Before we get into it, let me preface this by saying Key Biscayne is a beautiful place and you will probably have an amazing time there. There’s a lot to love about Key Biscayne.

 

It’s an island (technically a “key” since a bridge is attached) just off the coast of Miami. On the way to Key Biscayne, you cross Virginia Key which is beautiful in itself and has some things to do like the Miami Seaquarium. Crossing over the next bridge, you’ve made it to Key Biscayne and into the first of two natural parks on both ends of the key. In the north lies Crandon Park and in the south is Bill Baggs Cape State Park. In Bill Baggs is the famous Key Biscayne lighthouse also known as Cape Florida lighthouse standing at 95 feet tall, painted white, and tipped in black.

To the east of Key Biscayne is the Atlantic ocean and to the west is Biscayne Bay. Key Biscayne in general is a gorgeous place with swaying palm trees, clear water, and tropical beaches. We had a lot of optimism because it’s a beautiful place to make tropical memories.

Our experience was a night from hell with no sleep.

Let’s begin.

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Hopeful & Vegan Cupcakes in Boynton Beach

Now when we take a trip, we like to start off with treats from a vegan restaurant we wouldn’t normally find at home. This trip started off like most.

On our way down to Key Biscayne, we stopped off in Boynton Beach at Blondie’s Vegan & Gluten-Free Bakery & Cafe. Our stomachs were grumbling for something good. Normally we start with lunch, but this time we switched it up and got right to dessert! I was in heaven with a vegan s’more cupcake and Sarah with a coffee cake crumble which were both awesome.

For lunch, I tried the Backyard BBQ Burger and Sarah the Chick’n Chipotle Avocado Melt. Not a fan of the gluten-free buns for the sandwiches but the desserts get a thumbs up.

Rain and Rum

After a rainy drive and minus any biking mishaps, we make it to Key Biscayne and are greeted by a cute painting on the side of a store that reads “Key Biscayne Life Is Amazing.”

We take it as a good sign and we’re hopeful. We check into our hotel, get right to unpacking, and can’t wait to explore the area, but it’s gloomy and raining out. Since we have several days, we figure we’ll visit the natural parks the following days when the weather clears up, but essentially we have the night to figure out what to do.

Things to Do in Key Biscayne When It’s Raining

• Stay inside and read a book
• Take a drive around Key Biscayne
• Drive to Virginia Key to the Miami Seaquarium
• Drive to mainland Miami Beach for indoor activities
• Drink rum ?

 

We were in Key Biscayne and didn’t want to leave so we took a drive around to see the area. Since it was pouring rain, there wasn’t much to see so as usual, we picked up snacks and necessities for dinner at the grocery store. What else was there to to? When in doubt, drink rum.

Cooking While on Vacation

When we cook on vacation, it’s usually something like a pasta, soup, stir fry, or sandwiches. These are our go-tos along with fresh fruit and snacks. We also love enjoying local restaurants, but to balance out the budget and make the trip a little cheaper, we’ll make a few meals ourselves.

Tonight’s menu was a simple but delicious veggie soup with onions, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, fava beans, and mushrooms. Spiced with onion salt, pepper, and accompanied with fresh bread, we had ourselves a nice dinner!

First VLOG Screening!

Before our launch on YouTube, we showed our first screening of our vlog!

The Night From Hell

This has nothing to do with Key Biscayne, but more to do with playing Russian roulette with cheap hotel rooms on vacation. Play long enough and eventually something is going to go wrong. Sarah is always on the hunt for a good deal so when a hotel popped up for $185 per night (including a $25 resort fee) for two bedrooms on Hotels.com, it sounded like a steal! We were splitting the cost with her parents, so at $92 per night for our share, it was a good deal.

She has a great track record for uncovering good deals and we’ve had some nice rooms for fractions on the dollar, but this deal came with a trade – a good night’s sleep because of the insane level of noise.

It was like our hotel room had no walls with everyone throwing a party right in our living room. We got hit from all sides with a perfect storm:

1. Our doors to the outside had no seal or soundproofing
2. The front door was literally right in front of the pool with loud kids playing late into the night
3. Our bedroom was the closest room next to the elevator
4. It was along a heavily trafficked hallway for loud guests hauling luggage on the way to check in at the manager’s office
5. It was near the hotel entrance
6. The curtain on our bedroom window facing outside was virtually see-through letting huge amounts of light
7. The icing on the cake was a perfectly positioned hallway light shining bright as the sun all night through our nearly clear window curtains

10 pm | Kids are playing in the pool. Maybe their parents will take them back to the room and put them to sleep?

11 pm | Another hour rolls around and kids are playing full strength.

12 am | People shuffle their luggage by having full blown conversations. We cover the window with whatever blanket we could find, but the light just outside is burning bright into our room. Ugh!

1 am, 2 am, 3 am… | Eventually the sun comes up.

It was hell and by the next morning, Sarah was done. The reservation was non-refundable so if we left, we’d lose out on several more days worth of money. What were our options? Stay and lose more sleep? Change rooms and play more Russian roulette? Or ask for our money back.

So we played a mixture of good cop, bad cop with the manager. She stuck to her guns and insisted there was nothing she could do and we’d have to pay for the rest of our stay. If only we had reserved the entire stay through Hotels.com instead of directly through the hotel, we’d have more options. She tried convincing us to change rooms, but that was out of the question. We wanted out!

We went back and forth a bit and after some persistence and a bit of smoothing it over, to our surprise, she let us out of the reservation! She was hesitant because a lot of people try getting their money back due to the bad weather or because the beach looked like this:

Since ours was due to something else, it was more reasonable.

LESSON #1: Book through Hotels.com or another service and make it easier on yourself to cancel a reservation when things go wrong.

LESSON #2: Be persistent in what you want, but ALWAYS be nice. People in charge are still people.

So that was Key Biscayne for us. We quickly had some breakfast and checked out as fast as we could. During the process of trying to get a refund or at least get out of our following reservations, Sarah got to work and spotted another deal an hour north in Delray Beach.

Would Delray be our savior? We had been there years before and loved it. Stay tuned!

⮞  CHECK OUT OUR CURRENT GEAR  ⮜

CAMERA GEAR USED IN THIS VIDEO ??

• Samsung Phones – What we’ve used so far to take our videos!
• Nikon DSLR Camera – But would recommend this much newer Nikon
• Zhiyun Gimbal Stabilizer – Currently using model 3, but 4 looks much better
• Phone Tripod Mount – secures our phones nicely
• Mini-Tripod – awesome as a hand held!
• Travel Tripod – 5-Section Carbon Fiber

 

Have you booked a hotel and regretted it?