Spring 2013 – Day 1

Our trip was supposed to begin on Wednesday, February 27 at 6:00 am; however, for the first time that we could every remember, our plane leaving Bloomington via Delta was cancelled.  The good news is that we were re-booked for that evening leaving at 5:00 pm. 

We left Bloomington on time and after stopping in Atlanta, GA, we arrived in Miami at 11:30 am.  We were really lucky in that they gave us a choice of cars, a new Ford Focus or a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria.  Needless to say with all of our luggage, we choose the big boat, the Crown Victoria.

Getting to the hotel was a snap with the GPS and we arrived a little past 1:00 am but then the nightmare began.

We had booked the rental car and hotel together using Orbitz.  I am sure there are many good things that Orbitz does and has done for people, but we will never do it again.

The hotel had no elevator so we had to lug everything up the stairs, but that was the best part!  The hotel must have been 60 years old or older and was in really bad shape.  Barb didn’t even want to take her shoes off.  We don't even want to list all of things that were bad about this place.  At least we didn't see any bugs, but we are sure that they were there.  We couldn't even lock the door with any kind of secure lock.  We went to sleep and were awakened at 7:00 am by the sound of building right next door, about 20 feet away.

After Ed’s “free” breakfast of toast and juice, he immediately went online to find us somewhere else to stay.

We left without telling them and checked into a Courtyard by Marriott about 15 minutes from the beach.  Then we called Orbitz and they did refund two of our night, so at least that helped.  It was too bad because the location, right on the beach was wonderful, but there was no way we could stay there. 

We called Orbitz and they did call the hotel to tell them we had left and we were able to get our money back for the two nights were not gong to stay there - so at least a little good happened with Orbitz.

We left the Marriott after checking into a wonderful King room and at about 11am and went to a neat little deli and split a sandwich.  Then it was off to our favorite beach, Haulover Beach.  We stayed there for a couple of hours in partly cloudy conditions, but it was very relaxing.

Then we went to the Opla Locka Flea Market one of the largest in the State of Florida.  Surprise, Barb found a really neat pair of Crocks!

We ate dinner at a Deli on Miami Beach and got back to the Marriott at about 9:00am and really crashed.

I am writing this at 9:30am on Friday, our last full day in Miami before we board the ship tomorrow.

We are off to somewhere – watch for our next blog.

Leaving Home

The crane drilling in the morning

A real Deli for lunch

The flea market

Barb's new Crocks

A snack at the flea market