Fort Lauderdale to Miami, FL - January 5…part 2

As someone with an at best casual relationship with sun and heat, my first breath of humid, warm, citrus-y Florida air was more than welcome. While I have no problem wearing 2 pairs of pants and never being outside without a toque, I’m not particularly bothered by the 24 degrees that welcomes us to Florida.

retirement champagne

The 5 hours of our flight passed relatively uneventfully…for us. 2 hours in, the flight crew announced a medical emergency. Thankfully, there was at least one capable medical person who assisted. Details of the emergency weren’t ever disclosed to us, but I’m assuming that it wasn’t simple as there were announcements indicating drink service was suspended for the next couple of hours. Luckily for us, we were in Premium Economy and the drinks continued to flow even when we (Chris) were a bit overzealous with the mimosa and had a bit of clean up to do – I figure Chris is just out of practice and I’ll leave the in-cabin cocktail mixing to him on the boat. I hope it is obvious that we don’t prioritize our cocktail delivery to someone else’s well-being…obviously we want everyone to be healthy while we are well hydrated.

happy retirement - new vocation??

Speaking of Westjet’s premium economy service…we got a great price on these tickets. The service was very good and the food was much better than we’ve previously experience on other Westjet premium economy flights – food was served on dishes rather than boxes and snacks and drinks were plentiful.


It really is too bad that Uber or other ride share isn’t found throughout the world. I won’t go into my loathing of taxis world-wide. I will simply say that I appreciate the fact that my price is set before I step foot in the car, and I don’t stress throughout the entire ride because I wonder how inflated my fare will be – for all I know the cab fare and the Uber fare will be the same, I just feel more in control of things when I agree on a price ahead. Our Lyft ride from Fort Lauderdale to Miami took about 30 minutes and cost 40USD

sadly it was jacket weather

including tip – Uber was going to be 75+tip at the time we were looking. This was our first Lyft ride, but won’t be our last. Of course, as first time riders we got some kind of deal, but whatever the deal, etc, etc, I felt comfortable with the price and the situation. Regardless of Uber, or Lyft or even a taxi, flying into Fort Lauderdale certainly beat rather than flying into Miami, which would have required a change of planes and a higher fare.


The Beacon Hotel South Beach, where we will be for the night, is a cool little place in the heart of Miami’s South Beach. I’m still sad we don’t have more time here, as this place has Chris’ and my name written all over it. I remember thinking when I was here a few years back with my mom, visiting my brother and Karen that Chris would love it here. South Beach’s club vibe isn’t exactly what we look for, but the laid back, people watching have a cocktail here, have a bite to eat there, without wearing 2 pairs of pants or a toque scene is. Tonight, was a bit of a toque night…apparently the temperature was about 15 degrees, but we thought that was a bit of BS…it was quite chilly.

not exactly exciting, but the best we could do

After a 20.00 USD beer each, a bite to eat and a stop into the local CVS, (where the best I could find for interesting snacks was a Chrunchy Salted Carmel Almond Tobletone), we were back to the room to warm up and have another glass of retirement champagne. Another reason the Beacon Hotel South Beach is a cool spot is because they supplied us with a bottle of retirement champagne.


I was finally smart enough to pack just what I would need for the night without having to dig into any of my 2 suitcases. This was great, as no unpacking was need and after a short shower to wash off the dirt accumulated from flying we were off sans-socks (and toque) to see the sights.