I'm a New Yorker who visited Miami for the first time. The neighborhoods, social scene, and affordability surprised me most.

I'm a New Yorker who traveled to Miami for the first time in October 2021. Many things were surprising, namely that Miami seemed less expensive and more social than New York. I found a booming nightlife scene and colorful streets full of murals and Art Deco buildings.

I'm a New Yorker, and until October 2021, I'd never been to . Looking for warmth and a change of scenery, I made my first trip to . During my visit, I explored a range of neighborhoods.

I was surprised by the many key similarities and differences between Miami and NYC, where I've lived for five years now. The first thing I noticed about Miami was how cheap public transit was compared to New York. Back home, I pay $2.

90 for each . In Miami, I paid $5.65 a day for an unlimited pass that got me on the buses and railway system.

Miami also has a free trolley that runs across the city for 15 hours a day. I haven't heard of anything similar in New York. In my experience riding Miami's trolleys, they were clean and not too crowded.

I also found that private Lyft rides in Miami were up to four times cheaper to travel the same distance as my rides in NYC. A 5-mile ride in Miami cost me $10 whereas a similar distance in Brooklyn has cost me $40. Walking down the streets of Miami, I noticed there didn't seem to be as many trash cans as in New York, but the streets still seemed cleaner.

Typically in New York, I see overflowing trash cans on almost every corner, and there's still trash on the streets. But in Miami, the street.