Vacation with baby in Miami

Beginning of our road trip

Our vacation with baby in Miami was about to begin! We were ready to enjoy ourselves big time! 🙂 FK was pleased with the car and he started to appreciate an automatic transmission.

F was getting used to his new car seat and he seemed to like it. On the way we stopped in average every two hours . During the whole trip we realized that this was working for us. When F was getting hungry, since he was not very receptive to formula milk or solid baby food, I had to breastfeed. In a way it was more comfortable for us and if he didn’t want to eat other things I was not pushing him.

After all there were a lot of changes going on, something had to be the same. I used to joke with my husband that in this trip only us and the breastfeeding was familiar to him.

Logistics as part of vacation with baby in Miami

It was not always comfortable breastfeeding him especially since F is a very curious kid and wants to observe everything. Finding a quiet place to breastfeed him was not always possible.

In USA especially in shopping centers you can find family rooms where you can do that. I never managed to feed him properly in the car.

The good thing about shopping centers was also the fact that you can find changing table. I never laid F directly on the table. I always carried a disposable pad or a big piece of cloth in his bag.

Vacation with baby involved extra logistic. I can not stress enough how happy we were that we had the baby carrier with us. We already knew that it would be helpful to have it based on our experience in Croatia.

I noticed that in USA not many moms used it though. We met people who observed us with curiosity. In Bratislava I have the impression that everybody has one. The more ergonomic, the better. 🙂

Next stop: Miami

The weather was perfect when we arrived. We rented a small, one bedroom apartment via Airbnb for three days. It was the best option for us. It was not worth to pay a lot of money just to live downtown. And what was acceptable price wise had very bad ratings. What I found interesting was to see extreme ratings for the same property/ hotel. This was the first time I encountered such situation.

The flat that we had was small but had everything we needed it. Including parking place which we always had to ensure to be included. Otherwise you can pay 20$/ day easily. What we liked as well was the fact that it is placed in a really quiet residential area. The buildings were nice and well maintained with a bit of Latino air that we just loved.

Vacation with baby in Miami: South Beach

We spend a good part of the day in South Beach. We arrived around breakfast time. And there are so many places where you can choose to have your cafe! The prices are a bit high but the service is very good. The staff tries to lure you right from the sidewalk and they treat you so very nice till you leave. It can became a bit cramped because the tables are on the sidewalk and people are coming and going all the time. I think many come just to see and be seen. And the cars, oh the cars…. ? So nice and beautiful and …. shiny! Pure show off! ? And the view to the water: magnificent!

So we had an expensive breakfast but hey how many times you go to Miami? And then we strolled around. The water was a bit cold but was very pleasant to the eyes.

South Beach in less than a day

We even met the Miami version of the woman who was feeding the birds from “Home alone 2”. She was kind enough to give me some bread and to show me her technique. Our baby was having a great time. He was smiling and laughing and people were telling us how cute he was. ( proud mama :)) .

There are also a few shops that are offering quite a range of products. You can see the souvenir shops and the expensive shops as well. With respect to parking we have found a parking for 5 $ per day. Not sure if it was a standard price or just a weekend price.

Vacation with baby in Miami: Little Havana

There are many things to see while in vacation with baby in Miami but the distances between different attractions is in many cases quite big and you end up spending one hour in traffic just one way. Our second option was Little Havana! 🙂 The Cuban neighborhood was perfect for a sunny day!

This time we didn’t find the parking right away. We even debate if is ok to leave the car in a grocery shop parking. But since we didn’t know the rules we preferred not to risk it. We found a paid parking place close to a metro station very close to Downtown. We ended up walking 13 KM that day! 🙂

Eating in Little Havana

We entered Little Havana and we kept on walking. We stopped for cafe and refreshments. They have many little pastry shops run by locals. I really wanted to try some empanada and pastelitos.

We also had lunch at the El Pub Restaurant, because we read that they offer the Cuban food. We ordered the famous Cuban sandwiches and tamale.

The food was fine but I can not say that I was as impressed as I expected. The bread of the sandwiches was a bit dry for my taste. And that amount of salami inside was just a bit too much for me. The restaurant was full when we arrived and we could see a lot of tourists but also locals eating there.

The spirit of Little Havana

Downtown Miami and little Havana are very close. But the difference in architecture is very big. I liked a lot the colors of Cuban art. They are so vibrant and cheerful! If you like cigars then Little Havana is the place to be. 🙂

We started at one end of the neighborhood and kept on walking. At some point we were not sure if we should continue or turn back.

I was looking for the small park where I heard the locals were playing chess and other games. We finally asked a man who realized that we were tourists! 😛 Actually he approached us first when he saw that we were looking around confused. As you guessed he said that we had already passed it. We found it later on the other side of the street.

I think I was expecting something bigger. It was quite small and not so obvious from the other part of the street.

Vacation with baby: Downtown Miami

Since Downtown is so close to Little Havana we pushed ourselves (we were very tired) to see at least a bit of Downtown. We ended up taking the metrorail although we understood that the metromover was in fact free and very close.

We ended up admiring the skyscrapers and the little shops. I am not sure if it is a coincidence but I saw many jewelry shops. Some souvenirs too. We bought the t-shirts and the magnets as any other good tourist. 🙂

Vacation with baby in Miami: shopping

Miami has also a few malls and I couldn’t resist on checking one out. The one closer to us was Dadeland Mall. There were still a few sales and Macy’s in particular had a big promotion at that time. What I like about shopping in USA is the fact that when new products get in stores they already start with a discount. Not all of course but is very common. Something that I did not noticed in Europe. Or not in the countries where I lived.

For example they had clothes for late spring/summer (in February) and many were 40% off. And if you had the store’s card you could get even more off. Of course I bought some clothes for F. They were so cheap. And although I didn’t have a shop card the lady at cash register still got me a small discount. 🙂

Vacation ith baby in Miami — South Beach, Miami

Taxes in USA

What you should have in mind is that the price that you see on the label is not the actual amount that you will pay. You would have to add the sales tax which can vary from state to state. And even the cities can add their own tax. For example the tax rates in Florida are between 5-6.5%. So if you plan on doing some shopping it pays off to check the tax sales in advance. Each state is different.

This approach is totally different to what I am used to in Europe. Where the price-tag on display is the final price – tax is already included.

The good thing is that this tax can be claimed back but not everywhere.

Sales tax refunds to international visitors are given in some states and only if the purchase is made in certain shops.

Usually the information centers can provide such information. But you can find the details regarding the process online too.

Keep in mind that there is no refund for sales taxes paid for personal services, such as: hotels, restaurants, entertainment and transportation.

Notes and thoughts

As a remark, while in Dadeland Mall we noticed a lot of people in Apple store. Not sure if this is normal or something unusual was happening but we got the impression that it was an ordinary day. 🙂

We ended our visit in Miami with a stop at a laundry shop. They are everywhere and they are fairly cheap. You just need coins! 😉

With clean clothes we were heading towards Tampa!