After operating 24 flights over the past two weeks, I finally have a couple weeks off to relax. Our annual fall trip took many forms. At one point China was mentioned. There was a fair amount of research done into going into the Amazon. And not to be overlooked, the Backstreet Boys were performing in Kazakhstan. Yet, we are doing none of that — electing to do a sort of tour of the Caribbean during its lowest season.
Those who have been studious readers of this blog will note that I tend to bash on this region of the world for catering to basic and amateur travelers. Yet, it seemed worth giving it another shot since it tends to be rather steamy and stormy in those parts this time of year — deterring the clientele that would only arrive around the winter holidays and spring break. Nicole wanted to see Virgin Gorda off of Tortola for its Seychelle-esque beaches with boulders. I tacked on St. Barths so we can watch airplanes do wild approaches and landings. And there may be another addition since we are closely monitoring storms in the Atlantic.
The British Virgin Islands (where Tortola and Virgin Gorda find themselves) may get quite a soaking over the next few days, but if we venture to regions farther south like Bonaire, we can dodge the incoming storm and head back north after it passes. We haven’t committed one way or the other yet. We are trying to make decisions based on the woke-forecasting of the NOAA, an agency gutted by recent government cuts. (Thanks, Elon). All is subject to change. That is one advantage of flying standby — we can change our destination at a moment’s notice.
Anyway, we had no issue getting seats on the flight to Miami. The key was to not fly American Airlines between two of its hubs and we took Delta instead. We were issued seats in an exit row in Comfort+ before we even left our house, though we do tend to leave for the airport a bit later than the average traveler. Four and a half hours later, we were dodging storms on our way into Miami — still a much better flight result than the previous time we did this route and ended up diverting to Phoenix.
We caught a Lyft to mid Miami Beach and ended up walking for a bit on the boardwalk before having a mid dinner. We ate at a place called the Tavern, which was mediocre at best. I ordered a Cubano which was not prepared in the traditional way and had cheddar cheese for some reason and was a bit of a letdown. The two worst Cubanos I’ve ever eaten have been in Miami, which seems wrong. I had a much better Cubano last week down the street from our house in Playa del Rey. Perhaps it’s just as well. We had about $45 to $90 credit from Hilton to use on their own food (it was explained in the most confusing way to us so we still aren’t sure how much we actually have), but they had a very limited menu so we simply had a small dessert and a coconut Old Fashioned that somehow came out of a tap.
After dinner, we decided to head on down to South Beach. I managed to convince Nicole to get a Citi Bike with me to make the 3 mile journey down the coast. The air was pleasant and not too oppressive. The boardwalk was decently lit and despite the bikes being surprisingly firm and uncomfortable, we arrived in South Beach in about 10 minutes. We walked around Ocean Drive for a bit to check out the various art deco buildings lit up for the evening.
We had deposited our Citi Bikes at another station, and decided to just take an Uber back to our hotel. Tomorrow I think we will go to Tortola after all. The NOAA’s latest update indicates a possible northerly track for the latest disturbance in the Atlantic. We definitely expect some rain, but we think it’s a bit less stressful to just get there first rather than deal with an extra three flights that would be required to do it after Bonaire. Hopefully it all works out.
passports & pepto bismol 