anyone ever been to Miami Beach? Advice PLZ

[Caliga]

So my brother is getting married in mid-November in Turks and Caicos, and the way our flight ended up working out I'll be flying from Louisville to Miami and then to Providenciales, and the same on the way back.  However, the flight itinerary I ended up getting for the way back has an 18 hour "layover" in Miami, so I'm thinking of spending the night in Miami Beach.

Tell me what to do, where to go, where to not go, etc.

[Admiral Yi]

Too bad for you the Fighting Jew is sleeping it off in a transport plane.

[Caliga]

No worries... he ignores all of my posts anyway.

[katmai]

My mother was born there, beyond that don't know nutthin.

[Admiral Yi]

Well if I were you Cal I would go eyeball the supermodels at South Beach then wander around Little Havana.

[Eddie Teach]

Go around singing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBRhoB5V_fA

[derspiess]

Miami Beach is probably my favorite vacation destination in the US.  The Art Deco district has lots of cool boutique hotels, good restaurants, and bars.  I'll post my specific recommendations later when I'm at a computer.

[Caliga]

Miami Beach is probably my favorite vacation destination in the US.  The Art Deco district has lots of cool boutique hotels, good restaurants, and bars.  I'll post my specific recommendations later when I'm at a computer.

Cool.

[derspiess]

So this is the first time I'm back at a PC.  Blame my kids for keeping me busy all weekend.  Kinda surprised you didn't already get a bunch of replies on this.

Anywho, if you have any way to arrange to stay an extra day or two there I would suggest you do so.  But with 18 hours I wouldn't bother doing anything in downtown Miami.  It has some nice areas but Miami Beach (particularly South Beach) is so much nicer.

Stay in one of the boutique hotels in South Beach.  The only one I've stayed in is The Kent (we've stayed there 3 times so obviously we like it), but there are several nice ones to choose from. 

For any night activity, just walk along Ocean Drive and you'll find a nice bar (I like the Clevelander) or place to eat (Caffe Milano has decent Italian food, and one place, I think Avalon, has good seafood.  Their paella was great).  There is a really good gelato place called Lecca-Lecca.

There is plenty to do & see a little further up in central/North Miami Beach as well, but it's more spread out.  North Miami Beach/Bal Harbour is more upscale.

We always naturally gravitate towards "Little B.A." (Buenos Aires) up around 73rd Street, where they have some nice little Argie steakhouses, a couple really nice Argie bakeries, and *the* place for Argie pizza/comfort food: Manolo (which is most famous for its churros).  New Campo Argentino has good steaks.

That's about all I can think of for now. 

[Caliga]

Thanks.

Unfortunately Princesca can't really take more time off from work so can't do an extra day... but if we seem to like the area enough I'm sure we will be back at some point.

[Caliga]

I checked out your hotel, spiess, and while it looks cute Princesca won't agree to it because it has multiple entries on some bedbug registry site and she's terrified of getting bedbugs for some odd reason.

[garbon]

I checked out your hotel, spiess, and while it looks cute Princesca won't agree to it because it has multiple entries on some bedbug registry site and she's terrified of getting bedbugs for some odd reason.

Bedbugs are pretty terrible to get.

[Caliga]

I think her fear is because my brother got them once after he came back from a business trip to Las Vegas.  He tried multiple times to get rid of them and finally just gave up and literally moved to a different apartment (for a couple of other reasons, too, but mainly for that reason).

I travel a fair bit and have never gotten them, but I keep my clothes in a zipped-up bag away from the bed and immediately put dirty laundry into said bag in a different compartment.  My understanding is that they don't live on you like lice, so it seems as long as you keep your luggage away from where they live, you're clear... right?

[garbon]

Sure but bed bugs can get be found on all types of furniture - including in wood.

Actually quick search says it isn't uncommon to find them in carpet during the day.

[derspiess]

I checked out your hotel, spiess, and while it looks cute Princesca won't agree to it because it has multiple entries on some bedbug registry site and she's terrified of getting bedbugs for some odd reason.

Ick.  Better to be safe than sorry.  You do not want to bring those fuckers back with you.