FLORIDA

Travelled with the family to Orlando with United Airlines via Los Angeles. Couldn’t fault United their new aircraft was more comfortable than previous flights we had been on and we paid a little extra for their premium economy which was pretty much just extra leg room but worth the $125.00 per person.

As we were only visiting Universal Studios as we had previously done Disney we opted to stay at a Universal Hotel, the Portofino Bay Hotel is one of the nicest hotels we have stayed in as a family, could easily of stayed here for a couple of weeks. They rooms were large, and the property had many different eateries in their piazza area that were reasonably priced. Universal Studios was accessed either by a short walk or by a ferry that left the Portofino harbour area. The only way to get early morning entry to Universal Studios is by staying at a Universal Hotel, this was such an advantage as we were able to get onto the rides in Harry Potter world before the park opened and the lines became long.

Orlando is quite spread out with Disney at one end and Universal at the other, but both parks are easily accessible from either side. Orlando also has some good outlet centres for shopping and has one of the lowest tax rates in the US so even more appealing.

We hired a car and drove to Miami which takes around 3 hours, then checked into our accommodation in South Beach at the Beacon Hotel. The Beacon Hotel is part of the art deco area of South Beach and located directly across from the Beach, most of the Art Deco Hotels are a little small in size but wouldn’t stay anywhere else in South Beach, SOB really comes to life of a night with amazing sidewalk restaurants, clubs and bars and by day the of beautiful white sandy beach goes for miles. Miami is a great spot post or pre cruise or just a destination in itself to explore, Shopping, tours of the city and canals, alligator swamps, Art Deco area, sporting games, and the Southern charm makes Miami a great place.