Our Honeymoon! (Miami)

Saturday:

Going to bed on Friday night was such a sad feeling. We packed our luggage and knew that when we woke up the next day, we'd have to deal with getting off the ship for good. No more room service. No more open bar. And no more towels made into fun animals. Here are some good pics I got throughout the week...

(I still can't figure out what this is?? )

Anywho, we booked a "Tour of Miami" excursion for Saturday morning because our flight wasn't until late that night. There was a coach bus waiting for everyone who bought the "Tour of Miami" excursion and conveniently, we were the first allowed to get off the ship. Going through customs, we knew we were back in the States. For the past week, we were used to Caribbean locals saying "Ya Mon!" and being care free and unbelievably polite. And now, at customs, we were back to getting the rude attitudes of Americans. Bags here. Have your passports ready. Single file line. (sigh) Welcome home, I guess..............

(On the bus)

Our tour guide was very good. He was funny and very informational. We toured the art deco district and South beach. We learned a lot of fun things and had a great time.

Miami from the bus



A cool looking tree that interestingly enough had roots growing from the top.

After driving around the Art Deco district, our tour guide let us walk around South Beach for a couple hours. The first thing Matt and I wanted to see was (obviously) South Beach. The Oh so Popular South Beach. To be honest.... I was sort of unimpressed.

Don't get me wrong. It was beautiful. But only two days ago, I was there.

(Let me go baccckk!)

Because it was morning (and Matt and I hadn't eaten yet), our first stop was a little diner called Johnny Rockets, which was right off of Ocean Drive. THANK GOD they served Mimosas and Bloody Mary's because it was our last day that it would be socially acceptable to drink at 9 in the morning. Not only did they sell liquor, they had a $3.99 breakfast!

BEST.PLACE.EVER

Sorry about my excessive amount of breakfast pictures, but if you know me at all, you also know that breakfast is my FAVORITE meal. Again, BEST.PLACE.EVER! 3.99!!!!

Another awesome thing about Johnny Rockets is that right upstairs from the diner is the spot where they recorded the "chainsaw" scene from Scarface. (I didn't know what that meant until I you tubed it and I don't recommend doing the same unless you're into that sort of thing).

Matt was excited though!

After breakfast, we walked up and down Ocean Ave and saw the sights.

Gianni Versace's mansion off Ocean Ave.

The old 5th Street gym where Muhammad Ali trained

An of course "Dash" -- The Kardashian's store off Washington Ave.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I even went in here. I don't watch the show and quite honestly, I can't even tell you a handful of facts about them. But what the hell, we were in the area, right? Matt rolled his eyes and thought it was ridiculous that there was a security guard at the door and a line to get in.

PS: I could only afford a key chain in that store and I wasn't about to spend $20 on a key chain that said "Dash" on it.

P.S.S. I was hoping I would see Kanye in there. I wasn't so lucky.

After walking around Dash, we decided to go into a souvenir shop where we could actually afford things, and Matt walked out with a super sweet Cowboy hat.

His poor scalp was still burnt from Turks and Caicos.

After walking around South Beach for a few hours, we got back on the tour bus to go to the airport. Poor planning on my part, we had to wait SIX HOURS for our flight. So we ate at Fridays and drank a few Margaritas. Here, Matt was able to look back on his week trial of having a wife and decide if it was something he really wanted.

KIDDING.

Saturday Night:

Our flight back home was horrible. Seriously, awful.

It was one of those flights that makes you consider road tripping for the rest of your life. What made it so bad, you ask?

1. We boarded the plane about 10 minutes after we were supposed to. So for 10 minutes, Matt and I thought, "Please don't delay this flight. I've waited at the airport for six hours already."

2. Once we boarded our flight, the attendant came on the mic and said, "Don't worry about that noise. We are using the auxiliary power unit to push us back onto the runway."

UM, WHY DOESN'T THE PLANE HAVE POWER?!

3. After the loud noise turned off, the power shut down in the airplane THREE times. I mean, lights, air conditioning, fans, TVs, everything (It was pitch dark and HOT) Then, it would power back on and the attendants would act like everything was hunky dory.

4. When they tried to play the Safety video on the TV screens, the TVs weren't working, so the attendant went onto the mic and said, "Sorry folks, we're having some technical difficulties.

.

YOU CAN'T WORK A TV AND YOU EXPECT ME TO TO TRUST YOU WHILE FLYING 30,000 FEET IN THE AIR?!?!?!

5. There was a screaming baby behind us.

6. There was a puking woman in front of us.

7. It got to the point where I was about to take my chances in getting arrested to stand up and scream, "GET ME OFF THIS FUCKING PLANE! THIS ISN'T SAFE!"

8. Once we were in the air and I calmed down a bit, we had turbulence throughout the entire 3 hour flight.

9. I think I broke Matt's hand from squeezing it so hard.

Because we got into Chicago so late, we planned ahead and made reservations at a hotel. My parents were going to pick us up on Sunday morning and I knew we'd be tired. Because we rarely travelled, we didn't know what hotels were good/bad around O'hare and how close/far each one was to the airport. So back in November, while booking on Orbitz, we decided to go with the middle priced hotel that had an airport shuttle -- The Aloft Chicago O'hare Hotel by the W.

WORST.HOTEL.EVER

First thing, we got picked up in a rusty van that looked like it could be used for child abducting.

Secondly, it was the most ghetto hotel in all of O'hare (I think). After a day of walking around Miami and sitting at an airport, I didn't even want to shower there because it was so disgusting. Matt and I laughed it off and quickly fell asleep.

Some may look at these "set backs" and think it was a bad vacation. But we looked at it as - This will be a great memory someday.

So, in review, our honeymoon was amazing. It was perfect. And I couldn't have asked for a better week with my amazing husband. In the six hours we sat at Miami International Airport, we looked at vacation packages for this coming year. Like I said, we will never go another four years without vacationing again.

I am going to end this post with a song that I sang to Matt all day in Miami. An oldie, but a goody. Sort of like my husband. HA!