Winter Break 2023. Day 1. Southern Migration.
Today, like many Jews from the Tri-State area, we are flying south for winter… break.
We woke up around 7:00. We scheduled our Ubers for 8:00am and we were actually out the door by 8:07. I would say that is pretty successful. We met my parents at the Mosaic check in, which was pretty crowded, but checked in easily with all 9 suitcases (for 7 people). They didn’t weigh any of them either and my dad thinks that’s because he gave the porter a $20 before they started check-in and when the woman said it was time to weigh the bags the porter said “these are fine.”
By the time we got to the gate they were already up to boarding Group D, which made no sense because they said boarding started at 9:20 and it wasn’t even 9:17. Tzvi wasn’t happy as he wanted to be the first on the plane with the Mosaic passengers, and he actually had to wait in a line for 2 minutes. All was well though because we got to our seats (Row 2) and there was more than enough overhead compartment space for Tzvi’s small backpack.
Shockingly, the flight wasn’t too bad. We pushed back on time and even took off quickly. The flight was a little over 2.5 hours. The girls survived on iPads and lots of snacks, and I even managed to get through Oceans 8, which is about 1.5 hours. And to top it all off, not one bag of luggage was lost.
We filed into two Ubers and made our way to the Lowes Miami Beach Hotel. As we pulled up we saw the bright red and black sign that make our hearts warm and our tummies hungry: Aroma (which is right outside our hotel).
Check-in took a while - we had three rooms under our name, but only two connected. Tzvi’s mom arrived yesterday and was given one of the connecting rooms, which meant she had to switch rooms today. That was annoying. Then it took hours for housekeeping to come and actually change the sheets. Could have been worse though.
My parent‘s room wasn’t ready yet, so we all headed to Aroma for a very late lunch/snack and iced Aromas. Solid, except they wouldn’t make me a tuna sandwich, even though it was on their menu and they actually had tuna. Tzvi asked if he could just get bread and a side of tuna but they said they couldn’t do that. They said they had a tuna croissant sandwich, but we didn’t want that, so Tzvi tried to order the tuna croissant with no croissant and a side of toast. The woman was like, “that’s the same thing.” These weren’t Israelis, but it sure felt like home. We ended up ordering a tuna salad, which had tuna, hard-boiled egg, roasted eggplant, and a bunch of other things. We asked for the eggplant on the side, but somehow ended up with the eggs and tomatoes on the side (eggs, and tomatoes are plants?). Oh well. At least it came with bread and I was able to make my own tuna sandwich. All’s well that ends well.
We showered and changed for dinner, and then headed to the lobby to pick up our car from the valet. We had rented a Tesla Model Y from Turo (the same app we used in LA last August – it’s like Airbnb for cars) for about 36 hours, just enough to drive around Thursday and Friday. After getting the car, we began our very long drive to Fuego. I knew it would be long, but this time it took about an hour and 15 minutes. My parents were running late, shockingly, because they didn’t get their room until 4:40. They didn’t shower or change, so I’m not sure why they didn’t leave their room until 5:25. We had a 6:00 pm reservation, but hey, those are just suggestions right?
Dinner was delicious. Tzvi and I got cocktails, and then we all shared pastrami egg rolls, dirty nachos (nachos with pulled brisket, chili, salsa and guac) and a lamb flatbread. For the main we got the Argentinian styler Parrillada platter for 2, but it really fed the whole table. It had flanken rib, grilled steak, chicken and beef skewers, a huge lamb chop and sausage and came with guac and salsa and some sides. We also got sticky ribs, and a burger with beef bacon, which we cut up into a bunch of pieces and was actually really tasty.
As we ate, we saw parade after parade of sparkling birthday platters going by while loud music blasted and waiters clapped and danced around. Loyal readers will recall that when we visited last year we told them it was Hallie’s birthday, and then as the waiters said happy birthday to her she said, “It’s not my birthday.” This year we prepped her and made sure that didn’t happen again. She was pretty excited when they brought the dessert.
At the end of dinner they came around and took a photo of us. We waited ten minutes and then of course we bought the photo.
After dinner we walked next door to the Winn Dixie to do some shopping. It isn’t a Florida vacation unless you’ve gone to a supermarket. We picked up some water (because the hotel charges $6 a bottle), cheerios, snacks and a few other things. The drive home only took about 35 minutes, and we got to hear Hallie sing her siddur play again, which was fun for everyone.
Bedtime took a while, and these kids are exhausted. I also think Hallie has a cold and I just heard a cough, because why should everything go smoothly.
Good day.