Today, let me take you with me to Miami and Orlando, Florida.
As you may have seen if you follow me on Instagram or saw my recent What I Bought In The US blog post, in May I visited New York, Miami and Orlando with my family. So today I thought that I would share what I got up to in Florida, in particular.
This will be a pretty photo heavy blog post, as I took lots of snaps while I was away. But here is what I got up to in Miami and Orlando, Florida this year:
Miami
After visiting with my Mum in 2019, thankfully my Dad was well enough (he previously had a blood clot that prevented him from flying for a whole year back then) to come with us this time. We really adored Miami and in particular South Beach, so we decided to stay in the same hotel as we did on our first trip. Even if they had since changed a little by going independent from the Urbanica brand.
Miami Beach
Thankfully we loved the hotel just as much this time and unlike our first stay, where we didn't make the most of the hotel's amenities, this time we made sure to.
Most hotels in South Beach will charge you a resort fee, which is added to your bill each day and cover the likes of bike rentals, beach towels, etc. So we headed to the beach each and every day, where we could use loungers, as part of our resort fee, to soak up the sun, sea and sand. As I am so fair/pale and redheaded, this normally meant going in the morning so that I didn't get too hot and bothered. But that worked for us as it was generally a lot quieter and more chill at this time of day anyway.
It was nice just to take a slower pace after a week in New York where we basically didn't stop. Plus, the weather in May in Miami is warm and humid without being too hot.
Wynwood Walls
When me and my Mum visited Miami in 2019, we had planned a trip to Wynwood Walls on our final day. But sadly there was a crazy Floridian thunderstorm all day that day so we couldn't go. So that was at the top of our list this time and it was well worth a visit. You could easily spend a good part of a day exploring all the different pieces of art and exhibitions. Plus, they had a really cool gift shop too.
I would say, if you're on a budget and don't want to pay to actually go inside the museum, there are lots of great murals all over the surrounding streets that you can take in for free.
Cycling
Me and my Mum decided to take the hotel bikes out for a ride one morning. And even with going out super early, before 9am, it was a bit of struggle. So much so that I ended up feeling faint and super sickly after about an hour. But we loved heading down to South Pointe Park and Pier, like we did on our first trip.
The fact that there is a little shaded spot, right on the water in amongst the rocks, where a whole host of stray cats who are basically treated like kings and queens by the local restaurants and tourists, were still there made us smile so much. Even when we were really feeling the heat.
Visiting Hello Kitty
I hadn't realised on our last trip to Miami that my favourite character, Hello Kitty, had her own statue in Miami. So me and my Mum decided to take the bus up to W South Beach, where you'll find the sculptures. And we were so glad that we did. It was a little surreal seeing Hello Kitty, My Melody and Miffy up there. But it was a really fun excursion and also had us dreaming of being able to stay at the super fancy W South Beach one day too.
We'd actually not made it up to the more northern region of South Beach last time. So it was nice to explore it a bit more. We also saw the neon Miami Rock Sculpture (pictured at the top of the blog post), which we had no idea was even up there when we were doing a bit of research into finding Hello Kitty. So it was definitely fun just to have a wander around, before it got too hot, of course.
Orlando
We've visited Orlando many times before but this was our first time driving there. And for some reason I thought it would take like a whole day to drive between Miami and Orlando, Florida. When in reality it only took about four hours, which wasn't too bad. With us making a stop at West Palm Beach to grab something to eat and break up our journey a bit.
We had booked to stay in a townhouse, instead of our usual villa. But after a whole lot of drama with the company that we booked with (basically they cancelled our booking a few days before we were due to arrive). We ended up almost forced into staying at a condo. But it was a really pleasant surprise. We didn't technically need the extra space of a larger home and we had a fantastic balcony to sit out on with our books and glasses of wine. And there was a really nice communal pool area as well.
Disney Springs
Disney Springs was more manic than I've ever seen it before on this trip. So much so that we only visited the once. Given that it was May 2022, masks weren't required. But I had mine on, even in the crazy heat and humidity, that's how uncomfortable I felt. And I hadn't even felt like that in New York a week or so earlier.
There were just so many bodies and nobody was even thinking about social distancing, which wasn't the best feeling. We normally love Disney Springs and would head there several times a week or previous trips. But at that exact moment in time, it just didn't feel worth it to go again. Even if I did spy a few cool things in World Of Disney.
Universal
Alternatively, I felt so safe and comfortable at Universal Orlando. We were obviously careful to wear our masks in the queues/on rides and to use hand bac after every ride. But it was such a great day and even though it was busy, we didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest.
We had Express passes, like on our last trip. And honestly, they really are key to having the very best day possible at Universal. We managed to do all of our favourite rides and just enjoy the day. Instead of stressing about lines/wait times or not doing everything that we wanted to.
As always, we had an incredible time at Universal. And it was by far my favourite day in Orlando by quite some margin.
Shopping
And last but not least, you will have seen a few of the bits that I picked up in my What I Bought In The US blog post. But we paid a visit to all of our favourite shopping destinations in Orlando. The International Drive Outlets, Mall at Millenia and The Florida Mall. And I even discovered a new favourite; Books A Million. However, I don't know if it's because I've changed my mindset when it comes to shopping and spending. Or if nothing really caught my eye. But I didn't really go too crazy when it came to shopping on this trip at all. I was really happy with everything that I managed to get but I didn't buy just for the sake of it, like on previous trips.
So there's what I got up to in Miami and Orlando, Florida this year.
I feel like (and I never thought that I would say this), I'm probably done with visiting Orlando. At least for a good few years now. Visiting Rome and thinking about exploring more of Europe next has definitely swayed my travel wanderlust in another direction. But I do have plans to hopefully do a weeklong solo trip to NYC next summer, if all goes well.
Have you ever visited or wanted to visit Miami and Orlando, Florida? If so, what did you think of it? And where's next on your list of places to travel to?
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