April 21, 2012 Halifax, NS and Miami, Florida

The alarm went off at 3am and we were down in the lobby by 3:40am to catch the shuttle and were at the airport by 4am. Since our flight was so early, US pre-clearance was not open so we would have to clear customs once we arrive in Fort Lauderdale.

Diane had checked the weather and they were calling for severe thunder and lightning for the Miami area - oh joy. I am not a fan of flying and was not looking forward to flying in that kind of weather.

When we left Halifax the weather was calm and clear. The flight down was pretty smooth and once we started to desend it got a little bumpy but nothing too bad. Weather when we landed was overcast but not raining. 

We arrived right on time - 9am. Since we were in row 2 we were one of the first people off the plane and through customs. I called the shuttle company we had reservations with and within minutes we were on our way to Downtown Miami. The shuttle dropped us off at our hotel - the Intercontinental Miami. It is a lovely hotel! Since it was too early to check in, they stored our luggage and we went off to explore.

We walked along the waterfront to Bayside Park. 

It is a lovely area right on the water. We walked around for a while and then stopped for lunch. We shared nachos and 2 for 1 Margaritas. :)  We did a little more shopping/sightseeing but realized we both needed to rest. We went back to the hotel and our room was ready. We had bought some wine, so we had a glass and then went off to explore the hotel.

For dinner tonight we shared a pizza from the hotel bar (roasted pineapple - yummy). It will be another early evening as we have a full day of shopping planned.

View from our room