After two years of steering clear of air travel, we decided to throw our vaccinated hats back into the flying ring and head to Miami for some R&R. Here's the good, bad and ugly of our vacation.
Let's start with the bad and the ugly to get it out of the way. The Airbnb we rented was not at all what we expected. The host was MIA, Airbnb was less than concerned with our trouble over the holiday week, and the place we found ourselves stuck in for six nights due to a completely booked up greater Miami area was very much misrepresented in its Airbnb listing. I won't go into too many details, but let's just say we spent most of our vacation without bedding, without much furniture of any kind, and without access to the resort-like shared amenities of the property.
Given the above conditions, we did what we always do and tried to make the best of it, so here's the good. The weather was beautiful for every single day of our stay and we got to soak up so much sun and go to the beach multiple times.
We also explored some of the outdoor sights nearby. We headed into the Keys one day where we saw some cool wildlife, spent a day at the zoo, and visited the Wynwood Walls (yes, these were considered home school science and art field trips).
After stocking the kitchen with basic cookware, we were able to prepare some of our meals in the rental, as we had planned. And indeed, you can zest a lime with a steak knife, toast bagels and frozen waffles in a frying pan, and use washcloths as oven mitts.
As always when we travel, we like to taste the local cuisine. On this trip, we visited Siciliano's Custard, the Salty Donut, and a family-owned Cuban restaurant, El Mago de las Fritas. We weren't super impressed with any of these places, unfortunately.
With three nights left in Miami, Airbnb finally found us a suitable new rental and offered us a refund. We didn't completely break even, but pretty close, and we had a private pool and hot tub for the last days of our trip, not to mention bedding and furniture and cookware.
When we returned home, we were greeted by temperatures 50+ degrees cooler than what we left in Miami. In the morning we had woken up to see...
... and we went to bed surrounded by...
We're thankful for the warm and sunny days we were able to spend in Florida. Now we buckle down for three busy months of home school and work while we dream of spring break.
