I am a New Yorker who visited Miami for the first time. Here are 15 things that surprised me the most.

I’m New Yorker and until recently had never been to Miami, Florida.

Seeking warmth and a change of scenery, I recently made my first trip to Magic City and was surprised by many key differences between it and my home in New York City, where I have lived for almost three years.

The first thing I noticed about Miami was how cheap public transportation is compared to New York.

Miami also has a free streetcar that runs through the city 15 hours a day. I haven’t heard anything like it in New York.

I also found that private Lyft rides in Miami were up to four times cheaper to cover the same distance as my trips in Brooklyn.

A 5 mile (8 km) drive to Miami cost me $ 10 while a similar distance to Brooklyn cost me $ 40.

As I walked the streets of Miami, I noticed that there didn’t seem to be as many trash cans as in New York City, but the streets always seemed cleaner.

Typically in New York City, I see overflowing trash cans on almost every street corner, and there is still trash on the streets. But in Miami the streets were much cleaner, which made me think this city didn’t need that much.

In some areas of Miami, I noticed more yield than stop signs.

Drivers seemed patient with waiting for pedestrians, unlike my experiences walking in my neighborhood in Brooklyn.

I often – mistakenly – assume that cities that are smaller or heavily car dependent won’t be as walkable as New York. But I was happy to find that Miami had many pedestrianized neighborhoods all over the city, not just downtown.

South Beach, Wynwood, and parts of Coconut Grove all had pedestrian streets packed with restaurants and shops.

I visited Miami in October and knew it had a reputation for being hot all year round. But I had no idea it was one of the hottest places in the United States in winter with highs nearly 80 degrees, as experts at the weather station reported last month.

The hot weather also came with high humidity which I found unbearable at times.

While exploring, I thought people seemed more eager to talk to strangers than in New York City.

I had a lot of nice, random encounters with strangers during my week in Miami, which hardly ever happens near my Brooklyn home. Some people even greeted me in the street from their car windows.

Of course, no trip to Miami is complete without a stop at the beach. South Beach is possibly the cleanest beach I have ever seen.

Before visiting Miami, I never thought of it as a nature destination. But it’s the only American city bordered by two national parks – Biscayne and Everglades.

Overall, I found my week in Miami to be a warm and friendly change of pace from my life in New York.

Definitely coming back soon for the clean beaches, colorful streets, and affordable peanut butter.