Our planned honeymoon was to go to Florida. This was very special for us, as we were not world travelers as current youngsters are. For us, this was very special. We had tried to register in the Roney Plaza but there were no rooms available The best we could do is get a room at the Grand Hotel which was across the street. We later learned that the hotel catered to the gamblers who frequented the race tracks.
Our location was good. It was on Collins Avenue, the main shopping area and quite busy. The best part of this location was the South Park directly in front of our entrance and the beach where we enjoyed the sun and swimming in the wavy warm water. For me it was a wonderful setting for photography. I spent lots of time getting shots of SW on palm trees, posing her sexy figure and admiring her beauty.
But prior to our arrival in Florida, we experienced annoying problems. We had been advised to send our luggage ahead by rail to our destination. We did this two days prior to our date of boarding the train. We got on board in the morning after our night spent in our hotel across the street. We had no seat reservations,which we knew nothing about. So, by the time we got there, I found a single seat at one end of the car and Shirley a seat at the other end. The trains were really crowded. Those were the days when train travel was more popular than air. So, we were separated for the entire trip. You can imagine how miserable we felt.
When we arrived in Miami, after this long and miserable ride, we went looking for our luggage. We had noticed that many of the travelers had taken their suitcases with them. We were so smug, seeing them shlepping the luggage. When we arrived at the pickup area to get our pre-shipped luggage, we were advised that they had not arrived. “here is our phone number, check for its arrival”. We spent two miserable days in our winter clothes, until they arrived.
But nothing could destroy our joy, our togetherness. We spent the time sightseeing and on boat trips and when the luggage arrived, we were able to enjoy the beach and even sneak some sunbathing on Roney’s beach chairs.