Find your people. Take a Trip.

As colleagues, we’ve taken a few trips together (a number of them to Florida, in fact). Travel with this crew often involved good times, great eats and laughs you can’t get anywhere else. But also work. A lot of early mornings, late nights, and politics. Ugh, the politics.

So when we all became Ladies of Leisure, we asked ourselves ‘what if we took a trip with all the fun, and none of the work?’ “Fuck, Yes!“ was the only reasonable answer.

Welcome to Miami 🌴

Miami wasn’t our first choice destination. We considered Nashville (iffy weather), Havana (shockingly $$ flights), Mexico City (dietary complications), San Juan (connecting flights required), and even Dublin (we were close on this one!), but then out of nowhere, Miami just worked. It was direct, sunny and seemed to have the right mix of tacos, art and culture that we were looking for. (And if we only referred to it as Miami, we could pretend we weren’t in Florida. 😳)

We might not have been sure about it from the jump, but the perfect weather and palm trees felt instantly like we’d landed in the right place. Good times ahead!

25,000 steps later…

We’d had an early first night (in spite of finding out that our taco spot was a late night club… that started too late for these old ladies), so we set out to see some things in our first full day.

First up, we toured the peninsula (??) that is South Beach, and all its Art Deco sights. Along the beach, down Collins and then back up to our hotel.

Art Deco even makes this Walgreens look good!

We had contemplated a walking tour of the area, but immediately dismissed the idea when we saw how many people were in the group. Has there ever been a more aligned group of travelers?!

Our travel bond got even stronger when we refused to line up for the official ‘Miami Beach selfie spot’. Letitia’s selfie skills are just as strong from the side. This picture not only captures a moment, it tells a story: These women are NO ONE’S fools.

Part 2 of our day involved a pilgrimage to Little Havana. (Who knew how far this area was?! Was the real Havana that much farther?) By the time we got there, Hanger was setting in, and sandwiches were needed. (It was an urgent situation, but not so urgent that we couldn’t stop for some snaps along the way.)

Post-Cuban sandwich time, we were accosted by too many coffee choices and roamed the area. Such a cool enclave of Cuban culture, cool street art, and old men playing dominos (so much like mahjong!).

It wasn’t until we stopped for hydration at CVS that we realized how much we’d walked, and how much we didn’t want to anymore. It was time to head back and settle into a pitcher of Mojitos.

That night, we stayed close to the hotel and enjoyed a great dinner at Pane e Vino. I mean, it would have been a great dinner with this crew anywhere, but the pasta was pretty great too. (And did we mention the salad! These middle-aged ladies could not have been more excited for greens).

The excitement only built when the friendly waiter plied us with Limoncello. Even without her party earrings in, we got a glimpse of the Fara of yore.

The limoncello had quite an effect on Letitia, too!

Let’s get cultured (yes, even in Florida).

After a whole lot of walking on Day 1, we set our sights on a smaller geography for Day 2, and made our way to the Miami Arts District. This area lived up to its name and made for a great few hours.

Letitia had a nap, Sabrina added to her perfectly curated souvenir collection, Fara averted her eyes, and we all had a little moment for the joy of simply being out with awesome women in the world.

We wandered into some of the nearby shops and sparked joy (along with a few fun photos). And like any Canadians in America, we made our way to Target to browse a lot, and buy a little. We were, after all, saving ourselves for Trader Joe’s.

How was it already 2pm? Our legs were still aching from too much walking the day before, and we needed lunch. Stat. We decided to splurge on an Uber to take us the 6 minute drive to Sweetgreen, and it was pure joy.

Lunch had also landed us in the second area we were keen to explore: Wynwood Walls. I’m always down for some street art, and here, we got to see some amazing works – and leave our own mark as well.

Over lunch we’d remarked that we still had 3 hours to ‘kill’ before our evening plans, and somehow that time had passed in an instant! We made a record run to Trader Joe’s, and then settled in at La Tropical for a drink with our old colleague, Doug Fry (who also, is no longer in the fry business).

The symmetry in this group photo is both accidental and impressive!

After some fun and therapeutic reminiscing, we had just enough room left for some great Miami tacos and made our way to Coyo Taco where we joined the line (a good sign!).

Their tacos were delicious and the beats pumping out of the speakers were just as appealing. (Not sure what makes tacos and hip hop the perfect pair, but they are. Fact). As we chair-grooved at our picnic table, we noticed that the line had changed and people were now showing ID to get in. There was a speakeasy at the back, and the music was coming from a club!! We contemplated joining the party, but figured a bunch of middle aged ladies with their trader Joe’s bags were not the desired audience. Instead, we sat outside enjoying the vibes, and planned our upcoming ‘Evening Club’ (working title!) a let-loose night out (from 8-12 – or 7-11?) for our generation. Just one of a million ideas we walked away with this trip from.

We capped the night off with another pitcher of Mojitos, and then called it a night after realizing we were being watched at the bar. (‘Nuff said).

A small nod to the notable twinning on this trip. 👖

3 for 3 (great days in the sun!)

The walking damage we’d done on Day 1 was still a major topic of conversation. (Had we packed blister bandaids? Did you know you could put Voltarin on your feet? How does my body feel so old?), so we decided to sightsee from the water and take a break.

The harbour cruise took us by some very fancy houses, and gave us a chance to appreciate the city from a different angle. it was a great complement to so much of the rest of what we’d seen. We had covered a lot of ground, and really done Miami right!

But wait, there was still more to see!

For our last meal we stopped at the Stiltsville Fish Market, and it did not disappoint. These portions were AMERICAN and also pretty darn tasty. And they had a fancy lunch menu – perfect for Ladies of Leisure just like us!

In spite of our attempts to take it easy, we still managed to walk way too many steps on our way back to the hotel, and through the Sunset Harbor area. Was there any part of Miami we hadn’t seen yet? Probably not. We’d done this city right and now it was time to go home.

We packed up all our snacks, stuffed all the clean clothes we’d overpacked and never worn back in our bags, and headed for the airport.