If you live in the east coast like me, you’re probably frustrated by this week’s frigid cold weather; a sudden change from last week’s warm and sunny days. It felt sooooo good last week that I started thinking of putting my winter clothes and boots away. This has been a very cold winter!Bbbrrrrrr….I had to dig out my heavy coats and boots that I hadn’t used in the last three winters, and waking up to go to work has been torture!

And seeing those spring-breakers in South Florida reveling and partying this week without a care made me both jealous and furious. Jealous because because I want to be enjoying Las Olas Beach right now and furious because , hello, there’s still a damn pandemic! These young guys are hanging out in HUGE crowds without without masks or social distancing, and that’s very disturbing.

I visited Fort Lauderdale for the first time at Christmas time in 2020 and had a real great time. It was my first full solo trip and I almost canceled it because of Covid19 fears, but I concurred my fears and went. Granted it wasn’t as warm as it is right now in Fort Lauderdale, but sunny 60 and 70 degrees weather was way better than Delaware’s cold and gloomy mess.

There’s no mask mandate in Florida so most people were not wearing masks in public or really social distancing. Employees in hotels, restaurants, taxis, tour events and stores did a great job of wearing masks and encouraging people to do the same. The current spring-break crowd is definitely bigger than it was at Christmas time so it must be more chaotic. I wore my masks (double) throughout my trip and tried my best to social distance everywhere I went.

Things to do in Fort Lauderdale:

1.Visit Las Olas beach, one of the Fort Lauderdale beaches and it’s soooo beautiful and clean, with a 7 mile stretch of near-white sand and turquoise blue water. There are miles of palm-tree lined streets and shores and it feels like a tropical paradise! You can see many cruise ships and big tour books in the water and the many restaurants on Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd provide endless entertainment and diverse dining options. The famous Elbo Room restaurant is at the corner of LOB and FLB, but its always very crowded!My favorite restaurants are Cafe Ibiza and Rock Bar, which are on the beachfront, serve delicious food and drinks, and also play the best music. The Drunken Taco is also very popular and I love their huge margaritas.

2.Walk for 2 miles from the iconic Florida old-charm Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Blvd to the beach on Fort Lauderdale Blvd. You will walk through the beautiful shopping street with great outdoor restaurants, and you will also see very beautiful mansions, some on the waterway. Oh and the most beautiful palm trees! You will also walk over the magnificent Las Olas bridge and you’ll see so many beautiful boats at and skyline as you approach the beach.

3.Take gondola ride with Riverfront Gondola Tours at Casa Sensei at $200 for 90 minutes. They have small and big boats to suit your fancy.

4.Take a Water Taxi tour that can last several hours, and you can hop and off at various stops to check out Fort Lauderdale. You will be blown away by the massive millionaires’ waterfront mansions and highrise condos.

5.Fort Lauderdale is about 50 miles to Miami Beach and Palm Beach, and about an hour and a half away from Key West. So take a drive to any of these and other beautiful towns close by.

I stayed at the Embassy Suites by Hilton on 17th street and really loved their resort-like pool area. Their breakfast also had a variety of options even in the pandemic, and the servers were very friendly and generous.

In my opinion, Fort Lauderdale is way better than overhyped Miami in terms of value for money and it is also less crowded, hence more relaxing. If you haven’t yet, please put Fort Lauderdale on yor future travel list.

Hello and welcome to Robai Escapades! I am an Elementary special education teacher who enjoys to take short trips during spring break, long weekends (yeah we have many of those) and our often coveted summer break!