I spent last week in Palm Beach for what was SUPPOSED to be a nice relaxing little trip away from the cold, but quickly went south when I realized I was only going to have one day of sun! Keep reading to see how I stayed sane and kept busy while it rained all week…
Day 1:
I am so glad I booked an early flight on my first day, because I found out right before I left that it would be the ONLY day of sun, and I definitely wanted to take advantage. I also felt like for such a short trip, it would have been a waste to get there later in the day regardless of the weather.
I landed in Palm Beach at 9:30am, ELATED to be standing outside in a tshirt and biker shorts! I got to my AirBnb quickly, and was able to go straight to my little cottage, which was already cleaned and set up for me. I fell in love with it instantly!
In case you missed the video on my Instagram stories, it was the CUTEST little guest house set behind the main house, with a path through the backyard leading to it through what looked like a jungle. The cottage itself was also cute and the perfect size, and everything was brand new because she had just renovated it (she said it used to be a garage!) I had my own bathroom AND my own mini kitchen with a mini fridge!
For anyone that knows me and my struggles of living at home with my family, they would understand why having a mini kitchen in my room was such a luxury! Half the reason I took this vacation in the first place was to get a break from my family and house, so this was already satisfying that requirement!
Anyway, after putting my stuff down in the room, I quickly changed to head out to the beach. It was only a mile or two away, but I took a Lyft because I didn’t feel like walking that far and having to cross a bridge on foot. I was just READ-TY to be there!
The first moment of walking onto the beach was pure bliss – as it always is – but unfortunately I got hungry pretty fast. After about an hour of laying out and trying to get my tan on – despite some clouds and wind – I decided to go get some food at the restaurant on the pier, right next to where I was.
The restaurant was more modern than I expected and had great options on the menu – too many in fact – and because it was on the pier it meant I had a direct view of the beach and could also keep tanning at my table! I stayed there for over an hour, enjoying every moment of it.
After lunch I went back to the beach, laid face down and passed TF out for an hour. It was amazing! Even though I didn’t burn, I felt like I had enough sun for one day, so I went back to my AirBnb. Then I showered and went for a walk to explore, get some coffee, and pick up a few groceries for the week.
The place I was staying was in Lake Worth, about fifteen minutes south of West Palm Beach. It was cute, but there wasn’t much to do there. I got sushi in the downtown little area that night, but I knew I wasn’t going to go back there again because I had literally seen it all already lol.
Day 2:
I woke up to rain and was just like fuckkk! I obviously knew it was coming, but I just felt very depressed and unmotivated. I had to get up early that morning for a phone interview, and then I made coffee and had breakfast in my room and laid around for hours before coming up with a plan.
Despite the weather being crappy, it was still warm and I figured I would rather walk around and do SOMETHING than sit in the room all day going crazy. I got dressed and took a Lyft to West Palm, where I got coffee and walked around exploring for a few hours.
After I had seen pretty much all of WPB, I crossed the bridge and walked around Palm Beach. I walked to the beach and sat there for a bit, contemplating life and just trying to enjoy being by the ocean regardless of the weather. There wasn’t much to see or explore in Palm Beach (aside from expensive houses and designer stores I had never even heard of), so I stopped at Starbucks and then went “home”.
I got back around 6 and spent the rest of the night watching Astronomy Club on Netflix and Vlogmas videos on YouTube, with a short break to walk to Publix for chocolate and better coffee than the shitty one they provided at the AirBnb. It was actually exactly the chill relaxing night I needed, especially after walking around all day.
Day 3:
The third day started off the same as the day before: wake up early for a phone interview and eat breakfast in the room, then lay around for hours trying to decide what to do. Since I had quite literally seen everything already by that point, I was really at a loss and had to start getting creative! Luckily, I had met two girls on my last trip to Miami who live in Palm Beach and had plans with them that night, so I just had to keep myself busy until then.
It is ironic how easy it is to waste a whole day at home doing nothing and being perfectly fine with it, but when you are on vacation – especially a SHORT vacation whose express purpose was for the beach and nice weather – it can be really frustrating. Not to mention, the forecast for the next week was PERFECT, and I was just really upset.
I tried to keep reminding myself that there was nothing I could do about it, either while planning (the prices for the next week, during Christmas, were INSANE) or in the moment (I was already there and I can’t change the weather!), but it didn’t stop me from being upset and frustrated.
At that point, I had to accept that it sucked and I was mad, and just figure out a plan anyway. I decided to go see a movie in West Palm beach, and then go from there. The movie I saw was very long (which is great when you’re trying to kill time) and ended up being a fantastic movie! It was called Knives Out if anyone wants to see it.
The next move was obviously getting food, and luckily as soon as I walked out the theater, I found a restaurant with a cute bar outside. I got some tiny but delicious tacos and a gin & tonic that put me on my ass! And it was happy hour so the drink was half price – yay!
Afterwards, I tipsily walked around the outdoor mall the movie theater was in, spending a very long time in Sephora doing my makeup lol. It was still hours before I was going to meet with my friends, but I didn’t feel like going back to the AirBnb (or wasting money on Lyfts), so I decided to just find more ways to kill time.
My next move was getting coffee and going to the library to read magazines. I found a comfy little corner, plugged my phone in, and spent over an hour and a half there. It was actually perfect, and a really great way to kill time!
My friend was finally ready to meet up, so I walked across town to this place called Grandview Public Market, which is a warehouse converted into an eatery, with bars, restaurants and shops. It was like Union Market in DC, or any of the similar places they have in many cities these days.
I got way better tacos and an aqua fresca, and spent a long time catching up with my friend and telling each other dating horror stories. We had a lot of fun, and it totally made me forget about how bored I was earlier!
Day 4:
I woke up on Friday feeling excited for the first time on my trip, because I would be taking a train down to Miami for the day! My Lyft driver the day before told me about a train called Brightline that goes straight to Miami, with the station right in downtown West Palm. I looked it up later and saw the tickets were only $20 each way, and since I had OFFICIALLY done every damn thing you could do in Palm Beach, decided that was really my only option anyway!
The morning of, when I went to buy my tickets, I discovered that I could get a free roundtrip ticket for being a new rider. Fuck yes!!! I booked the 11:30 am train down and the 9:40 train back, figuring that would be plenty of time to explore and see my other friend for a bit. It was nice not having to get up early or rush to the train, since that’s the last thing I ever want to do, let alone on vacation!
The train itself was SUPER nice, and I had almost a whole section to myself! Once I arrived in Miami, I immediately got another Lyft to Wynwood, where I planned on spending most of the afternoon. The train tickets also came with a promo code to get $5 off any ride to or from a Brightline station, so I was racking up these discounts!
Once in Wynwood, my first objective was to find a quiet space for my third phone interview of the week. It ended up being a total fail, because the coffee shop I posted up at was so loud that I ended up having to get up and walk somewhere else, and of course school got out at that moment so there was a bunch of loud kids in the street as well! Meanwhile, on the other end of the phone was a panel of interviewers asking me a structured set of questions, which I answered so horribly cuz I was so distracted and kept talking in circles. Miraculously, they actually asked me to come in next week for a follow up though!
Anyway, once I got that out of the way, it was time for the fun part! My first stop was getting some food: I settled on a poke bowl that was not honestly that good but got the job done.
After that, I went to a place I discovered on my last trip to Miami to get some dessert and a matcha latte, then walked around taking pics. It was the only day that I used my camera the whole trip, and I am glad I brought it because there was so much to capture!
There are tons of murals all over Wynwood, which change all the time so there is always something new to see!
I also found a pop-up installation by Levi’s, which I went crazy taking pics of because I LOVED the tropical villa vibe!
Once I had enough of Wynwood, I took a Lyft up the street to the Design District, which I had actually never been to before! My first stop was the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the ICA. It was kind of ridiculous that they charged $15 considering it was only one room which they gave you ONE MINUTE in, but it was still cool and since I missed her exhibit in DC, I felt like I had to go!
I walked around and took some more pics, and admired the pretty designer stores but didn’t bother going into any of them lol.
I was about to leave the area when it started raining again, but luckily I randomly stumbled into a cafe called Pura Vida, which I saw on Instagram one time and fell in love with but completely forgot until I passed by it. I got a latte and a mini almond cake (yes I had two desserts and lattes back to back lol) and hung out there for a while, charging my phone, taking pics, and waiting out the rain.
My friend was supposed to get off at 6, but she works in South Beach, so I knew it would take her forever to meet up with me anyways. By then I was a pro at killing time, so I walked to Target a few blocks away to get some Tylenol and a pair of headphones for the train ride back. After that I went to Marshall’s, then Footlocker…then I was like ok that’s enough money haha and went to Starbucks to sit and wait for my friend.
Luckily, she had to stop at the Ross in Midtown, where I was at that moment, so I met her there when she finally arrived at 8. We eventually made it to dinner at 9, at which point I was starving and we were BOTH ready for a drink! Luckily, we went to a bar/restaurant where her friends work (called SuViche), and they hooked us up! We split two dishes and got three drinks each for free! It was the perfect Friday night and end to my trip.
Day 5:
I woke up on the later side and took my time getting up and packing, since my flight wasn’t until 12:30. It was so nice to relax all morning, have breakfast and coffee in my room, leave the door open and listen to music while packing my stuff up.
The last day was bittersweet, but I ended on a positive note, feeling happy that I made the most of my short trip. I usually find a way to turn things around – even my last trip to Miami started off pretty rocky – but it takes a lot of effort and practice to be able to do so!
Even though it was a good trip overall, I would say I will not be going back to Palm Beach, since it was pretty boring compared to Miami and I definitely have done everything there already! Miami is like my second home now, so that is officially my go-to spot for a quick getaway. Which I will be needing soon since winter just started and I didn’t get the nice weather I went down for!!
Although I am already a self-proclaimed pro at solo traveling, I felt like I had to really push through my negativity about the weather and lack of things to do in order to enjoy this trip. In the end, I definitely accomplished that, so I can tell you that it is totally possible to save any trip as long as you are willing to accept the situation and come up with a new plan! If anyone wants some tips on solo traveling, stay tuned because a blog post will be coming soon!
