Miami, Key West, and Disney..Oh My! The January 2024 Girls Trip – Days 1&2 – Miami Beach

There is a little backstory to this trip, which has been just under a year in the making. About a year ago, while I was sitting on my balcony at Disney’s Boardwalk Villas, my cousin Cara texted me and said she was going to sign up for a half marathon in Key West in January 2024, and asked if I wanted to do it with her. I decided what the heck, I have a year to train, so why not? Sara decided she would join us to give moral support and thus our latest girls’ trip was born. Now I have never really been much of a runner, although I have done some jogging off and on for the past couple of years, I never stuck with it, as I had nothing to work toward. Once I started training, I realized just how much I enjoyed running, or in my case, walking/jogging since I use an interval method where I walk/jog for the set miles each session or during a race. I also realized that they give you four hours to complete it, which works out to around 18 minutes/mile, which I could quickly walk if I had to. We decided we would fly into Miami and spend 2 nights there, rent a car, and drive to Key West for 3 nights, then drive to Orlando to end the trip at Disney World as neither one of them had ever been. Then, when the two of them headed home, Marc was to join me for another 8 (well, it turned out to be 9…but more on that in another segment) nights in Florida, meaning I would have a glorious 19 nights away from the bitterly cold January weather in Kansas.

A couple of days before we were to fly to Miami, a blizzard came through Kansas, closing all the surrounding roads. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it to the airport, but once the roads were open, Brendan and Caden offered to drive me to Kansas City to join Sara for our early flight on Wednesday morning, January 10th, which I gladly took them up on as I hate driving on slick roads. The 4-5 hour drive was very nerve-racking, and while some of the roads were cleared off, there were still several snow-covered areas and I spent a lot of the time grabbing the “oh shit” handle in the back seat. Once we finally made it to our airport hotel we grabbed drinks and dinner in the hotel bar to decompress. While we were eating, Cara who was flying from Seattle on Alaska Airlines, messaged us to say her Wednesday morning flight had been canceled and her only options were to take the redeye that evening or not fly out until a couple of days later. Of course, she chose the Tuesday night flight so she would be waiting for us in Miami when we arrived.

Made it to the airport hotel…Girls’ trip is officially underway!

January 10, 2024 – We were up bright and early to catch our 7 AM flight, and after waiting in a long line to get our plane de-iced, we were finally able to leave the bitterly cold and snowy Kansas to head to a nice and warm Miami Beach.

Waiting in line for our plane to be de-iced

We landed around noon, picked up our luggage, and headed to the car rental center. Once we got our car picked up, we headed toward our Airbnb in South Beach. Cara had landed in Fort Lauderdale that morning and took a Taxi to the beach near our rental to relax in the sun and wait for us. On our way to our rental, Sara got a notification that we could get into our unit early, so Cara headed over there and waited for us to arrive.

Our rental was in the renovated Claremont Hotel, which is located right on Collins Avenue (A1A). It was a block off of the beach, and just to the north of the Art Deco District. Everything we wanted to do was within walking distance. The hotel doesn’t have a parking lot, but there is a public parking garage just down the street, so Sara and I left the car there and walked down the street to the hotel, dragging our luggage with us. After we got settled in we went down to join Cara in the lobby for drinks. After relaxing for a while we took a walk down to the beach then stopped at CVS to pick up some snacks/drinks to have in the room before going back to figure out where we wanted to eat dinner. We decided to go to Taco Taco, located next door to the Claremont. We got an order of Chips and Guacamole to share then we each ordered tacos. All of their food was delicious and I would eat there again on a future trip. When we got the bill, we noticed that the gratuity had already been added, in fact almost everywhere else we ate or drank at in Miami added an 18 percent gratuity, and you could add more if you felt the service was worth it. It wasn’t a big deal and made adding the tip easy, but since that is something we are not accustomed to at home unless you are dining with a larger party, I thought it was worth mentioning.

After dinner, we headed back to the room to relax, and then Sara and I decided to go out for a bit, while Cara stayed back to unwind as she had a long couple of days with not much sleep. Sara and I walked up and down Collins Ave to check out the surrounding area.

As we were walking around, we came upon a cute little brewpub, South Beach Brewing Company. We sat at the bar, where we enjoyed talking to the owner and bartenders, and found out that they had only been open for a few weeks. Sara and I both had the beer flight, which was excellent. I enjoyed all four beers in it, but my favorite ones were the Strawberry Orange Mimosa Sparkling Ale and the Blood Orange Sunset IPA. While we were hanging out a couple of girls sat down next to us at the bar. After talking to them, we found out they were also from Kansas and were on a girl’s weekend trip…talk about a small world. We both agreed that we should bring Cara back here the following day, as this place had a great atmosphere and was a nice ending to our long travel day.

January 11, 2024 – This morning we slept in a little bit, before heading out to explore the area. The plans for the day were to spend the morning/early afternoon visiting the Art Deco District and then go to Little Havana for the evening. Once we got ready we headed out to find somewhere to eat brunch. As we were exploring the area, we came upon an area called Espanola Way. This pedestrian-only area was opened in the mid-1920s and was designed to resemble a historic Spanish Village. The buildings are stucco, with Spanish tile roofs, and have red-stripped awnings to shade the cafes. This popular area has several restaurants, shops, and bars packed into this two-block area. I’d like to return here on a future trip when I have more time to explore. We stopped at CRAFT South Beach and were seated outside, which was a great spot for people-watching. Everything on the menu looked good, but I ordered the Verde: sourdough toast, avocado, caramelized onions, cream cheese, goat cheese, poached eggs, and a green salad with balsamic glaze. It was delicious and I would highly recommend eating here if you have a chance.

After breakfast, we visited the Art Deco Welcome Center and Museum, then spent the rest of the morning walking along Ocean and Collins Avenues admiring all the Art Deco architecture. This type of architecture, which became popular in the 1920s and 30s, has always been eye-catching to me. I find the use of geometric shapes, bold color contrasts, sleek lines, and the use of intricate designs very appealing. Some of the buildings remind me of something you would see in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom, or along Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards in Hollywood Studios at Disney World….so maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to it.

After our Art Deco tour, we made a quick stop at South Beach Brewing for drinks, before heading back to our hotel for the afternoon. It was a little too chilly to swim in the rooftop pool, but we found comfy chairs to relax in and recharge.

We got cleaned up a little after 4 pm and called an Uber to take us to Little Havana. When Cara called it, she noticed that it said it would take an hour to get there, which we thought was odd because it was only a few miles away. Well, turns out that it did take us close to an hour because the traffic heading off the barrier island that South Beach sits on is crazy at that time of day. So…note to self for a future trip, do not try to leave South Beach between 4-5 pm if you are in a hurry. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic for blocks on end. Our Uber driver was nice and had a lot of patience dealing with the crazy drivers, that were pushing their way into the intersections, and we joked with him that he was probably sorry he picked us up. Once we finally got off the island, it was smooth sailing, and we finally arrived in Little Havana at about 5:15 pm.

The main street in Little Havana is Calle Ocho. This popular street has several blocks of artwork painted on the buildings, as well as several restaurants/bars. It is also home to the Calle Ocho Roosters…sculptures of roosters scattered throughout this neighborhood. Another place that is worth visiting, is Maximo Gomez Park, better known as Domino Park. It is a place where locals gather to drink their Cuban coffee, play dominos, and socialize. They also don’t mind having an audience watching, and I heard that some of the games can get quite competitive. It started raining right when we arrived and poured off and on for most of the evening, so we only got to briefly visit the outside locations as we dodged the rain. I would like to return in the future when I have more time and better weather to truly explore this beautiful area.

The original plan when we arrived was to try to get dinner at the Ball & Chain. This popular bar/lounge has been open since the 1930s and has had several famous people including Billie Holiday, and Count Basie play on their stage. If you are interested in knowing more about the history of this place click check out this link. Once we arrived there was no seating and quite a few people waiting, so we decided to go across the street to Old’s Havana Cuban Bar and Cochina for dinner. We all three had the Cubano, and Sara and I had Mojitos while Cara enjoyed a beer. The food and service were great and they even had a live band playing in the front part of the restaurant. I would highly recommend eating here if you get a chance.

After dinner, we decided to head back to the Ball & Chain to see if we could get a seat for drinks. This bar has live music playing, as well as a Salsa Dancer leading a dance line. We were able to find seats out back, on a covered patio, which was a perfect spot because we could still hear the music but it was quiet enough that we could also talk. There is an outdoor stage. as well as plenty of outdoor seating, which I imagine they use when the weather is nice. After enjoying our drinks we called an Uber to take us back to South Beach. This time the ride only took about 20 minutes, as the traffic was non-existent. Quite the contrast from a few hours ago.

Once we got back to South Beach, we spent the rest of the evening walking around the Art Deco District to see the buildings all lit up, before turning in for the night. It is worth seeing this area both in the daytime and after dark, as all the neon lights add the the beauty of the buildings.