Miami, I Love You

Posted by Lauren

My friend Kerry, who turned 25 last week and planned the majority of our Costa Rica trip, is an avid blog reader.

When Kerry, Jacquelyn, and I arrived in Miami on Tuesday afternoon, we had a short wait before the hotel shuttle picked us up.

It was at that time we both turned to our Google Reader apps and she exclaimed that there were simply too many posts to catch up on, so only the posts with eye-catching/intriguing titles would earn her perusal. If you want to skim this post, like Kerry would, at least check out the dirty underwear story at the end of this post!

Ok.

I would just like to say: I looooved Miami, just not the airport. All 18 hours of our purposely extended layover – 6 pm to noon – left me wanting much, much more.

We stayed at the Chesterfield Hotel (855 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139), an adorably chic hotel in the heart of South Beach. The vibe leans more towards “party” than “pamper,” with free drinks for hotel guests from 7-8 pm (we caught the last 30 minutes for 2 drinks). While I checked in, the attendant encouraged me to head over to the bar while he processed my paperwork. What a good idea! :) when I returned to the counter, he informed me that he upgraded the room at no extra charge!!

The three of us instantly fell in love with our room. So much so that we would rebook our next stay there in a heartbeat… View from our three windows:

Jac and Kerry play kickball in the OC, and one of their old teammates (who recently moved to Florida), joined us for the night. Nick brought along a case of Bud Light that was perfect for “the game” x3?

Soon enough, we were ready to go out! Numerous people suggested we try Wet Willies for strong drinks – we were more than happy to try the place out…

An order of nachos for the table, along with two Supermans (Jac and myself), a margarita for Kerry, and Nick’s jack n’ coke.

After dinner we went to Mangos, a colorful, ocean-front bar with live music and a Michael Jackson “Thriller” dance ensemble-show-thing.

We danced for a while but then decided our time would be better spent on the beach for a mini photo shoot… So off we went!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Mega Pizza for necessary food. It was delicious! So delicious one might in fact decide to dance on a table…. Wasn’t me! ;)

Before falling asleep, we asked Siri when to expect the Miami sunrise. Without an established alarm, Kerry miraculously awoke 10 minutes before Siri suggested – since our hotel was only one block from the beach, we caught the sunrise just in time! First ever sunrise over an ocean…

We fell back asleep and woke up with enough time to walk around for an hour and get gelato for “breakfast.” Hey, it’s a vacation! And without knowing it, we walked straight into the gelato/smoothie shop from Jersey Shore, Lecca Lecca Gelato Caffe.

Jac was the first to recognize it, from the logo, and then of course there was Jersey Shore paraphernalia all over. Random, huh? I went with a medium half pistachio half oreo, and it was amazing!

We took the hotel shuttle back to the airport (that made it so easy!) and waited in ridiculously long lines. Miami airport, you suck!

The Story of The Dirty Underwear:

The security guard asked me to get out of line and double check that my bag would fit in the thingamajigger. I always travel with the same bag and I know it fits. This time, however, I just so happened to have my dirty underwear in the front pocket… so it was sticking out and wouldn’t fit in the thingamajigger. Of course everyone in line, bored to tears, watched as the secuirty guard asked me to zip up the expander zipper. Didn’t fix the problem. Then she was like “what’s in your front pocket?” So I exclaimed “my dirty underwear!” and then she had me open up the front pocket and move my undies into my large purse. Eww gross, right? Finally she let up and said she was going to go on her break. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed! I rejoined Kerry and Jac in line – they told me they chanted “U-S-A” while I squeezed my bag into the thingamajigger. Too funny. Love the support, friends. After the security checkpoint, I returned my skivvies to the front pocket and we found some food inside Terminal D at Sushi Maki.

Sushi, pad thai, and a humorous menu full of chopstick poses and haiku instructions = surprisingly tasty way to end our long Miami layover. My flight left an hour after Kerry and Jac’s, so I said adios to these two:

I wiped away my “vacation is over” tears and boarded the plane to San Francisco… Costa Rica recaps come next!

p.s. I really want to go back to Miami ASAP

-Lauren