Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida

For this post, we are heading back to the Sunshine State for the second time in the past year. This time, instead of my senior class trip, it was my first college spring break vacation. My mom and I traveled to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, which is about 30 minutes from Fort Lauderdale, for 4 days.

Day 1:

Our early-morning flight required our leaving our house at 1:30 AM for the 2.5-hour drive to the airport. Still on my college sleeping schedule, instead of sleeping, I stayed up packing until we left (I regretted this later in the day). Past security, we ate a nutritious breakfast from Dunkin’ Donuts and boarded our plane. In the future, I won’t travel Spirit Airlines by choice as it was very cramped and the tray tables were only slightly bigger than the size of a printed picture.

Note: I was actually on the plane home when I typed this, so having to sit my laptop on my lap to type really proved my disliking of Spirit.

Upon landing around 8 AM, we hopped in our less-than-glamorous rental car and drove to our hotel, the Plunge Beach Hotel, stopping at the store for snacks on the way. The valet parking definitely made the small hotel seem a lot classier and started off our stay with a good impression. Our room was to be ready in about six hours, so we got chairs and towels and headed for the beach.

Since I was so tired from my lack of sleep the night before, I napped for a while on the beach. I’m sure you can guess what happened because of that. Let’s just say sunburns on the first day of vacation are the worst.

That night we decided to stay in for dinner after a long of day of traveling, little sleep, and sunburns, having Papa John’s delivered to our room.

Day 2:

With a late start to the morning, we went to the hotel’s coffee shop for lattes and breakfast sandwiches. Then we walked about a mile to the nearby town square with a couple dozen restaurants, stores, and specialty food shops. We took our time checking out each shop, buying some souvenirs for ourselves and sister at home, ice cream and milkshakes at a very colorful parlor, and peanut butter fudge. For the rest of the afternoon, we read in the hammocks at the hotel and on the beach until after sunset. We got a seafood dinner at around 9 at Aruba’s. Before going to sleep, we watched Impractical Jokers on the tv, since it didn’t have many channel options.

Day 3:

Since it was our last full day, we wanted to spend as much time as possible soaking up the sun in the sand. Skipping breakfast, we ate snacks in our lounge chairs on the beach, reading and tanning all day. That night we got an early dinner, since we hadn’t eaten a meal the entire day. Going back to the small town again, we ate at Ocean 101. I was skeptical of getting lasagna at a beach restaurant, but definitely did not regret it. For dessert, we went to a cute bakery for gelato, where my coffee-flavored bowl came with a small spoon shaped like a shovel.

Day 4:

Sadly, our last day was a short one since we had to check out of our hotel at 11 AM. We woke up early to ensure we had at least an hour of beach time. Finishing my book at the perfect time, we headed back to the room to finish packing. Leaving our room at 11 on the dot and checking out, we had a few hours to kill before we had to head to the airport, so we explored the area a little more in our car. My favorite was one shop we visited that had two adorable, extremely-fluffy white dogs as greeters at the door. Our final stop before leaving Florida completely from the airport was at a fancy restaurant along the canal, where we were sure to get cheesecake for dessert.

Although only a few days, this little getaway gave me a nice break from the freezing temperatures and snow of Pennsylvania, a short relief from the stress and homework of the semester, and a good time to spend with my mom.