Freddie P's Blog

January 31, 2010 @ 12:25

I had promised to update this blog during my trip to Florida last week, but the hotel in Key West wouldn't allow me to upload anything. Internet access was free, but I couldn't send anything from my laptop to my web platform.
Why, I don't know but Mike Boon told me it's possible for the hotel to block something or other for security reasons.
Maybe they don't want people to make sex videos in their rooms and then send them into cyberspace. Somebody might recognize the wallpaper or something and correlate the hotel with the sex trade. Wow, how's that for a leap.

On the subject of hotel rooms, before I left I mentioned that I was chasing my tail trying to find something before I left. I was using Tripadvisor and it was crazy. Reviews of the same hotel went from spectacular to miserable. I got the feeling that a lot of it was bullshit, but still I didn't know whether to believe the good ones or the bad ones.
Eventually I went outside Tripadvisor and just googled "great hotels in the Miami area" and I came up with this. It's called "The Blue" and it's located in Doral, right beside the famous golf course, about 20 minutes from the beach.
This place was perfect for my wife and I. We're not real beach people any more; we're more interested in quality accommodations and a reasonable price and if that means a few miles off the beach, so be it.
"The Blue" was outstanding. Give it a click and see for yourself. A boutique style resort with spacious rooms, top notch décor including 46 inch flat screen TV's and as I mentioned earlier strategically located to just about everything in the Miami area.
The room equipped with a great kitchen with a full sized fridge, dishwasher, microwave oven that was also convectional, dishes and cutlery, very handy for a fella who tires quickly of restaurant food.
The room also featured one of those "rain showers." Lord liftin' Jesus talk about ecstasy.
I had two showers at day whether I needed the second one or not. The feeling of that heavy water pounding down upon my bloated body put me in a special place. But that's all the detail I will provide.
Hey, if you're ever in South Florida, and you're looking for a place to stay, close to South Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise where the Panters play, check out "The Blue."
Excellent for 149 bucks a night.

We left Miami last Monday and made our way down to Key West without having hotel reservations, but again, we really lucked out.
While driving into Key West we saw one of those "Information Centers" so I stopped in to get a little advice. Within moments they hooked me up with a great hotel right in the heart of "Old Town." Actually it was break and breakfast style hotel called "Ambrosia."
I had seen it on line but the nightly request was $269.00 dollars and that was more than I wanted to spend. But once I got to this info centre, they recommended the place and the nightly hit was $159.00. We took and we're glad we did.
It was over the top clean and conveniently located with a great hot breakfast as part of the deal. It was literally a thirty second walk to Duval St.

I won't go on and on about Key West, other than to say this. If you've never been, you should go there at least once. It's a fabulous place with a great vibe and superb restaurants, although I'm a little reluctant to pluralize restaurant because we were there four nights and ate at the same place three times.
It's called "Blue Heaven" and it features Caribbean cuisine in an inviting down to earth atmosphere. Most of the tables are outside with a sand and straw floor. While you eat, roosters and cats walk around freely. It may sound gross, but it's actually pretty cool and the food is fabulous, especially the pork tenderloin.

How about some other stuff? I'll move on from the trip, but first I have to mention this.

When we were at the Leaf game in Sunrise, a group of kids in their late teens or early 20's refused to stand for the Canadian anthem. One of them, while sitting, went out of his way to mock the anthem and then mumbled a few things which included Canada and the word stupid.
Needless to say, I wanted to lean forward and slap the dumb ass across the side of the head, or at the very least give him a piece of my mind, but I was traveling with my sweet darlin' and confrontation bothers her. I thought.
Afterwards she told me she wouldn't have minded if I'd said something. Like: "Hey goofball, do you not realize that Canada is your countries most faithful ally? Do you not realize that in most of your countries confrontations over the years, Canada has been at your side? Do you not realize that most of the players on your team, the Florida Panthers, are Canadian, so actually you're insulting them?
But I didn't. I simply wrote him off as another dumb American who doesn't know much about the world around him because in his mind, he doesn't have to.

And I have to mention this. Pearson Airport.

What a joke. When Delyse and I left on Friday the 22nd, we got to the airport two hours and 15 minutes before the flight, but didn't have enough time to pop into Starbuck's before boarding the plane.
Not only was the line at U.S. customs slow, but the security system was worse. I realize it's a new frontier with airport security and there is no room for risk or chance, but at the same time I've gotta believe it could be more efficient. Several things happened that left me shaking my head, and it had nothing to do with the inexplicable high pitched tone that was swirled through the terminal, literally driving most of us nuts.
Interesting, that on flying back, Miami International was much more efficient and speedy.