Florida & The Deep South – Summer 2025

From the Everglades to Bourbon Street: The Deep South on Four Wheels

Atlanta → Knoxville → Savannah → Miami → Florida Keys → Everglades → Tampa → Destin → New Orleans → Austin · August–September 2025

The American South smells different. Like humid heat, like cauliflower clouds on the horizon, like freshly brewed coffee in too-small diner cups, and like that faintly salty breeze that hits you on the Gulf Coast before you've even seen the water.

We fly into Atlanta, make a quick stop in Chattanooga to see Robin — something of a ritual by now — then on to Knoxville: Buc-ee's of course, Bass Pro Shops, Pigeon Forge, and the Ole Smoky Distillery, which welcomes us back like an old friend. Then south through South Carolina, toward the sea.

Savannah is a city you fall for immediately and never quite understand. The avenues lined with enormous oaks draped in Spanish moss. The squares — small parks scattered across the downtown like breaths between the buildings. We wander. There's nothing to rush here. Savannah doesn't expect it either.

On the way to Miami we stop in Orlando — Yeti Factory Store, Columbia Southwest Store, Alexandra's obligatory chocolate factory. Then real Florida: heat, highway, palm trees, the slow astonishment at how enormous this state is.

Miami is two cities in one. By day: Miami Beach, the pastel Art Deco facades, the sand, Little Havana. By night: Yard House with a view, the bustle along the promenade, the city that never quite sleeps. We kayak on Raccoon Island — calm, green, the complete opposite of downtown.

The Florida Keys are a revelation. The Overseas Highway stretches across the water like a line drawn with a ruler, and the sea lies on both sides in that incredible turquoise. Key West: Dolphin Research Center, a beach day, the slow dissolution of any sense of urgency.

The Everglades meet us with heat and silence. We rent kayaks — the water is clear enough to see the shallows before you're sitting in them. Crocodiles on logs. Birds in species we can't name. It's one of the quietest hours of this trip.

Tampa, then Destin with Opal Beach — white sand that's actually white. Not yellowish. White like powdered sugar, and the water alongside it in a green you only find here.

New Orleans is loud and alive and sad and beautiful. The steamboat tour with buffet on the Mississippi: a little kitsch, very American, unforgettable. Wandering the city, Bourbon Street and the side streets that are so much more interesting. Jazz from every corner. Beignets at Café Du Monde.

Last stop: Austin. The YETI Flagship Store — because some pilgrimages you simply have to make. The city itself: alive, young, with an infectious surplus of energy. This is where we say goodbye — Alexandra flies home. David stays a little longer.