Thursday, February 18, 2010

Miami, why so cold to us?

As in typical Sherman fashion, our quick, 4-day get-away to Miami turned into an adventure that once again, involved the Atlanta airport.
Well, never again am I flying through that place and never again am I getting sucked into a deal of a flight that’s less than direct going to my favorite place EVER!
Why do I still love it so?
It was my bright idea to leave Jacob with my parent in Baltimore…never done before, and jet off to Miami for a romantic long holiday weekend for some sun and fun.
Tickets were relatively inexpensive, the hotel Gansevoort was fabulous, my parents were beyond thrilled and weather in Miami is “usually” a sure bet.
Well, forget all of that except the parents thrilled part and the hotel.
We drove to Baltimore Friday night only to wake up at 5am to catch a Delta flight out of BWI at 8:30am.
Arriving in Atlanta our outbound was on time and so we leisurely proceeded to get some coffee and plan out our day.
Ha, what were we thinking? It was all too easy and if you know the Atlanta airport, you know that if you arrive close to the gate you’re scheduled to leave out of, you already feel a sense of accomplishment and so we did. Even joked about how smoothly it was going compared to our trip from Cabo back in December.
Fools, that’s what we were…cockeyed optimists.
As we leisurely strolled to our gate, we were hit with it, flight #677 CANCALLED
What just happened? People around us were running and screaming and total mayhem took over the terminal.
Interesting how that always happens to the people on our side of the counter, not the airline workers…they are somehow immune and one even had the balls to say to a woman passenger who clearly had had enough and had been stranded in the airport for the 3rd day with 3 kids, “madam, please get in line, everyone has a story” Oooh, so glad that wasn’t me cause I would not be sitting here today.
Anyway, 2hrs of standing in line to speak to the “story” Delta-bot we finally got a flight to West Palm Beach and, if you can believe it, felt lucky that we did considering that all flights out of Atlanta were being cancelled for the rest of the day. Oh and one more thing, our luggage had already been ticketed for Miami so although we were now flying to WPB, our suitcase were headed to Miami and would probably not arrive until the next day, if we were lucky!
With our new tickets in hand, we proceeded to the nearest bar and after 2 Bloody Mary’s, arranged for a rental car out of WPB hoping that we would actually get to use it that day.
Arriving in WPB, we picked up our car and drove to SoBe arriving at the Gansevoort at 7pm.
Ahhhh, immediately and as if they could sense the defeat in our eyes, we were upgraded to an Ocean view Suite and given 2 complimentary robes…Victory!!!

The hotel was fab, the weather was freezing and we were hungry so we showered, changed back into the clothes we arrived in…so glamorous, and headed to Nexxt, our home away from home.
Lincoln Road was abuzz despite the chill in the air and we sat outside under heaters drinking Bloodies and talking about how lucky we were to be there and how much we were missing Jacob.
The next day we had to keep our fingers crossed that our luggage arrived at the Miami airport but couldn’t call from our cells cause my Droid is fried from the water I spilled all over it and Phil’s phone died cause his charger was in the suitcase. Fun times! The Delta-bot on the line confirmed that our luggage was in fact at the airport waiting for us so instead of relaxing, we drove to the airport, picked up our suitcases, returned the rental and were back at the hotel to begin our “vacation.”

Back and ready for some Miami fun, we sat by the pool wrapped in towels as the weather barely got to 65. That night we went to the Blade Sushi Lounge in the Fontainebleau and that too was Fab.
Check it out; the place is super cool, DJ, lighted menus that are too cool for school and if you go, save room for their signature Cheesecake lollypops...Yummy!

The next day we chilled by the rooftop pool and even managed to get sun, so much that I’m now peeling. It was decadent, cold but decadent to lounge and read and drink and people watch and drink some more.
Of course that night we went to Sushi Rock, one of our must stops whenever we’re in SoBe and is home of the first place where Jacob ate sushi at the age of 8 months!
By now we really missed Jacob but he was clearly having a blast because every time we called, he would ask, “It’s been 4 days already?”
Our last day in Miami actually felt like we had been there for a while and we still had all day. We managed to get a 5pm check-out, chilled and lunched by the pool and had enough time to stroll down Lincoln Road, grab dinner and make our way back to the airport for a totally, uneventful 9:30 flight.
Arrived at BWI at midnight, picked up our car at the long term parking lot, got to my parent’s house at 1am to pick up a sleeping Jacob and made it home by 3am…success!
I’m exhausted just by writing this but in the end Mission accomplished; we had a great time, relaxed, drank, ate, tanned, had some quality adult time (-; and would definitely do it again…minus Atlanta and all the drama.
I’m tanned and happy and planning our next trip…such a glutton for punishment but I can’t help it, I love Miami!!!

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