Hi all, this is my first TR so go easy on me
Sunday:Last Sunday morning, when I heard that NY is getting its 40th winter storm this morning, I knew it was time to get to warmer grounds. I checked the weather in Miami, and started planning a quick getaway. I already had planned to be in LA for Purim, so Miami would be a jump start on my vacation. First rule is to just book. I found an AA flight leaving at 3:20 pm from LGA, so I booked with BA for 7.5k. So far so good. I was seated in a middle seat, but I would take care of that later. Snow is starting to fall around 1pm so I'm a little concerned. A quick rental search showed that Enterprise was the cheapest. I reserved a midsize, packed some clothes and then headed to the airport. Parking on the street was easy and I signed up to a friend's uber referral, so I got a free ride. Uber Black came within 3 minutes of waiting. 2014 Black Lincoln MKX. Not bad for a free ride. Interestingly, the minimum fare for Uber Black is $15 - which was then waived with referral coupon. At least that step went well.
Next, I was annoyed that I didn't get TSA precheck. I tried by the desk, but they couldn't help me. Whatever. I headed through security, and had to take off my shoes
. Then, I headed to the AA lounge. Nothing too special, though the staff were great. By 2:30 pm, there was a legit snowstorm outside. I looked up the previous AA flight from LGA to MIA and it was delayed. So best case scenario is that my flight is delayed, and worst case is that it's cancelled. Oh well. Next, booking a hotel. Miami wasn't looking too good for SPG, so I chose Fort Lauderdale for the first night. Undecided between the W or the Westin. Although the Westin charged a resort fee, the W wasn't close enough to the water. So I decided on the Westin and booked a one night stay for 10k. Time to board. On the way out, I went to the desk and switched my seat to a window seat. No problems there. Now, I was just hoping we won't be delayed too much.
I boarded the plane at 2:45 pm. By then, the next AA flight from LGA to MIA was cancelled so I was worried they might cancel ours even after boarding. Thankfully, they announced we were planning on taking off, but they needed to de-ice the plane. Which means a long wait. They even offered passengers to get off the plane to wait in the gate area!! Anyways, they de-iced the plane and we took off around 5 pm. At least I made it!
On the flight I had a gogo coupon but couldn't access my email to get it. Oh well. I chatted with them and received a half hour pass. That worked well
. Now, time to book a flight back. My flight to LA was leaving JFK on Tuesday at 6:30 pm, so I had to work around that. Now was the tough part. No AA saver flights Monday night or Tuesday morning. Bad news. I quickly checked regular prices and Matrix only gave me $250 frontier flight. No thanks. Even hidden city didn't help. However, there were flights from MIA to PHL so there was always a plan B.
We touched down in MIA around 7:15 and then just sat on the tarmac for an ungodly amount of time. Finally, around 8 pm, I finally got off and went through a couple of trains to get to the rental area. Payed 45/day for midsize, and then went to the lot to get a car. To my disappointment, there was no availability of sports cars. But, there were a couple of gorgeous looking SUVs. So it will be different chill, but it works
. Besides, at least there won't be snow on the roads, or anywhere for that matter!! Payed 15 extra for a 2015 Chevy Tahoe. In white. A real beauty.
Since this wasn't my first trip to Florida, I had a pretty solid handle on the restaurant scene. I wasn't into a dinner but just food. I had an okay experience at House of Dog on Boca, so I figured I'll try the one in Miami. There really was no difference between both restaurants. Got wings and the BBQ beef burger. They had outdoor seating so I took it and enjoyed the weather. After dinner, I was pretty tired so I drove an hour to the Westin in Fort Lauderdale through Collins ave which was nice. The weather was really perfect and it wasn't too bad of a drive. Maybe a little humid but anything beats NY weather right now.
I arrived at the hotel and met Tim at the desk, who was sent from a Boston hotel to help out so we were both glad to be in Florida
. Being SPG Gold, I was upgraded to the Lanai Suite which instead of having a balcony, rather opened up straight onto the pool terrace. Amazing. Also, the Westin was the only the hotel in that area to have a bridge to the beach (Ritz had one further down) which would be fun to check out tomorrow. I was in the mood of relaxing so I flagged down one those biker taxis and took a ride to a CVS not too far away. I picked up some essentials and then headed back to the hotel. FYI, there are a lot of police cars in Fort Lauderdale. And a lot of bouncers
. I took a night swim which just hit the spot and just chilled, enjoying the warm weather. And then it rained. A torrential downpour that lasted all of 20 minutes
. Time to head inside. Checked on flights and still nothing opened. Not too worried, I went to sleep. And then they started vacuuming outside the room. Who the hell vacuums at 3 in the morning
. Afterwards, I saw that I was near two conference rooms and they were probably cleaning those up. Regardless, it was very annoying.
More coming...
Weather on the way to the LGA
De-icing the plane (notice the end of the wing)
Car Rental
Lanai Suite on pool floor
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