South Florida '08

This is one of those trips that I would have rather avoided, but what can you do... here's what happened. I have been trying to get my lazy friend to come with me to do some traveling. But since the time he was fat (he's lost 180+lbs since) about the only activity he enjoyed doing was visiting his summer home upstate New York and doing nothing there.

Well, after showing him some pictures from my Wisconsin SRT Track Experience at Road America he was convinced it is something he'd like to do. Great! Ideally, I wanted to hit up Laguna Seca in California and their famed Cork Screw turn, but we had literally just missed it by less than a week or two. Go figure. Of course the next best thing to California, at least in my book, is Florida.

Specifically Southern Florida, and when I found out that the Homestead-Miami SRT Track Experience was in town mid May, I quickly researched the opportunity and booked us on some super sweet airfare deals flying from Newburgh, NY to West Palm Beach for a mere $69 each way taxes included plus 50 bonus True Blue miles towards a future free trip. That was a no brainer.


In addition to the SRT Track Experience I convinced my friend that the original Margaritaville in Key West is a must! Considering he's a huge country fan, and has Alan Jackson's Margaritaville as his ringtone on the phone, that sealed the deal.


In terms of car rental I didn't go with Enterprise as I usually do in Florida, Hertz was actually cheaper and I decided to give them a shot. Using my AAA discount I decided to book a Mazda 6 thinking that based on Hertz reputation and large size I might actually get it, boy was I wrong. The West Palm Hertz was horrendous, from the customer service agent in the terminal to the supervisor at the rental facility a short shuttle bus ride away. I did not get the damn Mazda, instead they put me in an old Corolla S... it wasn't too bad but it did have over 20k miles and a check engine light on so I refused to take it. The car I ended up with was a Hyndai Sonata, and while I didn't like it the poor thing got amazing gas mileage, something to the tune of 460 on a tank and it wasn't even empty when I went to Miami International to exchange it for a Mazda 6... but drove out with a Ford Explorer, that was a pig on gas mileage. We also stopped at the Key West International Hertz, but that one was terrible too in customer service, we were asked to come back later in the day as they didn't have any cars yet... What?


Regardless, the SRT track experience was outstanding. We both got to race the new Viper, the Caliber, the Jeep, and every other car on the lot. I almost spun the Viper Convertible and ran over a cone on the track at about 100mph that went flying who knows where, but other than that it was a blast. I cannot wait for the video to arrive.



Immediately after the track day we headed to El Rancho in Key West where we spend the night. My friend got real drunk and for the rest of the night only embarrased me with his behavior. Margaritaville wasn't anything nearly what he expected and on that note we simply headed for Miami Beach, South Beach the following Morning.

Upon arriving at MIA airport to switch cars at Hertz it started pouring. We made the switch, went to the beach and it rained some more. But we stupidly enough stayed in the water anyway, lol That was actually fun.


The first and third nights we spend at Choice hotels. Econo Lodge in Florida City not too far from the track that charged us an extra person fee even though I could have swore I did put in 2 people occupancy. In South Beach it was Roadway Inn that we decided to stay in because I used my points from Choice Rewards credit card I have. The parking was great right under the building but $23 bux they charged us for it wasn't cool. My buddy got hurt so we didn't get to do much sightseeing in Miami as I expected, however I did check out Espaniola for the first time, and went near the Lincoln Road mall, but again we didn't do much walking. Well, I did actually. It has become tradition for me to walk up and down the entire length of South Beach and enjoy the views and exercise.


Leaving we nearly ran out of time mailing stuff from a local post office. But I was able to avoid much traffic and even made a detour in Deerfield Beach to grab some food. I wanted alligator tails but the place: Crabby Jacks no longer sold them so we settled for some Mahi Mahi and were on our way. Made the flight with minutes to spare and I woved never to travel with my friend again!


I hope I have more fun with my sister in Saint Martin/Sint Maarten next month.....

South Florida in September & October 2007

South Florida has officially became an obsession for me. This time around I went solo and really wanted to get a chance to do everything I couldn't get out of the way when traveling with friends or family. I finally got a chance to see the Everglades in person. Took an airboat tour, and tasted some frog legs and alligator tails. The weather was a hit or miss but since both trips were a one day affair, it didn't matter much.

As usual, the flight there was aboard Jet Blue. Once again I got an incredible deal bringing the grand total after taxes to just over $100 bux roundtrip, and I don't care who you are that's cheap right there. Plus, as usual Jet Blue had some specials going on offering extra frequent flyer points and future savings that ultimately contributed to my future travels, on Jet Blue's dime.

The car rental of choice again was Enterprise. This time around I wasn't as lucky as I had previously gotten, and I got exactly the class that I booked online. The cars felt awfully small and I felt shortchanged, but apparently a Mitsubishi Lancer and Nissan Sentra are Intermediate vehicles in South Florida. Whatever! Both cars were rather thirsty but at least parking them was no problem since they were so small and nimble.


As mentioned above the first stop on the agenda in September was the Everglades National Park. I booked in advance at Gator Park, arrived in time for the last Gator Show and Airboat ride of the day and had a lot of fun. Actually I got there pretty early so I was able to get a plate of gator tails and frogs legs for the first time, which were very tasty, but somewhat expensive. It cost me the same for dinner as it did for the tour and show. I got to pet a live alligator though, and was amazed how soft their bellies are to the touch. The airboat ride was uneventful, we saw a few alligators slip into the water before we got closer so the boat driver decided to do some tricks and started drifting on the water. Most people aboard were freaking out as nobody wanted that damn thing to flip over. It was a great experience nonetheless, it amazes me how just half an hour from downtown Miami there is this completely different ecological setting with no palm trees but plenty of sawgress and other vegitaiton.


The rest of the time I spend on the beach in South Beach. The weather was incredible, and I got some good tan. The second trip down in October was a bit stormy on the first day. I mainly drove around looking for a good Cuban place to get a Cuban sandwich but regreted it as soon as I ate one, it wasn't as good as the local Cuban place I frequent in Jersey. I found my way to Calie Ocho the following day for lunch and that meal in Little Havana was much better. On the stormy day though I drove some more around Las Olas Boulevard and was amazed to see water overflowing onto the street from the canals. Once I got closer to the beach, Ft. Lauderdale Boulevard or A1A was full of tractors scooping sand up and throwing it back on the beach. The surf was so high that the waves were literally crashing right by the wall that separates the beach from the boulevard. Wow!


This time I stayed in Broward county both in Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale at Choice Motels which were pretty beat and cheapo looking. Of course for that price I wasn't expecting much more. But they had free parking and I was close to movie theaters as I got a chance to go see Bourne Ultimatum and Eastern Promises during each visit.
The highlight of the trip was my visit to Steeda Autosport in Pompano. I was hoping to start adding their cars to my registry but so far they're not returning my e-mails and all that excitement I went through a few months ago wore off pretty quickly. Either way, I think this would be my last trip to South Florida this year, and I miss it already.

Links:

Jet Blue: www.jetblue.com
Enterprise: www.enterprise.com
Choice Hotels: www.choicehotels.com
Gator Park: www.gatorpark.com

Miami, Houston and Boston in June 2007

Judging by the last few years of adventure I declare the month of June as my personal travel month of the year. This year I've accumulated quite a few frequent flier miles both from leisure and business travel one week after another.

Miami Beach, FL

Early this month I came across an offer I couldn't refuse. Jet Blue had some amazing sales for South Florida and instead of sitting at home and doing nothing on my mid-week off days I decided to go for a mini-vacation on the best place on earth: South Beach! The offer was so good I booked a flight for my sister as well... hey for $39 bux each way on an airline that has first class seating and entertainment throughout the plane, how can you go wrong. Not only that they even offered to take $50 bux off the next trip, hell I spend more on gas and parking getting to the airport than flying for two and a half short hours to our favorite vacation destination.


The savings continued upon arrival into Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International. My rent-a-car company of choice, Enterprise made another offer I couldn't refuse... a mere $15 bux a day for an Intermediate vehicle. Better yet I got a free upgrade to a full size Ford Five Hundred in beautiful red to cruise around, which I found to be very impressive.

If that doesn't sound like a dream vacation yet, listen to this... you won't believe the rate I got on a hotel room. While searching through a variety of Internet hotel booking agents I found a place right on Ocean Drive for 50% off the rate in the middle of the off season. Which means my classy hotel room smack in the middle of the Art Deco district between the world famous Colony and Clevelander right where its at cost a mere $50 for the night, all in! We stayed at the Starlite Hotel.


The short trip didn't go without a hitch. My sister really wanted to go Jet Skiing so $160 bux later we were having a blast right on the ocean as there is a beach rental right off 9th Avenue... however as soon as we got ashore half an hour later it started raining and we left Miami Beach for more weather friendly grounds visiting the Seminole Hard Rock resort casino in Hollywood. After a nice diner there we headed out to the movie theater to kill some more time and saw "Knocked Up" on the silver screen. I don't know about other folks who claim it was funnier than the "40 Year Old Virgin" I was laughing much more at the original. The following day was 100% beach day for us. I must have spend six to seven hours soaking in the warm Atlantic Ocean that was exceptionally quiet with hardly any waves. Unfortunately for me, thats precisely the time I got sun poisoning and for the next few days I would feel like dying from the pain and water blisters popping on my shoulders. I must have shed like 8 layers of skin before returning to my normal self. Moral of the story folks: always wear sun block!!!



Before I could even start feeling comfortable to go out in the sun again I was back on a flight to Florida to deliver a vehicle for a business partner... all the way to Texas.

Houston, TX

I have never been to Texas before so I jumped on the opportunity to do a 1200 mile drive as opportunities like these don't come at work often. My plan of course was to get a picture with all of the welcome signs to all the states I passed along the way, and there were quite a few. I purposely spend the night in some cheap Motel 6 in Pensacola, FL in order to get good light for the photo opps, and they came out perfect. The drive itself was totally uneventful, and I won't bore anyone with the particulars. I really wanted to do a drive through New Orleans but for the sake of getting to the destination sooner I left a visit to the Big Easy for a future adventure. I did however try some fried crawfish on my way, stopping pit-stop style at some place called Iowa in the middle of Louisiana. It was delish!
The flight back from Houston Hobby was great, I couldn't believe it was only scheduled to take 3 hours, but of course with weather delays both in Texas and most of the way along the coast to New York, it took much longer. However again I was impressed with Jet Blue... good thing they're going through all the publicity nit picking because I was able to get an amazing deal booking a flight even a week before the departure.




The last week of the month was dedicated to a major business trip I've been planning for months. This was the first time I was in downtown Boston even though I must have been to the state of Massachusetts nearly a dozen times.

Boston, MA

First opinion of Boston was a rather great impression. I took Jet Blue again with a bargain fare that dropped in price after I originally booked it which allowed me to call them up and ask for credit towards a future flight, they're very accomodating that way and its only one part of many that I like about this company thats why I would fly them exclusively if the destinations past and future allowed.

For this trip I didn't have to rent a car, for the short ten minute ride to the Seaport World Trade Center the company send a chauffeur in a brand new Cadillac DTS from Boston Coach. Unlike in the NYC area airports the driver stayed in a Limo designated area at the departure level which made for a very short walk considering I only travel with a carry on.


The business aspect of the trip went rather smoothly for the day and a half I was there, but most impressive was the tour I gave myself of the walk along the Boston Harbor towards Quincy Market which came highly recommended from my coworkers. Once I arrived limped there in nearly 100F and humid weather in the middle of the day wearing a monkey suit, I didn't really care for what it had to offer and after a short rest headed back to a place I saw along the walk called the Barking Crab. That was my final diner destination before catching a stand-by flight home to JFK in New York. Unfortunately for me the early flight I went on got delayed for quite some time and having used up all of the battery life of my laptop, without any cables to re-charge it... (I had to conserve space and that was one thing I thought I could live without on a two day trip) I sat at a corner of the terminal in Logan watching other planes land and take off. That nearly put me to sleep.


I must say from the whole trip only the ride back comes to mind as the least favorite experience. During the ten minute ride the driver was presentable, he was again in a brand spanking new Caddy livery vehicle that was absolutely spottless, but his attitude and the choise of conversation killed the ride. I still don't get why he had to bring up the crap he brought up on that ride, I should of just asked him for some quiet time and that would have been that.


One good thing that came out of this trip, I was asked to write an article for an upcomming issue of an industry publication so I can't wait to get started!

Cool places to grab a bite:

Le Tub, Hollywood, FL
Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Houston, TX
The Barking Crab, Boston, MA

South Florida in January 2007

One of my New Years resolutions was to travel more, and I didn't waste any time. About the second week of January I took the whole family down to South Florida for a little vacation celebrating my dad's 50th birthday. Of course everything was a surprise so I did all the planning myself and made sure there was no down time with nothing to do, and since I've been there a number of times the previous year I knew exactly where to take the family to have fun.

The flight down there was smooth. I booked Jet Blue because it is by far my favorite airline. I got a great deal on tickets anyway, $79 each way EWR to FLL. A week later the fares dropped, so I was able to call 800-JETBLUE and have them transfer a few bux back into my True Blue frequent flyer account.

I decided to rent a car from a local company and not one of the national brands for two reasons: it was cheaper and they allowed a person under 25 to drive for a relatively small surcharge. So we took a shuttle to the Ft. Lauderdale location five minutes from the airport and I got my 2006 Saturn Ion in black. It was pretty cool cause at the moment I was in my Russian mafia uniform wearing all black, shirt, undershirt, dress pants, belt and shoes. It was classic.

From the airport I wanted to show my folks a little bit of Broward County before heading to our hotel in Miami Beach. I went up US1 hit some traffic and found my way to A1A that goes right along the beach. Although the weather in January was a bit cold for Florida standards, there were a lot of people on the beach which was a good sign.

Shortly after a little sightseeing everyone was hungry so I took them to one of my favorite restaurants, Houstons right on the Intercoastal Canal in Pompano Beach. We had an outside table, ordered some steak, chicken and whatnot. The fries are very good there too. From there we went on to Mitzner Park in Boca Raton. While the park consists of a bunch of upscale shops, restaurants and an outdoor cinema, the look of the square and the tall palm trees was the real reason we went there. It is a perfect picture op and we took a bunch of them there. But not as many as we did in Miami.

The drive to South Beach was about an hour because of a few accidents on I95. But once we got into town it was really nice, the fluorescent lights really lit up the Art Deco district and my family was impressed. I took them up Ocean Drive to show the little restaurants and cafe's along the way, then made a left by Versace's house and pulled up to the Best Western South Beach. The hotel does not have its own parking but as its located across the street from the Miami Beach Police Station there was a municipal lot on 12th that cost $6 bux a night except for the weekend where the rates went up to $10. On Friday I was actually surprised to find no parking because of all the club goers, but after waiting a few minutes they let me sneak in.

We stayed at the Kent, one of four classic hotels that are part of Best Western South Beach. The room was rather small compared to say Best Western Stoneridge in London, Ontario where we stayed a couple of times, but it was nice. For a two star hotel it was exactly that, good enough for a two star. The best feature was not the pool, but how close it was to the beach. I booked it solely for one reason, to be within walking distance of everything and it served its purpose.

The stay in South Beach was cool too. Every day we went to the beach, then to one of the cafe's for lunch and out of town for diner. The first night though we went to a landmark on Washington Ave the Sopranos Pizzeria... they make an excellent BBQ chicken sicilian style pie. We also went to the Fox Cafe for lunch one day and I had the most awesome seafood pizza slice that had everything from calamari to bits of crab, it was good.

On the second day of our vacation I left my folks in South Beach and headed out to Key West. That was probably the main reason why I booked a Florida vacation versus a trip to say the Poconos which my dad was actually thinking we were doing before the surprise was unveiled. I had imagined the trip down Dixie Highway to be something spectacular but in reality it was incredibly boring. The US1 was under construction for a good portion of the way, and the rest was just a one lane road in each direction with no divider, occasionaly going over some bridges which weren't even as high as I imagined. When I showed up in Key West I was pretty much done with sightseeing in about ten minutes. I went on Duval Street, had some stranger took a picture of me with the Southernmost point landmark and that was it. I had lunch at Salute Ristorante, a nice calamari dish in red sauce and headed back thru Key Largo to Miami Beach. It was a cool 300+ mile trip and the Saturn didn't even burn a full tank of gas, I was impressed.

The next day we killed two birds with one stone. After the usual walks on the beach and a little sunbathing we went to the Bayside Mall in Miami. I had booked a sightseeing tour on the Island Queen boat which took us around Star Island, Port of Miami and showed us all the cool stuff you can only see from the water. My folks were especially impressed with all the villas along the water, it was nice. After the 90 minute tour I took them out of town to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood for diner. My dad didn't want to drive too far and with the traffic it seemed to take forever but when we arrived he really loved the place. I spend some time showing them the resort with the swimming pools in the back with the bar in the center, the jacuzzi's and the private huts with TV's and massage tables. Then we went to see the shops on the other side of the reservation and finally dined at the Hard Rock which impressed the hell out of my parents after the service people started dancing to the YMCA song. It was a neat touch. And after a full day of activities we went back to South Beach to relax.

Our last day there Ocean Drive was closed for an event where a bunch of vendors set up displays from food to fine art. As usual there were a bunch of classic cars, but this time they were aligned down the center of the street sharing the road with a bunch of street performers. That was an interesting thing to see, sort of reminded everyone of bazaars they used to have in the old country. The last day was also the day when I got some great sunburn. At first I was just lying around catching some rays, but then when I went on a long walk from one end of the beach to the other, the sweat on my forehead really attracted the sun and I was violet red before I got to the hotel room. But no despair, that night I went out to Davie for a car show at Tower Shoppes and met up with a fellow Panther Platform owner who took me for a test drive in a Trilogy Supercharged Marauder... it was fast, and 600+ horsepower! Certainly more than my rental...

The flight back was just as worry free as the one that got us there, in fact even with the rain we arrived early. My buddy Eugene pickes us up because the limo guy didn't show up but thats another story. Overall, best vacation ever!

Links:

Jet Blue: www.jetblue.com
Sunshine Rent-a-Car: www.sunshinerentacar.com
Best Western: www.bestwestern.com
Island Queen Cruises: www.islandqueencruises.com
Seminole Hard Rock: www.seminolehardrock.com