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While some twenty five years ago the opening of Miami Metro Rail coincided with a trip "down below" and they were offering "freebies", I did a system-wide "joyride", but until yesterday, I had not been near it since.
Yesterday marked the first time I had ever used Metro Rail to get from "here to there" and with a travel purpose. I used Metro Rail/Mover to get from hotel (Marriott Biscayne Bay 16th St and Bayshore) to KMIA Airport. Leaving the hotel with all my belongings that fit into an over the shoulder flight bag, I am of course confronted by Doormen with "Airport sir; taxi?" to which I said "I think Metrorail will do it"; a smile and a "MetroMover is right over there (about 100 yards away); take it to Government Center and then get an Orange Line train", a thanks, a "come stay with us again", and off to the Arsht Center station. For reasons escaping me, MetroMover is free, but the one car train, completely automated, was a fun ride with a "railfan view' to Government Center (I noted when stopped at Freedom Tower the FEC tracks leading to the Port; well ballasted but rusty rails. I can only hope the "delay" is attributed to doing work on the bridge and the FEC will be "ready to rumble' when the "post-PANAMAX party" is to begin).
One of the most daunting tasks I find for an out-of-towner in using mass transit is figuring out how to pay for your ride. "Back in my day" it was simply pay the fare to the driver or agent, get your change, and ride. Well of course it is not so simple, especially for an electronic Luddite like myself, to figure it out. But fortunately at Government Center, there was a very courteous "sworn" (he had "heat") security officer who gladly helped me "pay up" at the slot machine - all of $2.00 ("if you lived here, your Senior rate would be a buck" "well, I'm not to worried about that; two bucks to the Airport is about as cheap as it gets anywhere I know of" "Be sure to take the Northbound Orange Line, sir" "thank you"). Aboard the train, I met a Brit couple who said their hotel was too close to some "God awful rock concert" at Bayfront Park. "Well, I was listening to Beethoven's Ninth" "Oh gosh, where was that? it would have been nice to know" "it was Arsht Center and looked sold to me; but maybe you would have "gotten lucky''.
Now the surprise; meant nothing to me as my "lading" was over my shoulder, but the Orange Line only goes to the perimeter of the Airport. There you transfer to another "people mover" (free) and get to one station. From there depending on your airline, you hoof.
All told, it took "about an hour", including the two transfers, to get from Arsht Center to picking up a Boarding Pass from a United kiosk. To me, this was the most pleasant "poor man's way" to any US airport I know. If not able bodied or a "pack horse" the way I see all too many traveling about (are they really going to use all that crap?), then there are "issues" as there is no escalator at the Arsht Center MetroMover station (there is a handicapped elevator). But fortunately, as I close in on age 72, I am still able bodied (walk 2 miles, run 1/4 mile most every day) and I've long held to "if you can't carry it, don't bring it".
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