Showing posts with label Miami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miami. Show all posts

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Our Day in Miami

We slept in till early afternoon, that's what happens when you stay up all night. Sarah made countless calls trying to figure out the status of her luggage and got no were. Poor girl held it together much better than I would have. I finally was able to find some info on line showing that it had came in last night, ON THE SAME FLIGHT AT Brandy. Funny story, when B arrived Sarah asked her if she brought her bag with her as a joke. Little did we know she did. We finally finished getting ready and headed to the airport to get it. Which still wasn't a easy task, the Miami airport is ridiculous. No communication or organization at all. Sarah had to go into the rooms to look for her bag herself and all along it was sitting there at the American counter and they NEVER called her or the number on the tag to let her know it was there. Let's just say that won't be the last time Sarah deals with American. She was beyond frustrated as I would have been. All was well in the world though because we had her bag. S & B have a friend from High School that lives in Miami right now going to school. We met up with her last year when we came in for the cruise and were able to do the same again this year. We went to a local deli called The Daily for lunch. It was really good, I'd def. go back again. After lunch we went to see Sarah's mom and her 3 aunts who were also in Miami going on the cruise with us. They needed to go to the store for a few things and didn't have a car so we offered to take them. You know since we had a SUV now we could fit everyone. That did mean Sarah and Brandy had to ride in the very back. Thankfully they are super close and didn't mind being squeezed together. 
7 people in a 5 person passenger car, we can make anything work. Besides it wasn't the first trunk Sarah has been in while we've been together and I'm sure it won't be the last. 
After we dropped them back off we headed to Target for a few things then back to the hotel to wait on Nancy to get there. Her flight was delayed and delayed. How in the world I was the only one that didn't have any flight issues getting there was beyond me but I wasn't complaining at all. We picked up Nanc from the airport finally and headed to downtown Miami to meet up with J (Sarah & Brandy's HS friend). We were all in need of some yummy drinks and something to munch on after the crazy two days we'd had. We went to a place called Brother Jimmy's. It reminded me of something that should be in South Carolina. Everything about it reminded me of the South from the food to the names of the drinks. We sipped on some fruity drinks, caught up with everyone and did a bit of people watching. Lets just say the people in Miami go ALL out when it comes to going out on the town in the evenings. They dress like they are going to a fashion show, They dress like they seriously just walked out of a magazine. It was crazy, I'd never seen anything like it. 
 After Brother Jimmy's we tried to check out a few more places for one more drink but at that point everyone was charging a cover to get in and we weren't interested just for one drink. We said our goodbyes to J and headed back to hotel. 
Sarah had a little something set up and planned for us girls when we got back. She's seriously the best and thinks of the most creative gift ideas ever!!! Personalized Cruise Cups!!!! 
She also took our pictures from last years County Cruise and turned them into a DVD. So while we sipped on our Malibu and Pineapple we reminisced over last years trip and talked about how excited we were for this years cruise.
 Less than 24 hours till we were on board with our boots on. 
Let the good times roll and the memories continue. 

Friday, January 10, 2014

Getting to Miami….Disaster!!!

I had a half day Friday at work and headed to the Charlotte, NC airport from there to meet up with the girls. Only to quickly find out that Sarah's flight was delayed causing her to miss both her connections and wouldn't make it to Charlotte in time for our 5:40 flight out. No big deal she'd make it to Miami the same time as Brandy and I just on a different flight. After I took a few things out of my suite case seeings it was over weight by 2 lbs and the stupid gate agent refused to let it slide I finally made my way to my gate. Only I would have to carry my Cowboy boots through the airport. I was excited to meet Brandy. She and Sarah have known each other since high school and she was joining us on the Cruise this year. Whelp a short phone call later from Sarah and Brandy's flight was canceled and she wouldn't be making it in to Miami till around 10pm two hours after we were getting there. Back up about a month ago, Sarah and I spent a hour on the phone booking our flight and had it all planned out that the 3 of us would meet in Charlotte as a surprise to B and fly to Miami together. Well looks like I was going to be the only one going with our original plan.
A couple hours later S and I both arrived in Miami, at complete opposite ends of the airport. We told each other we'd get out bags and meet in the middle. Mine came and I headed Sarah's way, seriously from baggage claim 1 to 24. Talk about a LONG walk. Sarah had to take 3 different airlines to get to Miami, because of delays and canceled flights her bag was no were to be found. We checked with each airline we though might be of help and got no were. Although after making her claim with American they did give her a sweet little over night kit. It was nearly 10pm at this point so there was no point in us leaving and coming back for B. We went down and waited for her at the baggage claim only to find out her flight was delayed again. Talk about a night and little did we know it was just getting started. Finally she was here, her bag made it and we clicked right away. I was semi nervous about meeting someone new. I'm the quiet shy one out of the group and well lets just say you would have though we'd known each other for years.
We had to lug our stuff for what seemed like forever all the way through the Miami airport to get to the rental car company area. We were able to check in for the car with out any issue and even got a free upgrade just by me simply asking and making conversation with the guy. Hey doesn't hurt to ask right!?!? We decided we'd head to the hotel get checked in and then figure out what we were gonna do for dinner. It was so late but we were still hungry. We'd planned to stay at the same hotel that we did last year because it was really nice, close to the airport and stores. Only Nancy gave Sarah the wrong information and it was a complete disaster.
(back up) Last year before we went on the Cruise Nanc and Sarah were at the beach and Nancy booked a hotel not reading the reviews. Afterwards Sarah read the reviews and lets just say she quickly x'ed that hotel and booked a new one.
When it came time to book the hotel for this year we asked Nanc if she remember the name of the hotel or had the information from it still. Well she did, from the original hotel she booked that was. Non of us caught it though. After all this was 15 months later. So Sarah, Brandy and I pulled up to this hotel that was right off the highway and immediately we KNEW it was NOT the hotel we stayed at last time. Just from the way we entered the parking lot. Brandy questioned us and asked if we were sure it wasn't were we stayed. Yes we were 110% positive it wasn't the hotel we stayed at last time. We pulled towards the front and feared for our life, seriously. I can't even begin to describe the type of people we saw walking in and out of the hotel. I pulled over into a parking spot so we could try and figure out what we were gonna do. After about 10 minutes of going back and forth we decided to brave it up and go in. We proceeded to check in and when he asked if we still were staying for 2 night I quickly told him NOPE, we only needed one night. We had no clue what we were gonna do for the 2nd night yet up we'd figure that out later.
Still slightly fearing for our life and trying not to touch anything we made our way up to our room. OMG, talk about a scene out of a horror movie. The room had a horrifying stench, the sheets had a yellow tent, the lamp shades were falling apart, the AC controls were broken and there was rust in the bathroom. I didn't even want to set my stuff down, let alone go to the bathroom and Brandy and I both bad to pee. YIKES!!!! This was seriously not happening. We called Nancy who wasn't flying into Miami till the next evening, to tell her what was going on and that she was never going to live it down. No joke we got some good laughs out of it but we were determined we were NOT staying here. No way I was getting in one of those beds, Hell I didn't even want to sit on it. We both started calling around trying to find another hotel for then night. We figured we cut our loses to save our selves. Brandy and I went down stairs and checked out telling the front desk guy that something had come up and we wouldn't be able to stay. We were in the room for not even 30 minutes, it was just awful.
Sarah was able to get us a new reservation for both nights at a different hotel closer to the airport. At this point we were starving and needed food then. We stopped at the first place we saw that was open at 1am in the morning. Wendy's. There's a reason my husband doesn't eat here.
After deciding what we wanted I ordered, for us only to be told they didn't have anything we wanted. So we changed our order, again to be told they didn't have anything we wanted. So I asked what do you have. "Chicken Nuggets" Ok, fine we will have 3 orders of chicken nuggets as the meals, all the same. But for the drinks I want Sweet Tea for two and Coke for anther. You do have sweet tea right, "Yes we do". So they aren't all the same if the drinks are different. Oh dear lord shoot me now seriously. I was about to go off on this guy but I kept my cool. We get to the window and he informs me that they do not have enough nuggets to make 3 full meals. AHHHHH but they had enough of the spicy ones to make up the difference. Ok fine that will work we will take it, just give us our food.  A minute or so later he comes back to the window and say's he has more bad news after he's already given me one Sweet Tea which I gave to Sarah. They were now out of sweet tea, are you FREAKING KIDDING me. How are you suppose to stay open till 2pm but you have no food or drinks to serve. "Do you have lemonade" ?? Yes we do, ok fine I'll take a Lemonade. Finally we were on our way to the hotel when Sarah took a big drink of her, what was suppose to be Sweet Tea and it was most certainly NOT. I DIED!!!!! I couldn't take it any more, the night was beyond crazy and at this point I'm pretty sure we were laughing so hard we were crying. Stuck in traffic on the highway we saw a group of girls with next to nothing on in hand-cuffs. We'd seen some pretty crazy things in Miami and we hadn't even been there for 24hrs.
We got to our new hotel checked in and went to our room. It was so nice, had a full kitchen, a living room, 2 queen beds, plenty of room for all of us to spread out and be comfy. We sat down to eat and well lets just say we completely wasted our money on crappy Wendy's food. Such a disappointment.
We laid in bed till early in the morning talking and catching up. It was definitely one of the best first nights we'd had together. One we will never forget all while there was a new person (to me) in the mix.
The first of many nights to follow!!!!!