North Miami Beach

On this leg of my Solo Florida trip I spent 3 nights in North Miami Beach.

I want to start by saying that when I booked/planned this trip I had absolutely no idea that Miami and Miami Beach were two separate places. I told friends who had been to Miami, even one who has lived in Miami that I was planning this trip. I asked for their thoughts and what I should see. Not one of those people told me this very important fact… I looked on a map while booking but still did not understand that these are separate places as in separate towns! I saw Miami Beach on the map and thought it was just where the beach was, meaning that people stayed in Miami and drove to the beach to go to the beach.

Luckily, without having any idea what I was doing, I booked a studio condo basically ON the beach in North Miami through airbnb.com. Again, I looked at the map, I looked at the pics, I read the reviews and wanted to be on the beach. It was out my front door and a few paces across the street from me. In other words = PERFECT!

I arrived quite late on Day 1, always plan for 2 days of travel to bookend your trips. For me these 2 days are a wash. I don’t usually sleep well the night before traveling, especially if I’m going to the East Coast from the West Coast since I choose early morning flights so when I arrived I was dead tired and slept for hours.

My first day there was sunny and warm so I spent it on the beach, outside my front door. Christian who rents the condo provides beach chairs, beach umbrellas, beach towels and all sorts of other beach accouterments some that I did not use but could have used, thus it was much appreciated. Early in the morning, and by early I mean 8am to 10am the beach is quiet and close to being desolate. In my opinion, this is the best time to go. The ocean water was warm though according to some locals I met later that night “it’s too cold for us to swim or go to the beach in the winter, this is our down jacket and scarf weather”. Please note that today it’s 81 degrees (Fahrenheit) and that day it was in the high 70’s.

I walked to a breakfast place I found on yelp at 8am when I had to move my rental car from a spot in front of the condo that starts charging at 8am to a spot two blocks away that’s always free. I found the only open place within walking distance (will insert name and link once I have proper internet connection again), and ordered an omelet. It cost $7.00, with a cup of coffee. In Marin County where I live an omelet costs $15 to $20 and is half the size this one was though I will admit ours tastes better. This one wasn’t so good but the proximity and ease, plus the delicious coffee made the short trek worth it J