Day Trip to Miami

by admin

A post about my day trip to Miami by plane in May 2021, when I visited Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, together with Miami’s Bayside Marina and South Bay.

Sailboat before Miami Skyline

Early March 2021, when the entire aviation industry in US was reeling from the impact of COVID amid historically low travel seasons, they unleashed ridiculously low prices to lure travelers back. One of which I found was this return trip from Baltimore to Miami within a same Saturday with Frontier Airlines, for 49.32 dollars total. The flight would land in Miami at 9am, and return at 9pm, giving me a solid 12 hours to explore the city of Miami that I just skimmed through two years ago. It also gave me a chance to try out those ULCC 28-inch-pitch seats that were universally despised online. So without much hesitancy, I grabbed it.

As a sidenote, I first purchase a similar ticket to Boston with Spirit Airlines, thinking blossoming spring flowers were much more welcoming than sizzling heat in Miami. It’s also a shorter flight. Unfortunately Spirit Airlines later cancelled all direct flights between Baltimore and Boston, giving me the backup option to transfer at Orlando, which I expectedly cancelled.

As a second sidenote, both Spirit and Frontier Airlines were baiting travelers with coupon codes that were 70-90 percent off. Usually they were very restrictive (direct flight, weekday, roundtrip…), but in pandemic times they were more frequent than ever. For my particular flight, the published “Airfare” was only 0.48 dollars, in addition to a 48.84 dollars “Taxes and Carrier-Imposed Fees”. Some anatomy later and one would find “Carrier-Imposed Fees”, which most airlines in US didn’t charge, was 20 dollars, which the coupon didn’t apply.
And Miami had one of their lowest “Carrier-Imposed Fees”, helping me deciding on destinations.

As a final note, since I was traveling alone and terrible at packing, it’s sad that I couldn’t try out the water activities and beaches that Miami was known for. Beachwear was just logistically challenging for someone like me. So, I ended up visiting museums like Vizcaya for most of the day.

Flight F9 2983 from Baltimore to Miami

On the morning of May 1, I woke up early and drove to Baltimore Airport. Its $8-per-day long-term parking lot with 24h shuttle seemed like a decent option. A bit to my surprise, the parking lot was pretty full. After a few minutes of chilly wait in unseasonal summer dress, even more to my surprise I found the 5am shuttles pretty full too.

Baltimore Airport Concourse E
These checkin desks went unused during COVID.

Once inside the terminal, while signs of COVID was clearly visible with empty check-in desks, the meandering security lines took me about 15 minutes to clear, a surprising sign that travel was rebounding strongly.

The flight’s D4 gate was to close to security checkpoint, but weirdly I didn’t hear any agent announcement. So it’s rather unorganized as people were thronging all over the place.

Boarding Flight to Miami

Once onboard, it turned out that the flight to Miami was pretty full, with mostly families trying to get a head start for their weekend vacationing.

Frontier Airlines 2983
Baltimore, MD (BWI) – Miami, FL (MIA)
Airbus A320neo (N356FR)
Seat 23F
Scheduled Departure – 6:30am
Actual Departure – 6:37am
Scheduled Arrival – 9:15am
Actual Arrival – 8:48am
2 hours and 11 minutes
Here’s GPS tracking:

Once we were airborne, morning haze was limiting visibility to DC and Virginia, then there were clouds as we were flying over the Carolina’s. But nonetheless, with post-processing, I still got a few satisfying shots of the scenery along the way.

Overlooking Washington DC
Joint Base Andrews
Southern Maryland
Wicomico River and Potomac River, with Gov Harry Nice Memorial Bridge in upper-center.
Downtown Richmond
Fort Bragg
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Jacksonville, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Pompano Beach
Fort Lauderdale

Overlooking Miami Beach

It seemed that the entire plane was in vacation mode, including the pilots as they accidentally welcomed us to “Orlando” after touchdown. They did corrected themselves promptly, explaining that they would be flying to Orlando next, and obviously that’s all over their minds. Upon reaching the gate, the cabin crew improvised a short celebration for a birthday girl on her first flight, with pop music fitting the mood of Miami.

Unfortunately, upon stepping out of the plane, my impression with Miami airport just took a turn for the worse. I was hoping to reach the people mover which was located on the upper level, and the airport’s southern F/G/H concourse each had a stairs, elevator and escalator, respectively. Unfortunately, the elevator at Frontier’s concourse G was closed, so it’s a ridiculously lengthy detour that I followed the signs to concourse H.

Miami Airport Walkway

These stained glasses looked nice, just like how Miami airport felt on surface. Yet just beneath the surface, many things, including the moveable walkway towards the left of this photo, were broken.

Miami Airport Metrorail Station

Not wanting to spend as much as my air fare on an Uber ride, I decided to take public transport downtown, which was another disaster. During the pandemic, Miami metrorail operated its airport station as a one-stop spur. With 30-minute interval, it took two unbearably long waits to head downtown, which was hardly justifiable with the free ride.

Brunch

There weren’t many restaurants near Vizcaya, not all of them offered dine-in. However, I did find one and had this brunch, many hours after I ate my breakfast.

After the detour for brunch, I reached Vizcaya and started my tour of this magnificent mansion.

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

The property was the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, with its unique landscape and architecture styles, ranking second in TripAdvisor’s “things to do in Miami”. It consisted of a mansion and surrounding garden. The mansion was renovated with glass over courtyard rooftop for air-conditioning, which was pretty nice on such a hot day.
In addition, the property offered free-WiFi and an online website for audio guide, which, like all audio guides, was a bit verbose. Unfortunately WiFi signal was weak in the gardens, and cellular in the mansion. So I had to switch networks manually.

Mansion

An exquisite display of early 20-century architecture. During my visit the second floor of the mansion was closed for renovation.

Facade
Fountain
Dishes in Kitchen
Dining Table
Table in Dining Room
Dining Room Fireplace Decoration
Dining Room Chandelier
Hanging Boat
Symbol of the Estate
Lamp Post Decorations
Living Room Decorations
Reception Room
One that’s not as well-restored.
Office Table
Enclosed Loggia
Tainted glass facing garden, a highlight of the building.

Sculpture at Entrance
God of Wine
Decorated Gate
Art

Most of the art on the property were acquired during owner James Deering’s European trip. He knew nothing about art himself, so it fell onto designer Paul Chalfin, who went with James Deering, to pick the art. It’s interesting that James had been complaining about their price tags, but went home content with his collection.
Harp in Musical Room
Fireplace
Organ
Still functional. The gift shop had recordings of this organ on sale.
Telephone Room
Back then telephone was a rarity. There’s only one telephone in the entire building.
Reception Room Chandelier
Lamp Post Decorations
Male Changing Room

In early days of automobile the roads were dusty. This changing room provided guests an opportunity to freshen up before entering the mansion.
Female Changing Room

In early days of automobile the roads were dusty. This changing room provided guests an opportunity to freshen up before entering the mansion.

In the mansion, there was also an interesting display of souvenir cards, from the couple’s trip to Egypt.

Garden

A well-maintained garden with lush leaves and various flowers. Unfortunately the sun was baking hot, so it’s certainly not pleasant to stay out for a long time.

Lizard

A nice-looking one. It’s head reminded me of toothless as the DreamWorks dragon. Lots of lizards roamed the gardens of Vizcaya.

Gate to Garden
Looking magnificent.
Center Island
Center Island
Pool
In the shape of a shell to reflect its proximity to sea.
Garden Mound
Alcove by Garden Mound
Garden Mound
Cascade at Garden Mound
Oak Trees on top of Garden Mound
Moved from other properties.
Casino
Here “casino” meant just a small building for social gathering, not a gambling facility.
Casino Ceiling Painting
As if people on the roof were looking down.
Casino
Fountain Garden
Fountain Garden
Side Pool
Sculpture by Pool
Mangrove

Outside Maze Garden, as a buffer between estate and sea. This was the last mangrove forest in Miami.
Maze Garden

The official audio guide stressed on the distinction between “labyrinth” and “maze”. The former was technical and challenging and required serious puzzle-solving, while the latter, named here, was casual and leisure-oriented. Here at the “Maze Garden”, the bushes were short, and one could easily planned out the path to center, but the garden encouraged visitors to scout around and try things out, for the enjoyment of puzzle solving.
Post at Maze Garden’s Center
Theater Garden
Garden
Semicircular Pool
Frog Fountain
But I didn’t see any frogs today.
Lizard Fountain
An animal that’s often seen in the garden.
Western Facade
Facing garden.
East Terrace Facade
Hippocampus was also a symbol of the estate.
Swimming Pool
Sculpture
Swimming Pool
Orchidarium
The flowers were unfortunately concealed in the trees and bushes.

A highlight beyond the mansion building was Vizcaya’s stone barge, located slightly off shore. Vizcaya’s iconic photo was taken from the sea, with the barge in front of its East terrace façade. In the early years, most guests arrived at Vizcaya by boat, so the barge was both a welcome sign for the guests, and a water breaker for the mansion.

Barge
Barge
Barge
Decorations on Barge’s Front
Once the mermaid was too explicit for early 20-century taste, now erosion made it more acceptable.
Path to Barge

Sea level rise meant center part of the barge was too frequently underwater. This maintenance floating bridge was set in place so that workers could perform repair on the barge.

I spent about 2.5 hours at Vizcaya, and it’s 2pm by the time I left it for downtown.

While waiting for Miami’s illusive metro train to come, I searched and found a beloved restaurant downtown that I decided to have my third meal of the day. Unfortunately, I arrived at its doorstep to find it closed. By that time I was close to Bay Front Park, feeling tired and hungry, I decided to head for the nearby touristy Bayside Marina to freshen myself up, it’s also a place that I knew for sure some eateries must be open.

Miami Waterfront

Downtown Skyscraper
Waterfront Palm Trees
Boats Leaving Harbor
Port of Miami

While it should be a soothing scene walking among palm trees breathing occasional breeze from the sea, that afternoon I felt hot and uncomfortably humid at Miami’s waterfront. To keep my skin from cancer I used sunscreen, which didn’t get along well with my sweat.

To make things worse, I arrived at Bayside Marina to find its food court consisting of different vendors offering similar high-calorie junk food. Bayside Marina did have other restaurants with proper food, that were packed with maskless patrons and seemingly took forever to be served. I was hungry so I passed that.

Lunch/Dinner

The very restaurant I planned to have my lunch was closed, so I resorted to this food-court junk food.

On the plus side, the food court was located on the second floor that came with views overlooking the marina. So I actually enjoyed the following “view” part of this meal. Just that I had to ward off the hungry sea gulls from time to time.

Tour Boats Leaving Harbor
Tour Boats Leaving Harbor
Bayside Marina
Bayside Marina

After this third meal, I headed farther North along Miami’s waterfront towards Museum Park. It’s just below Miami Airport runway 27’s final approach, that I spotted a few planes landing.

Cargolux B748F (LX-VCE)
Cargolux B748F (LX-VCE)
Atlas Air B744F (N499MC)
Atlas Air B744F (N499MC)

And here are some of the views along the way:

Yacht at Museum Park Marina
An elegant presence.
Sculpture
FTX Arena

Home stadium of NBA Miami Heat team. After leaving Bayside Marina, I found myself walking among concrete jungle (the pavements were scorching hot), and this stadium certainly lived up to its name.
Urban Skyscrapers

Opening in Building

To reduce wind’s load on the building, or per request from some Feng-Shui expert. In Need for Speed Heat, my favorite spot to dodge police pursuit was to jump through a building opening near the waterfront. I was elated when I found its real-world origin here.

At this moment I was in Museum Park, feeling drained from walking in the sun. Instead, I decided to pay the nearby Pérez Art Museum a visit, enjoying some cooler conditioned air.

Unfortunately, Pérez Art Museum didn’t allow photographs inside, so there’s nothing to display here. But even if they did, most of their collection was contemporary art, which I couldn’t quite appreciate. The museum was pretty strict enforcing social distancing and one-way routes.

After cooling myself down and with it getting late in the day, I decided to head to Miami Beach for some proper beach vibe before heading back to the airport. Another motivation being the direct bus service between Miami Beach and airport, thus I could avoid Miami’s horrendous metro trains. The Lyft driver was elated to see me on the spot after dropping off his previous guests right at Pérez Art Museum.

Miami Beach

After some mild traffic delay, the Lyft driver dropped me off at South Pointe Park, recommended by other tourists for its views of distant Miami skyline. With vaporizers along pavement and breeze from the sea, and the sun getting lower in the sky, finally I felt the heat was somehow bearable.

Distant Miami Skyline
Port of Miami
Cargo Ship Coming into Port
Distant Miami Skyline

Looking west towards downtown Miami, the city’s skyscrapers rose against the sun monochromatically, in an unapproachable manner like mirage from a different world. Thankfully, the cranes on Dodge Island filled in the void before them and brought them back to reality.

Miami Beach
Buildings on Fisher Island
A barrier island with luxury housings.
Miami Beach
Yachts
These three follow each other, seemed to be from a group.
Yachts
These three follow each other, seemed to be from a group. This one was the most charming to me.
Yachts
These three follow each other, seemed to be from a group.
Buildings on Fisher Island
A barrier island with luxury housings.
Coastal Condominiums
Cruise Ship Leaving Port

Cruises hadn’t resumed as of May 2021. I had no clue why this empty ship was leaving port, probably to some cheaper storage places. It’s generating quite a sizeable wake along the narrow channel.
Tour Speedboat Leaving Port

I didn’t pack any swimwear, so like my last visit to Miami Beach I stayed on dry land. But the lively atmosphere of enjoyment and pleasure was so omnipresent, it’s hard not to be part of it.

I spent about 45 minutes roaming around South Pointe Park, before making my way to a nearby intersection waiting for bus 150 to Miami Airport. Unfortunately, probably due to traffic in Miami Beach, the bus didn’t arrive on time. With absence of live tracking and my phone’s battery running low in case I need rideshare to airport (I didn’t trust Miami’s public transport that much for the day), it was quite an anxious wait.

After finally getting on the bus and breathing a sign of relief, there was even more of Miami Beach’s traffic jam to navigate around.

Miami Skyline from Julia Tuttle Causeway
Finally, traffic eased up after leaving Miami Beach.

At the end, the bus arrived at airport station 24 minutes late, if not for our driver’s speedy driving after clearing Miami Beach it would certainly be more.

Flight F92982 from Miami to Baltimore

American Airlines Planes at Miami Airport

After that, I got back to the unwelcoming Miami Airport, cleared security, and gladly found something that wasn’t broken: power outlets. My phone was down to single digit battery after an entire day, so I gladly charged it up while waiting for my plane, which was coming from Orlando and slightly late.

Frontier Airlines 2982
Miami, FL (MIA) – Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Airbus A320neo (N307FR)
Seat 19F
Scheduled Departure – 9:09pm
Actual Departure – 9:33pm
Scheduled Arrival – 11:44pm
Actual Arrival – 11:44pm
2 hours and 11 minutes (exactly the same as outbound flight!)
Here’s GPS tracking:

After boarding, humidity was evident from strong condensation in the cabin next to air outlets. It made me wonder how people was surviving such tropical climates in summer since obviously, I wasn’t doing well in the day.
And with no travel rush on a Saturday night, there were quite a few empty seats in the cabin.

After a prompt pushback, we waited for 7 minutes in line for takeoff, after 5 American Airlines planes. It’s weird that Miami Airport had a departure rush past 9pm…

Takeoff
Overlooking Miami Airport at night.
Downtown Miami
West Fort Lauderdale

Sawgrass Expressway as a clear divider between Everglades Wildlife Management Area and the city lights beyond it.
Daytona Beach
Charleston, South Carolina
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Annapolis, Maryland

Overall, it’s a non-eventful flight, with pretty much everyone (except for a few babies) trying to catch some rest late in the evening.
Just that for landing, I noticed flaps were only lowered to final location at 500m elevation above runway, less than 2 minutes from touchdown, which seemed a bit late to me. And the touchdown was later and harder than normal, probably to wake everyone up from sleep.

After that, I exited the airport, got on to another shuttle which, like the morning one, was pretty full. It even had the same driver as the morning one. After that, I drove home and ended this very long day.

Brief Views about Frontier Airlines

This was my first time flying Frontier Airlines, or any ULCC carrier with 28-inch-pitch seats, so I felt I should leave some comments here.
I’d heard enough rants about their pathetic 28-inch seat pitches, but after two flights today I felt they were actually manageable on short hauls, including between Baltimore and Miami. Their leg room was actually a lot better than I expected, mostly due to slim seats and their curvature so that knees go farther in front than center of seatback.
On the other hand, their non-recline seats lacked head and back support, which could be a major issue on longer flights. But both could be addressed by bringing neck wraps and paddings onboard, provided there was still room in one’s carry-on.
My biggest complaint was actually their tray table, which was barely larger than a cell phone couldn’t hold anything more. I had a full-frame camera during the flights taking photos, and it’s hard juggling between all my belongings.
With all of this plus their my rather-pleasant experience dealing with their customer support last year, I’m actually quite glad to fly with them. Oh, unless my trip was 2 days or longer, in which case there’s no way the best of my packing skills could fit underneath the seat in front.

END

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Category: Flight Log, Travel Tags: Frontier Airlines, Miami Beach, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

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