Wish You Were Here: Florida

August 26th 2018

I am officially back and feeling refreshed from a nice week of vacation, so I decided to share a little bit about my travels.

I go to Florida almost yearly and I consider the trip to be a rather relaxed one. My family and I flew out of our favorite local airport. The reason I deem it to be my “favorite” is because there aren’t many gates and the security lines are quick and relaxed.

The flight was just a couple of hours which I spent enjoying a podcast on my phone and not much else. I find that podcasts are a great way to pass the time and the flight felt like it ended super quick after just 1 and a half podcasts.

When we arrived in Florida, I was greeted by my grandpa whom I haven’t seen for a little over a year. He turned 84 on the day we arrived and he still looks great!

I have always considered Florida, specifically Deerfield Beach, to be a second home to me. I have spent many summers sitting out on the screened-in patio of my grandparents’ 7th floor condo. It is a place that, no matter how far removed I am, is always so familiar to return to.

After spending some time getting reacquainted with my usual bedroom in the condo, we went out for a trip to Publix (my favorite supermarket) then got changed out of airport clothes into nicer clothes for a special birthday dinner for my grandpa.

We went to an Italian restaurant called Luigi’s and I got a really great shrimp dish with broccoli rabe. Then we had some cake and chatted about the new happenings in our family.

The next day, we took a quick trip to a local diner where I enjoyed a really delicious breakfast. I was also super thrilled that the diner had paper straws instead of single use plastic!

After the diner, we headed over to my aunt’s new home to take a look at some of the new work being done. Then we stopped by her neighbor’s house, where she is staying during the renovations, and I got to meet a really cute dog named Harley!

Then, we left to return to the condo to get changed and go walk down by the beach. My family and I aren’t huge daytime beach goers, but we always like to try to walk down and see the ocean. Plus a new little park was built right by my grandpa’s condo, so we went to check it out.

We ended the night by going to Duffy’s which is sort of a standard sports bar style place we always go to when we are in Florida. I got a really good poké bowl.

The next day, we went to visit one of my dad’s close friends and former childhood neighbor. They haven’t seen each other in over a decade so it was super nice to see them reconnect. And his sons were pretty nice too!  I didn’t take too many pictures that day because I preferred to be present.

The next 4 days were spent in Disney which I am doing 4 separate blog posts about, coming over the course of the next month!

The remainder of the trip was pretty relaxed and filled with prepping for our flight home.

Overall, I am very happy with my vacation and I am back and ready to create even better content~