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Today we have a Havana Panorama City Tour booked for 8.50 am.

Down to the hotel included buffet breakfast, which I might add was very impressive, especially the breakfast room.  In fact, the hotel as a whole is fairly impressive which is not what I had expected, Cuba is not what I expected.  I know it is early to say but Cuba may be one of the best places I have ever been.

Our tour guide was on time but then spent a half hour trying to find a guest that did not arrive.

Once we had collected the remainder of the people on the tour and squashed into a small minivan we drove to the old town.  Luckily this tour was a walking tour and we did not need to spend a lot of time in the cosy bus.

Out and about we walked through Havana’s old town, it was beautiful.  At one stage I actually had two cameras going at the same time.  I am completely obsessed with these 50’s American vintage cars.

By 1 pm the streets were warm and the kids were fading fast.  Luckily the tour was ending and we took the guides advice to go to a recommended restaurant that had Cuban cuisine and music.  Yes, I know, normally this spells ‘spots the tourist’ and ‘run the other way’, however, in this case, I am really glad we went.  The food was delicious, the music was great and yes, there were tourists but it all just seemed to fit.

Our 3-hour long tour that I had promised the boys had now turned into over 6-hrs, it was time to go back to the hotel and regroup.

A short rest and then out again.  Pete was looking for a particular road so we jumped into a taxi to where we thought it was.  In the end, we got slightly lost and went on a long walk through Havana streets but isn’t getting lost in an unknown place the only way to discover anything new.

Eventually meandered our way to Old Havana, saw some more of the main sights and caught a taxi back to the hotel.  Late dinner on a perfect day.

Good Morning Havana

Our Walking Tour

Beautiful Buildings

Gorgeous Piazzas

More Spanish Piazzas

Cannons and Wes

A little rest…

Brown Family

LOVE these buildings…

Rub for good luck

Cuban Streets

Old Havana

…a few cars

Just another…

Lunchtime Entertainment

Lunch with these guys!

People Watching

More Selfies

Yep, Terry Tourist Strikes

Long Walks

Finally, Dinner

LOVE HAVANA!

Cuba has been one of the places on my bucket list, forever.

I have been lucky enough to tick a few of them off, Cuba has still remained there, hopefully, today is the day we get to go.

Up early (not too early) ready for our trip.  Another broken promise from American Customer Service Inc. with no discount taken off for our faulty sofa bed.

Lesson: when in America and you are offered a refund/discount get it in writing ASAP. They don’t mind taking your money for ‘good’ customer service (it’s expected) but they do not like refunding it for bad customer service.

An Uber to the airport, apparently he was driving on the wrong side of the road in parts. Pete was in the front, it was dark and I am glad he did not tell me at the time.

Early to the airport as usual so an easy check-in. We have been given Cuba visas, this is a good sign.

Airport mandatory Maccas breakfast and then ready to board our flight.

A quick 50-minute flight and we have finally made it to Cuba, Yay.  I was not going to get too excited until we actually arrived.

Passport control a breeze (very unexpected) and then a small wait for our luggage. The taxi driver waiting for us outside with our name, perfect.

A short 25-minute drive to our hotel.  Loving what I see of Cuba so far and they really do still drive these gorgeous vintage cars, they are everywhere.

Checked into our hotel Melia Cohiba in Havana and another win, a room ready for us.  Settle into the room, a walk around the hotel, lunch beside the pool and even a city tour booked for tomorrow.

Back to the room, a small rest and then out to take a 1 hr drive in one of these vintage cars.  Ours was made in 1952, this day was a real lifetime highlight for me.

Pre-dinner drink at the hotel lounge bar watching the sunset and then dinner at the hotel’s Italian Restaurant.

Lunch

Cuba Touring

First of the Vintage Cars

Airport Time

Havana New Town

Hotel Pool

Back Seat Drivers

Front Seat Driver

This scares me…

Cruising Havana

Touring

Smile Pete

Wessy

Vintage Cars Everywhere!

The Browns

Dudes!

Noah

Cuba Spam

A very average sleep on a broken sofa bed, a jet aircraft blast in the face when the air conditioning kicked in and two snorers in the other room.

I was quite happy to see the sunshine through the curtains and a new day begin.

Pete started the kids on some school work and breakfast and I went down to the gym for an easy workout.

Back to the room, helped with the school work and bits and pieces for Peter and myself.

Time to get moving as the car needed to be dropped off today. Tomorrow our adventure to Cuba begins.

In the car and downtown to Hertz, we drove. The drop off process was a lot smoother than the pick up process.

Coconut Grove is a much nicer and quieter neighbourhood than Miami Beach. It reminds me a little bit of Subiaco and Leederville in Perth, little boutique shops, and lovely cafe strips.

Unfortunately, it has a fair amount of hurricane damage, I am still glad we stayed here rather than Miami Beach.

After leaving the car we walked down to the Bayside Market Place along the Miami Pier. A small walk around, lunch and then an Uber back to our hotel.

Rest and then out for dinner at Jaguars, delicious…all ready for tomorrow’s adventure.

Mutiny Hotel

Elevator Silence

Downtown Miami

Miami Marina

Bayside Market Place

Woken by the confused rosters again, they tend to crow night and day, maybe it was just their constant ring that finally lifted my head.

Have I mentioned there are chickens roaming the streets, EVERYWHERE.

Apparently, they arrived with the Cubans who used them for cockfighting. When the Americans found out they outlawed this practice and the chickens were freed. Now they are protected. It’s a real-life chicken run.

Wes and I decided to go for our last morning walk.  Down Duval Street we went, a stop for a pastry at a French bakery, down to the beach, back to the southernmost point buoy, a quick chat with a lady who did Ironmans and saw my watch, back past the guest house to get a photo of a Key West Lime Pie sign and then finally back to the room.

On arrival at the guest house, we were greeted by a very white Noah.  He had already vomited twice and the third time was on its way.  Poor little thing, especially as we had a few hours journey ahead in the car.

After his third spew, he seemed a little bit better so we packed up the car and began our drive back to Miami.  Our hotel is the Mutiny Hotel and Suites in Coconut Grove.  I sat at the back in the middle of the boys just in case I was needed to catch any flying missiles.  In the end, the trip was non-eventful, lovely scenery crossing all of the bridges and two healthy boys.

A quick stop for lunch at a casual cafe.

Pete’s chauffeur driving was amazing and he got us to the hotel safe and sound at about 2 pm.  A short wait to check in, drop off the bags and then a little exploring around Coconut Grove.

Back to the hotel, a load of washing (we have a washer and dryer in the room, gold..it’s the small things) and then back out again for dinner.

No plans for tomorrow except school work, wonder what it will hold.

The Southernmost House

Key West Beach

Key West Facts

My little walking buddy

More Tourist Shots

Gorgeous Houses

Mile 0

Coconut Grove Mall

Saturday Markets Key West

Our Chauffeur

Touring Coconut Grove Park

Yacht Clubs Coconut Grove

Dinner

Look at me…

A nice easy start to the day with a little bit of a sleep in and a casual morning walk around the old town.

Ventured in and around the Key West Shipwreck Museum.  We now know a little bit more about the history of Key West and the wreckers.

Some more touring and then back to our guest house.

Time for lunch and a swim in the resort pool.

Back upstairs to the room and a rest before a short drive to the new town.

Out for dinner in the old town and we decided to go back to the Japanese / Thai. It’s the only place that does not serve hamburgers and fries, hot dog and fries, panini and fries, steak and fries, chicken and fries, fish and fries…need I go on.

Back to the guest house and a lovely evening sitting on the porch watching the world go by.

A cruise ship is in

Our Beautiful Guest House

More Chess

Shipwreck Museum

These chickens are EVERYWHERE

Bad Parenting Moments

Out for dinner

Enjoying the porch

I am snap happy

Another crazy Key West local?

Pool time

Bad Parenting x 2

Of Course, the boys wanted to sleep in this morning and we wanted to get moving.

A nice light breakfast provided by the hotel.

Sorry Marathon, but it is time for us to move on.

The car all packed up and ready to cross the 7-mile bridge on our way to Key West.

Arrived at Key West about 9.30 am.  A quick stop at K Mart and then on to the old town. Found a park and started exploring.

The old town is gorgeous with beautiful historic houses and buildings, surrounded by gorgeous Banyan trees.

As we were walking past one of these gorgeous building we could see that it was a guest house, AND it had vacancies.  Maybe we should just see how much it is to stay here.

In the end, it was very reasonable, so we booked The Banyan Resort for 2 nights and it is just gorgeous.

Walked back to the car, parked it at our new digs, dropped off our bags and then back out exploring.  Found a lovely taco street van for lunch, delicious.

As the weather was fairly warm we decided to jump on the Key West Trolley and see some of the main sights in the shade, as well as learning about the history of Key West.

Oh, have I mentioned Trump is in town?  The Trumpster cramped our style by blocking some of the roads on our tour.  I still wanted to see the Southernmost point buoy so off the trolley we went and legged it down the hot and steamy street.

A little ice-cream stop for the boys on the way.

Picture of the buoy taken, tick.  The next piece of land from there is Cuba.  Which we will be fortunate to see next week.

Nice walk back to our guest house, a little rest and then back out for dinner.  Found a lovely and quiet Japanese / Thai restaurant for dinner (It seems compulsory for restaurants here to play their music at volume, hurting my ears, I can’t think…)

Watched the sunset at the pier and then some time on our porch.

Key West has been an unexpected highlight of our trip so far.

Lunch

Key West Pier

The end of the road

Ice-Cream

Trumps in town 😦

Terry Tourists again!

Key West’s old town

Dude

Dinner

Our porch

Southernmost Point Buoy

Key West Beaching

Key West Trolley

The Banyan Resort

It’s a bit warm…

Sunsets

Gorgeous Historic Houses

Lovely start to the morning when I finally got my butt out of bed and used the gym.

A load of washing and then back to Conch House for breakfast.

Next, return to the room and pack our bags ready for our next stop in the Florida Keys, Marathon.

Initially, we wanted to stay in Key West but the accommodation was very expensive. Marathon was a more affordable option and we will day trip from there.

Lots of photo stops along the coastal Hwy 1 (Robbie’s, bridges) until we arrived in Marathon. It looks like Marathon and its surrounds were right in Hurricane Irma’s path, there is still very bad building and foliage damage.

A short stop at a Marathon supermarket for lunch.

On arriving at our hotel, the Hyatt Place Marathon Florida Keys we were told that the internet was not working well. This is not a good problem to have for us Browns, particularly for 4 days.

Settled into our room and then had a small walk around the hotel and attached yacht club.

Back to the room and a rest for myself and the boys and a short drive around the town for Peter.

While Pete was away I had spent the whole time trying to connect to the internet. We had picked this particular hotel because it had internet and enough space in the room for us to knuckle down and do some school work for a few days. This did not look like it was going to happen.

Pete had also discovered that there was not a lot going on in downtown Marathon.

Walked to attached Light House Grill for dinner, average meal, average service.  A nice walk around the Faro Blanco Lighthouse and yacht club after dinner.

On our return to the room, we decided to try and cancel the remainder of our stay in Marathon, success. Tomorrow we will drive to Key West and explore.  Hopefully, we will find somewhere nice at a reasonable price to stay.

Chess anyone?

Just take the photo Mum!

Light House Grill

Faro Blanco Light House

Sombrero Beach, Marathon

After dinner walks

Many bridges to cross

Robbies

This morning was spent catching up on the boy’s school work and our blog.

All of a sudden it was lunch time. Off in the car we went, Pete found a casual cafe called Hobo, the food was surprisingly good.

As the weather had warmed up a little and the wind was not as strong as this morning we decided to race back and get the 1 pm departure on the Key Largo Princess, a glass bottom boat docking across the canal from our hotel.

It ended up being a great day for a boat ride and it was wonderful to be out on the ocean.  The reef was nothing spectacular (compared to how lucky we are at the Abrolhos) but I do believe it has been damaged by Hurricane Irma.

The water out on the reef was actually a beautiful blue colour, then back to murky brown towards land.

Returned to the hotel room with some relaxing for Noah and Wes (i-Pad), motorhome research for Pete and the gym for me.  Looking out onto the canals from the gym was lovely.

Just down the road to Conch House for dinner.  Lovely casual meal and a taste of Conch, a shellfish eaten down this way.  It is no longer caught local as it is endangered and protected.  It now is imported from the Caribbean. Tastes like rubber.

Excited for the cruise

The African Queen

Any sharks?

Glass Bottom Boat

Finally, blue water

View from the Gym

Cruising Key Largo

Dinner

Conch House

Where to next?

Quiet Key Largo Streets

Bedtime

An easy start to the morning with breakfast at the hotel, a load of washing and some school work for the boys.

At about 11 am we decided to hop in the car and drive to the Everglades Alligator Farm.  Perfect timing, alligator feeding started as we arrived.  Then to the Hurricane Airboat ride, snake show and a stop for lunch.

After we had eaten we went back to the car forgetting about the alligator show which we only discovered we had missed after discussing our day over dinner.

I still wanted to see a proper Key Largo beach, not just through the fence of a gated community or hotel.  We decided to stop at one of the only public beaches which you can access through the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. USD10 just to get in, thank you for coming.

Beach, Beach…not a beach.  An estuary with brown murky water.  And, I believe (and confirmed through the rangers) that Florida has sea lice, no swimming in these waters for me.

At the moment I do feel a little underwhelmed with the Florida Keys.

Back to the hotel, the boys went for a swim in the hotel pool and I stayed back in the room looking at accommodation for our next stop.

Over the canals again to Skippers Dockside for dinner.

Alligator Feeding

Swim, I think not…

My brave boys

A little bit like home

Alligators, noise & water

Alligator Farm

Brave, brave Wes

Everglades Alligator Farm

Everglades Tour

Hold on…

The original African Queen

Let me see the ocean!

Key Largo Beach

Pool Time

The boy’s watches has inspired them to count steps. I thought this was a good thing until they were up at 5 am ready for a morning run.

At home this is normally a late exercise start time for me, but not in an unknown place, not in the dark and not in Miami.

Managed to hold them back until 7 am.

Our run was lovely along the beach walk.

Back to the hotel and a light breakfast sitting outside for myself and the boys.

Time to pack up the room and then an Uber to our Hertz rent a car. The Miami Beach Triathlon is on this morning which blocked the major roads to downtown Miami. Looks like we are getting there via Fort Lauderdale.

Finally, we arrive at the Hertz depot, now we just need to line in the long queue to collect the car.

Car collected, hang on… this car hire doesn’t look like it includes any insurance.  Back in the line to add all of the necessary extras that are not included in the advertised cost.  No wonder the price was cheap.  This could have been a nasty surprise if we have had an accident.

On the road we go and Pete aces the right hand driving again.

Arrived at our hotel, Courtyard by Marriott Key Largo, dropped off our bags and then back to the car to do some Key Largo exploring.

The beaches here (if you can even find them) are not like the pictures, more like swimming in an estuary then a beautiful blue ocean.  The coastline is hugged with private hotels and homes and there are very few public beaches.

We are very lucky in Australia this has not happened and everybody has access to the ocean.

Back to our room, freshen up and then across the canal to Skippers Dockside for dinner.

Good Morning Miami

View from our run

Driving Champ

Are we there yet?

Lunch

Skippers Dockside

Our hotel

My running buddies