The course was very intense and compacted into six weeks with a lot of ground to cover to include taking this and other tours, visiting museums and other area attractions and neighborhoods, as well as learning Miami, South Florida, and Florida history. People think that because you were born in a place that automatically makes you a tour guide of sorts. Not! That is why we get paid handsomely to do what we do after hours, days, weeks, months, and years of constant learning. In short, no one knows all the history of a place except our creator; tour guides, however, know more than 98% of the locals and longtime residents simply because it's what we are well compensated to do.
Trend Magazine Online™
Travel Review November 2018
South Beach Walking Tour Part I of II Page I of II
This walking tour was part of a Tour Guide Certification
Course that I completed at Miami Dade College North in early 2016.
It was in preparation for our upcoming tours here in South
Florida. Rewind the tape back to the late 1960's and I was on the
same campus taking gymnastics class as part of my curriculum at Lillie C.
Evans Elementary School near Liberty City in Miami, Fl.
The campus was yet a decade old and I remember it as being called Miami Dade
Community College back in those days. I must be getting older because the
students on campus looked like they belonged in grade school themselves. Smile!
The course was very intense and compacted into six weeks with a lot of ground to cover to include taking this and other tours, visiting museums and other area attractions and neighborhoods, as well as learning Miami, South Florida, and Florida history. People think that because you were born in a place that automatically makes you a tour guide of sorts. Not! That is why we get paid handsomely to do what we do after hours, days, weeks, months, and years of constant learning. In short, no one knows all the history of a place except our creator; tour guides, however, know more than 98% of the locals and longtime residents simply because it's what we are well compensated to do.
The course was very intense and compacted into six weeks with a lot of ground to cover to include taking this and other tours, visiting museums and other area attractions and neighborhoods, as well as learning Miami, South Florida, and Florida history. People think that because you were born in a place that automatically makes you a tour guide of sorts. Not! That is why we get paid handsomely to do what we do after hours, days, weeks, months, and years of constant learning. In short, no one knows all the history of a place except our creator; tour guides, however, know more than 98% of the locals and longtime residents simply because it's what we are well compensated to do.
One of the issues that I worried about was parking. If
you have visited South Beach via automobile you know what I mean. There
are No Parking Signs everywhere! As such I decide to call the South
Beach visitor center before my visit and they were kind enough to steer me
to a reasonably priced parking garage/deck just blocks away on I think 7th
Street. I seem to remember the cost being about $4 or so for about
three hours of parking and the walk to the tour starting point at 10th
and Ocean Drive was an easy 5 minutes or so.
I arrived about 10 A.M., 30-minutes
before tour start, in order to have a chance to look around and observe the
operations and guests before we venture out. It was pretty neat and business
savvy that the tour sign-in was located in the South Beach Visitor Center
and gift shop where one could purchase souvenirs, pick up maps and brochures,
and access restrooms around back. I found the staff very friendly and cordial
as we were required to sign a release of liability upon check in at the center.
I counted 26 guests in our initial group as we were given a sticker to ID
us after forking over the $20/Adult, or $15/Students/Seniors. Our
volunteer guide introduced herself as Gina who said that she was from New
York and had been in Miami since 1988. Tagging along were Julie
and Chris as guides in training.
We departed precisely at 10:30 A.M. after the
introduction and learning that we had folks from as far away as London, England
(Abroad); and New York (USA). Some of the guests looked quite surprised
when they learned that I was from across the bay in Miami. Their
intrigue, however, was not enough to make one inquiry of my life as a native.
Perhaps they thought that I would charge them since I wore my yellow Queen City Tourssm polo shirt. Our guide stated that Miami Beach extended from 1st
to 88th Street (south to north) and from the Atlantic
ocean to the Biscayne Bay (east to west). We also learned that
everything on this island was manmade beginning in the late 1800's and
the early developers were Mr. Charles Lund from New York who started
a coconut plantation, investor Mr. John Collins (Collins Avenue) from New
Jersey who pioneered the agriculture industry with avocados, etc., and the Lummus
Brothers (Lummus Park) who were Bean Counters a.k.a. bankers.
Cont′d>>>
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