Florida – a new destination and a new team member
Sweden, like any other country, has its positive and negative sides. One of the most positive things is the generous parental leave. Which entitles parents a total of 480 days of paid leave when a child is born or adopted.
So when the family of two suddenly became a family of three we decided to book a January trip away from the dark and freezing country in the north and headed to the southeast part of the United States of America.
More precisely, to the state of Florida.
The Sunshine State
Florida is one of the most popular tourist spots in the U.S. with more than 110 million visiting tourists last year (2016).
It is home of the immensely popular Walt Disney World and Kennedy Space Center. But of course it has a lot, lot more than that to offer.
World class golf, diving, national parks, nightlife and shoppin´ til you droppin´. The list just goes on and on and on.
With an average of over 230 sunny days per year there is a good reason why Florida is also called the Sunshine State.
Fort Lauderdale
Floridas coastline is packed with great beaches, as you have the Atlantic ocean on one side of the state and the Mexican Gulf on the other.
We decided to start our journey in Fort Lauderdale, just north of Miami.
Fort Lauderdale is mainly known for its famous beaches and boating canals.
But the city also has a lot to offer if you are into arts, culture and other events.
As we are used to backpacking and therefor mainly travel with busses, trains and an occasional tuk-tuk we first thought about going on our own, without having to rent a car.
This thought though was very brief as we soon realized that people in the United States do not really walk anywhere. They ALWAYS take the car.
Great surprise
So with two big backpacks, some hand luggage and a baby car seat (new to us on this trip) we stepped out into the arrivals hall and headed for the rental car service desks.
I have rented a lot of cars in my life but this was real effectiveness, and superb when being tired and travelling with an infant.
- No queues, thank you very much.
- The staff just wanted to see the copy of the payment and then we were shown the way into the garage where another staff member gave us new directions.
- New staff member – “Just pick whatever car you want on the “X”-section.
- A happy father was more excited to choose a car than the rest of the family but this is really a system that more rental car firms should practice. And next time we visit I will go for the cab or monster truck class when choosing a car, then it will be Christmas all over again.
- After deciding which car we wanted, daddy had to be happy enough with a medium big Hyundai SUV, we just stowed all the baggage into the car, passed the gate where a third staff member lady “blipped” the barcode in the windshield and of we went, easy peasy japaneasy.
We might have been just lucky, because this was not the kind of service we had experienced before. Either way, thumbs up to the rental car company this time!
Freezing weather
We stayed within a short walking distance of the Fort Lauderdale Beach.
It was January. But the weather was freezing as the winds from winter storms in the north had brought the cold all the way down to Florida.
Luckily the normal heat returned a couple of days later and we had some really nice days on the beach during the rest of the week.
Food food food
We love eating, and experiencing new kinds of food is half the fun while being on the road.
As expected, Florida offered some great cuisine.
Many restaurants served internationally influenced dishes, like burritos, pasta and sushi. Even so, the local cuisine was equally delicious.
We had fresh Florida shrimps, awesome American barbeques and deserts and even tried gator one night.
The alligator tasted like chicken. I have no idea why that is, but many strange animals that I have eaten tastes like chicken. Guinea pig is one of them…
Cruise ship hub
Fort Lauderdale is a mayor hub for cruise ships and for a while we considered taking a 4-5 day Bermuda/Caribbean cruise but finally decided that it was not for us this time.
We are not really the charter type of people and it feels like a cruise ship will be too much “get on the bus-get off the bus-get on the bus”-feeling.
Perhaps we will reconsider someday. Some people we have met say it is almost the perfect way of travelling with a family. Everything you need is close and there seem to be something for everyone´s needs. Some ships even have their own Broadway musicals, that says it all…
Gianormous shopping malls
When we were not on the beach we usually took our car for some sightseeing around town.
One day we headed out to Sawgrass Mills, a gigantic outlet shopping center with more than 350 different shops.
It is situated in the Sunrise area that is a part of west Fort Lauderdale. To get there you have to take the rather busy I 595 highway. The 30 km drive from the beach takes about 30 minutes.
So if you ever get tired of the sun and want to give your credit card some fresh air. Well, then you have come to the right place!
Just make sure that you have plenty of time as Sawgrass is huge. It will probably take a whole day, at least, to walk around the whole complex.
American small talk
Americans in general are way more extrovert and talkative than people from Scandinavia.
When it comes to the Scandinavian openness I would guess that the Dannish are most open. Then followed by the Norwegians, and Swedes and Finns coming in last.
The Finns are not that shy really. They just choose to be a bit quiet. Whilst Swedes are more concerned and over-all skeptical in general.
If you would adopt the very open mentality that the Americans have in Sweden peoples first reaction would probably be that you are a bit coocoo and wonder if they would have to call the police.
Alligator Alley
The Interstate 75 (I-75) from Fort Lauderdale to Naples goes by the name of Alligator Alley as it crosses right through the Everglades from east to west.
We chose to drive the same route as we were going to Fort Myers where we were staying a couple of days.
The I-75 was a nice road to drive as it was in good condition and had very little traffic compared to the super busy highways around For Lauderdale.
Fort Myers
In Fort Myers we found a Super cozy B&B just a short stroll from the Fort Myers Beach and its famous fishing pier.
Clean rooms and comfortable beds, and a little sign with our names on the door, welcomed us.
The only little downside might have been the breakfast that could have been a bit bigger, as we are used to giant Swedish full breakfasts.
But, it is always in the eye of the beholder. Some German guests seemed to have been thrilled over the “Amasink Früstück” so maybe it was not so bad after all…
Manatees
While we were in Fort Myers I wanted to grab the chance of seeing the famous Manatees up close. After contacting the guide Tim at Manateeguides we made reservations for the following day.
We met up with Tim early in the morning and he took us out on with his kayaks to some river sightseeing.
After an hour in the kayaks, exploring the river, we went to say hi to the manatees. There were a bunch of them swimming around close to the Manatee Park, were we had parked our car.
It was super exciting to watch these gigantic animals from such a close distans. They were swimming around our kayaks and came up once in a while to get some air and to take a look at us.
Even if manatees are big they are very friendly. If you go there, just make sure to take it easy so you do not accidentally hit them with the kayak or your paddle.
Manatees are also called sea cows. I do not know if they look a lot like cows really. I would rather say that they are a mix of a seal, pig, hippo and a well fed mermaid.
Rains and dissapointments
In Naples we stayed in a big but nice hotel that had a heated salt water pool.
The late night swim in the middle of a heavy rain was one of my highlights on the trip. Just love those unexpected moments that occurs some times.
After Naples we got onto Route 41 and drove through the Everglades. We stopped for some “Airboating” along the way and we suddenly got a feeling of being in the middle of banjo country. (I doubt Hillary Clinton got many votes in this part of the county…)
Grass is better
The guide driving our airboat had probably had his share of tourists and rides for the month, as his enthusiasm was a bit too low.
The excursion itself was nothing extraordinary either. Besides from the fast ride in the very narrow canal of mangroves. Then our captain really showed some skills as the distance on each side of the boat to the mangroves was barely half a meter (1,5 ft) or so.
Fun and a bit scary at the same time.
The next time though, I will make sure to book one of the airboat tours that goes out into the grassy part of “the Glades”. Our trip was just inside the mangrove forrest and we nothing of that grassland boating that I expected to see.
Hard to blame the tour company though. It was my own fault as I had not done proper research before we chose the place.
A new way of travelling
We kept on driving towards Miami where we had a short stop for lunch before continuing all the way down to Key Largo.
We used Key Largo as a hub from where we made shorter day-trips.
As travelling with kids was fairly new to us we soon realized that getting some regular routines really helped out a lot.
And by staying at the same place for at least a week or so has proven to be a good recipe for better family peace as the normal life is hectic enough as it is.
Key Largo
We stayed in Key Largo for almost two weeks and had a poolside studio at the awesome Bay Harbor & Coconut Bay Resort.
This little resort had a very personal feeling to it.
Every morning they served freshly baked scones and they even had their own private beach where guests had access to free kayaks and pedal boats .
From the beach we enjoyed amazing Florida sunsets.
Tree lizards
From the pool area we got a chance to see some up-close iguana fights. (What more can you ask for on a holiday?)
Though little bastards those iguanas.
They pushed each other down from the top of a palm tree and then crawled away with no other injuries than a broken self-esteem.
John Pennekamp NP
In Key Largo we visited the John Pennekamp National Coral Reef State Park, or JPNCRSP as it is also called.
All of us went out on a snorkeling trip in the National Park.
Poor Junior had to spend most of the time in his stroller whilst mum and dad alternated on the snorkeling.
Luckily he got soon fell asleep by the soothing waves rocking our boat.
Chist of the Abyss
The visibility was good this day and the water beautifully green.
7,5 meters (25 feet) beneath the surface we found the famous “Christ of the Abyss”-statue. It is a 8.5 foot, 4000 pound bronze sculpture of Jesus Christ hidden under the sea.
Even though it was smaller than expected it is a really beautiful statue.
I wonder why people, myself included, have to dive down and touch the statue?
It has to be some kind of obsessiveness to famous objects. Like sitting on the edge of the Preikstolen. Or why some people choose to take a bath in the Ganges.
Key West
One of the last days we took a whole day ride back and forth down to Key West. What a cool place Key West was, with its very obvious Caribbean feeling!
Houses were painted in tropical pastel colors, there was music everywhere and the weather was great.
In Key West I wanted to visit and touch the southernmost point buoy. We drove past it and immediately saw the crowd. The place was packed with people waiting to be photographed next to the black and red concrete buoy.
My famous landmark photography-OCD said no but my heart said yes. We continued driving and went and bought ourselves a colorful hammock instead. (Makes no sense at all, but somehow it made me feel better.)
We enjoyed the day in full and then headed back “home” on the sometimes very narrow Overseas Highway.
The night was starting to fall, the sky was turning red and we had the ocean on both sides of the road.
This is an incredibly beautiful stretch of road when driving at the right time.
Too cold and dark
Our month in Florida passed really fast, too fast.
We spent our two last days back in Fort Lauderdale.
It was with some heavy steps that we walked onto the airplane. And we had even heavier ones disembarking the flight a couple of hours later.
Sweden in the winter can be amazingly beautiful, but it can be bloody freezing and dark as well.
We will probably never get used to live in the dark for 6-7 months a year. Life is full of surprises though, so you never know what the future might hold.
