paddleboarding? Not my jam

 it was better on my knees. (#twss?)

 I wish I didn't look like I had a lazy eye in every snorkeling picture I tried to take!

 View from our beach

 Our room was the bottom left!

Don't make me go back!

The biggest thing T&C has going for it (as opposed to other islands in the Carribbean) is that it is not overrun with tourists (yet). There were plenty of opportunities to take pictures and relax on the beach without seeing anyone else around!

The only cure for this post-vacation depression is a netflix binge . . . up now: Friday Nights Lights. 

Have you ever been to Turks & Caicos? Where's your favorite vacation spot??

A Tale of Two Airlines

I would say that I travel frequently and have flown probably hundreds of times (despite my fear of flying). 

So let me break down for you how ridiculous (and unnecessarily so) this trip to Turks and Caicos was (so ridic that I'm typing from my phone so I won't forget my impassioned injustice)

First of all, American Airlines and US airways have "supposedly" merged. That's important for this story. I have a US Airways CC so I can get free first checked bag + priority boarding. I booked my and my sisters flights on orbitz, but it wasn't like a "change airlines" thing, it was just: my first flight is American Airlines (really American eagle, AA's regional provider), second flight is US Airways. Everything from picking seats to checking in online was a mess. I would go to AA and it would only let me check in/pick seats for my first flight. So then I go to US airways to pick my seat:check in and it says it's an aa flight so I have to go to aa and it will redirect me. Mmmmmk.

Bottom line: I was never able to check in for my second flight. Whatever, I'll do it at the airport bc I'm checking my bag anyway (btw, the online checkin never asked me if I was checking a bag, but I looked and it said that international flights were free first checked bag.)

I get to tallahassee airport brigt and EARLY and there are like two checkin counters there - delta and us airways. I'm like, okay, us airways should be good, especially bc te sign when you walk in had BOTH company logos on it. I tell the guy (after waiting in line) that my second boarding pass (which is actually on us airways) wouldn't print. He tells me I have to go to the AA desk. What? There's an AA desk?? Yep. Sure enough, behind where you have to drop your bags off. This line is massive. I wait in that. Explain the situAtion. Get charged $25 to check my bag. Excuse me? This is international plus I have this credit card. No, technically it's not international because were going tally to Miami 😳. Okay, whatever, I'll write a letter later. then he tells me he can't print my boarding pass and I have to go to the us airways desk in Miami. What the actual fuck.

So, I get to Miami, go to the desk, the guy tells me he'll help me an hour before the flight departs. REALLY? You can't just print my boarding pass?? So then my sister and I go to the bar and when I go back right before boarding and ask him to print my boarding pass, he gives me a kind of knowing smirk and says "soo, what happened to your boarding pass?"

Oh no he didn't.

Now my flight is mega bumpy y'all. This is a good distraction. This is what I wanted after all..: for my flight not to get cancelled / delayed as I fly into a tropical storm.* No big.

Okay, but with a view like this, I almost (almost!) can't complain!!

Xox,

Kimbo

* were not flying into the trop storm ( at least not yet) but there was a trop storm warning in Turks and Caicos and it hit yesterday.