For Christmas this year, I surprised Matt with a last minute trip to Miami Beach. We had so much fun and arrived home totally sun kissed from even just a very short time in the sun. I lucked out and found some good last minute travel deals so I booked the trip about a week before we flew out. Around October I started looking for reasonable flights and hotels the week after Christmas but, fair warning, everything in the world is literally double the price the week between Christmas and New Year’s. But good news! Hotel prices the few days before Christmas are actually much more reasonable. Matt loves the sun and always needs a few days away from the Chicago cold during the winter so we headed to very warm and sunny Miami for a quick getaway.
This was my first time staying in Miami and let me tell you it was a SCENE! Miami was much more glitzy, glam than I had expected. There were tons of fancy cars, high high heels and lots of skin everywhere you looked, on both men and women. Bright pink, yellow, green and blue, art deco styled storefronts flank the sides of Ocean Drive, the South Beach strip. Very tan, old men adorned in linen shirts show off their Bentleys and Porsches in front of the many glitzy hotels, like the SLS, Delano and Fontainebleau on Ocean Drive. Much younger women flaunt their fake breasts, while they teter around the pools in very, very high heels. Miami screams with the superficiality of Dallas, but has a much more fun Latin flair. It is a whole big thing, friends and that whole big thing is far from subtle.
We stayed at the Standard Spa which was about a 25 minute walk away from the beach, so it was a little bit removed from the Ocean Drive strip around South Beach and Miami Beach. But honestly the Standard was a whole big scene in and of itself! The hotel is adults only and does not allow children under the age of 18 to stay there. Judging from the 24/7 party atmosphere that we observed, the whole no children thing is a good call. The hotel grounds are totally beautiful and the rooms are sparse white and clean. The pool is gorgeous. I would definitely recommend this pretty spot, but just know that you are off the beach and mentally prepare yourself for the scene there.
I loved biking on the Miami Beach board walk! We rode down the beach to South Point, which is a little point that marks the end of South Beach, which juts out into the ocean. I could have biked the boardwalk for days- it was so much fun! Miami’s board walk is totally beautiful, the path is well paved, clean and wide. The ride is also really fun because you are surrounded by the glitzy hotels on one side and the beach on the other. We had so much fun just getting to spend a little time in the sun!
