Miami Byotches

So after a visit to San Francisco for work, I decided to make a stop in Miami for a week on the way home to the UK. Nice.

A week in Miami in December when it is cold and dark in London, what could be better? Not much, well maybe Hawaii - but that is a reeeeeally long flight from London after all.

Anyways - my little sister ditched her hubby and 18 month old and joined me in Miami for part of the stay. After all the time I spend with Dave, it was nice to share a room with a female who doesn't mind having E! on in the background while we are getting ready and futzing about in the room. Dave HATES E!. I love it in a I-need-to-zone-out and-not-think-about-Syria kind if way. Plus my sis always has great hair products for me to borrow, yet another reason she is perfect to share a room with. 

So what did we do, not a lot...... Our days generally consisted of coffee, a walk/run/bike ride, a nap on the beach chairs outside of our hotel, a discussion of an outing that we were never actually going to do (day cruise to the Bahamas, tour of the Everglades, driving to the Keys, kayaking, etc.), then cocktails. That is about it.

Sorry Mom, this is like the only pic of the two of us.

Overall, I did like Miami. I am not sure I need to go out of my way to go there again, especially since it is a 6-hour flight from San Francisco and Hawaii is closer. However, Miami has a few things going for it:

• Warm water and clean beaches
•  Reasonably priced hotels, we stayed at the perfectly acceptable Park Central Hotel for just $139 a night
• Cuban food, especially from Puerto Sagua - you MUST eat here if you come to Miami
• Stone crab at Joe's, we were lucky enough to be there during stone crab season (October through May) and ate at Joe's twice
• The vibe, dancing, and music at night is so cool, there is so much energy you will never be bored in Miami.

I feel so happy!

Yes - a giant shell-encrusted dreidel and menorah, explained by Finny.

Miami has its downsides, to be sure (sorry to be a downer but this is shit that I wish someone would have warned me about):

• Walking past the 100 identical restaurants along Ocean Drive (near our hotel) is an awful experience, you get hassled to the max by the staff to sit down and eat/drink. The restaurants are not very good and are ungodly expensive. Avoid at all costs, except for a few of the more noted restaurants like Quinn's or Avalon.
• Clarify the price of what you are ordering, especially with drinks. The drink prices are rarely listed on menus. One day we paid $25 for two Coronas and then $18.95 for a mojito - I am not kidding. Getting ripped off REALLY ruins my day.
• It is not pedestrian/bicycle friendly, even though they have the Deco Bikes scheme now - you cannot really ride safely many places. I am probably just jaded by my recent experience with European bikefriendlyness though.

 

I was meant to have coffee on the beach every morning.