POSTCARD FROM FLORIDA Thursday 19 December 2019 – Monday 6 January 2020

I had a very smooth 9-hour flight from Heathrow to Miami and amazingly walked through immigration in ten minutes.  So within three quarters of an hour of landing at 2.15pm, I was in a shuttle to the Hyatt Place Hotel at West Doral.  Sadly I had very inclement weather for my day and a half there, so I spent it reading in my room.  On the second night I had a lovely dinner at the Bourbon Steak in the Turnberry Isle Hotel with my friends, Felipe and Monica Bautista.

On Saturday 21^st I was driven to the Naples Beach Hotel on the west coast of Florida on a rather wet and miserable day, but on Sunday it got even worse and tipped out of the sky all day.  On Monday and Tuesday the sun crept out although there were a lot of clouds around and a very chilly wind, which didn’t make swimming much fun.  I did manage a long walk to the nearest supermarket so I could stock up for my room!  On Christmas Day there was heavy cloud so I took a walk along the beach but there wasn’t much else to do at this rather depressing hotel.  You wouldn’t know it was Christmas in the hotel!  Boxing Day was still very chilly with the odd shower but at least the sun came out off and on!  For the next couple of days the sun came out in the morning but clouded up every afternoon.

On Sunday 29^th December I moved into Naples town to stay at the Inn on Fifth.  I had a lovely room and sitting room and a beautiful balcony overlooking the little town.  The only ‘down’ points were no bath and no dining facilities.  So once again off to the nearest supermarket to stock up on breakfasts, lunches and drinks!  That evening it rained [again!] and it was a struggle to find somewhere to eat, but after 40 minutes walking in the rain I found somewhere.  I then learned the trick of booking a seat online otherwise you would never have got in anywhere.  

I was invited to the GM’s roof top party on New Year’s Eve which was good fun. Thankfully it was all over way before midnight so I had an early night thanks to rather too much pink champagne!

Happily the sun came out for most of my last week, although I didn’t get very brown!

It was a holiday a bit like the curate’s egg - good in parts!