Hot to Travel

Madness in Miami!

2011-01-07T08:44:00.000-08:00

During my New Year's Eve trip to Miami, I managed to lose both my camera and Blackberry...and almost my mind, eventually. My camera and phone went missing during my first night in town while partying at a club called LIV. How I don't exactly know, but all of the sudden, they weren't in my purse and I was tearfully filing a missing property report. I suppose you could blame it on the alcohol? Either way, despite this major setback, I still managed to have an amazing trip.

I adore Miami. This was my fifth or sixth time to South Beach and every time I go, I'm reminded of why I love this city so much. It truly has everything...gorgeous beaches, delicious restaurants, world-class nightlife, amazing Art`Deco architecture and great shopping. The culture in Miami is very cosmopolitan. Every where you go, there are different cultures and foreign languages being spoken. It has a very European vibe, in my opinion.

I usually stay at the Fontainebleau Hotel, which is relatively new and massive. I've also stayed at the Setai (amazing) and Eden Roc on previous trips, but this time, I was booked into the Gansevoort for work. E! was hosting a New Year's Even event on the rooftop there, and the hotel didn't disappoint. When you enter the lobby, they have a giant fishtank with little sharks swimming around...very cool. The hotel used to be a condominium (and still has residences there) so the rooms are very large and spacious and there's restaurants on site, including STK and Phillippe. Also, the location is great. You're right in the middle of everything. The W is right next door and also an excellent option. Honestly, it doesn't matter that much where you stay, because you won't be in the room very much, between the beach, the sightseeing and the nightlife!

Without further ado, here are my Miami must sees:
1. Lincoln Road: This is the perfect place for an evening stroll and to dine al fresco. It's a pedestrian only street with street performers, gardens and fountains in the middle (similar to Third St. Promenade in Santa Monica) which starts after Washington Ave. and goes all the way to Alton Road. Whether you're into shopping, dining or people watching, Lincoln Road has it all. Most of the restaurants offer indoor or outdoor seating, and all of the little cafes shaded by awnings and umbrellas make you feel like you're in Europe.

Famed architect Morris Lapidus (who also redid the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels) was commissioned to redesign it in the 1960's and he did a great job. Today, you can find a performing arts center, movie theater, concert hall, dozens of shops (both high-end and mass market) and tons of fine and casual dining options on Lincoln.

2. Ocean Drive: When you think stereotypical Miami, you're probably picturing Ocean Drive. This bustling street runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean and is full of unique hotels, bars, restaurants and clubs.

It's a fun place to go for brunch, as many of them have breakfast and drink specials (bottomless mimosas, anyone?) and you can dine outside and see the ocean. We didn't get to do this on my last trip, but my friend Katie though it'd be cool to rent bikes and ride around down here. The architecture is very cool and very Miami.

3. Joe's Stone Crab: This was Miami's very first restaurant when it opened in 1913 and there's a reason it's still one of the most popular spots to dine in South Beach today: the food is delicious! Obviously, stone crabs are their claim to fame. The claws are served cold with a mustard dipping sauce by tuxedo-clad waiters and they're a must-try if you like seafood.

If not, there's plenty of chicken and steak options on their menu. They'll ship their famous crabs anywhere but Miami is their only location, so definitely try it. Joe's is constantly busy, so you may want to make a reservation. They're also open for lunch and takeout.

4. The Biltmore Pool: At one time, this was supposedly the world's largest swimming pool.

I was lucky enough to visit the Biltmore on my very first trip to Miami. It's actually outside the city in Coral Gables, and if you're not staying there, you have rent a cabana. They're $89 for 4 people so it's not terribly expensive if you split it. Anyway, it's really gorgeous and has a lot of history. During WWII, the Biltmore was actually converted into a hospital for wounded soldiers. They have poolside happy hour from 5-7 if you just want to go for a drink instead of a swim.

5. Plunge at the Gansevoort Rooftop: This is another beautiful pool, right in South Beach on Collins Ave. In addition to the pool, Plunge offers 360 degree views of the city and the bright blue ocean below you. They also have a deejay spinning music and lots of good-looking people lounging around. Make sure you go during the day, as it tends to get very windy at night since it's on the ocean and so high up. If you're with a big group of girls, say you're celebrating your engagement and you may just score a free bottle of champagne like we did! My fiancee's name was Joshua, FYI.

6. The beach: I can't say enough good things about Miami beaches. They're gorgeous and turquoise and unlike California's, they're actually warm! I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to be swimming in Janauary and not even slightly cold. (One of those specks in the water below is me.) Amazing!

7. The nightlife: Miami nightlife is crazy. They have tons of clubs and in South Beach, people go and stay out late. The clubs don't close until people want to leave and they don't get packed until after midnight. I'll never forget on a prior trip, my friend and I being told that Set was fun on Sundays. We arrived around 11:30 to find it completely empty. "What time does it get good?" I asked a bouncer, who replied, "Around 1:30". On a Sunday night! Toto, we're not in LA anymore.

In my experience, clubs in Miami play much more house and trace music than most places in LA, and a lot of places have cool lights and accompanying visuals. We got to see Kaskade and Tiesto spin one night...it was pretty insane. Liv and Wall are two of the clubs we liked and I hear Mokai is good as well. Avoid Mynt unless you want your ears to ring for days! Just remember to take a disco nap before you go out and drink a Red Bull or something, because Miami parties all night long...which may be why I missed my 10:40 a.m. flight back to LA Sunday morning. Oops!

Happy New Year and happy travels in 2011!

Hanging Loose in Little Beach

2010-11-22T16:46:00.000-08:00

So as I said in the last post, we met a local guy in the bar in Kihei who said he'd take us surfing again. The next day, we set out to try surfing again in Kihei. If you take lessons from Maui Waveriders like we did earlier in the trip, they'll let you rent boards and gear for free next time at either the Lahaina or Kihei location. We got our gear and hit the cove to try and catch some waves. The waves weren't breaking that big, but we were both able to ride a few. We even got up at the same time! I definitely felt like surfing was easier the second time around. It's one of those things that you should really do a few days in row to get the hang of it. After our surfing lessons were over, our new friend asked if we wanted to sightsee some more. Since it was our last full day in Maui, of course we said yes. He asked if we wanted to go to Little Beach, which I'd heard about from other people I talked to. Someone told me that every Sunday, they have a sunset celebration and that you have to climb up a cliff to get there. It sounded pretty cool to me so we decided to do that. Little did I know what I was in for!

First, we stopped to get some beer...apparently, Little Beach was BYOB. Then it was a short drive down to Makena, which is past Wailea. Makena Beach is split into two separate sides. There's Big Beach, which you hit first when you park and walk up. It's 2/3 of a mile long and it's just gorgeous. There's a big shore break here and the waves are pretty big. Even if you don't want to venture over to Little Beach, this is a great place to spend the day (and is appropriate for the whole family).

To access Little Beach, you walk to the right towards the cliff. The cliff was actually created in 1790 by lava flow during an earthquake. You have to do some climbing to reach the other side so wear sturdy shoes if you go. If the tide is high, you may actually have to wade through water to access the cliff!

When we made it to the top, it was quite a scene. As you quickly realize, Little Beach is Maui's only clothing optional beach and there were lots of naked people. This is what we walked into (warning: video contains nudity)....

Every Sunday before sunset, they have a big party, complete with drummers and dancing. And if you want something stronger than beer, there were people on the beach selling weed brownies and mushrooms. Since there's a shorebreak, you can do some serious bodysurfing at Little Beach, and let's just say watching people bodysurf naked is pretty funny. Jana and I opted to keep our suits on, but we did go for a swim, and it was so amazing to actually be in the ocean while the sun was setting. You can see the other islands in the distance as the sun dips down and the drums beat in the background.

And once the sun went down, the party wasn't over. After it gets dark enough, they have firedancers who perform in the drum circle. (And yes, some of them are still naked). Forget forking over money for a luau at some resort...if you want to see a real show, head over to Little Beach on Sunday for a totally unique (and free) experience.

Climbing down the cliff to leave once it's dark out can be challenging, but luckily, someone stands at the halfway point with a torch to light your way. I'd recommend bringing a flashlight too, as that definitely would have come in handy. If you want to visit Little Beach, there's exact directions to it right here. All in all, our trip to Hawaii was amazing. Lanai was lovely and relaxing and Maui was vibrant and beautiful. I can't wait to back again soon. Until next time...

Surf's Up in Maui

2010-11-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

After a lazy two days in Lanai, it was onto the next island: Maui! Jana and I opted to take the Expeditions ferry instead of another small plane. Expeditions is the only ferry that runs out of Lanai and it costs $30 one way. It took about 45 minutes and was very pretty, but you may want to skip this if you're prone to getting seasick. It was definitely rocky the day we went over.

The ferry drops you off in Lahaina, which is busy town with lots of restaurants, bars and shopping. We were planning to take the bus down to our resort in Wailea, since cabs were $90, but Jana wasn't allowed to board the bus because of her huge suitcase. While we were debating our next move, we saw surfing lessons being advertised and decided to take one right then and there. Before we tried riding the waves, we figured we should eat and opted for this little Thai restaurant in Old Lahaina Center called Pad Thai. It was a total hole in the wall but the food was delicious and very reasonably priced. The owner is from Thailand so it was authentic as well.

After getting our fill of chicken Pad Thai, we headed over to Maui Waveriders to get our gear. We paid $50 for a two hour lesson, which included boards, rash guards and boots. I'd tried surfing before in San Diego and wasn't exactly awesome at it, but I'd heard Hawaii was easier to learn at because of the small waves. Fun fact: the people from TLC's Little People, Big World also took lessons with this surf school and were able to get up.

They took us out by the cove in Lahaina to learn. I wasn't crazy about the fact that we were in shallow waters on a rocky reef, but they assured me it was safe. Jana went first and got up on her first try. I think I got up too, but for not as long. She was definitely better than me but everyone in our group managed to ride a wave at least once. One of our instructors even did a headstand while Jana was riding!

After our lesson, I wasn't ready for the Pipeline but I felt like I sort of knew what I was doing. Once we dried off, we decided we'd have to take a cab down to our resort in Wailea. You can negogiate with the cab drivers in Maui. We were able to talk one cabbie into taking us for $65, which is still pricey, but way better than the $90 the first driver quoted us. A lot of people rent cars in Maui so they can see the whole island. Unfortunately, they were out of compacts and small cars in Lahaina and had limited availability. If you're thinking of booking a car, do it in advance.

After about a 45 minute ride, we arrived at the Grand Wailea where we greeted with lovely orchid leis. This resort is a favorite with many celebrities. Britney Spears stayed here with her boyfriend Jason Trawick in September, and Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler shot Just Go With It on the premises as well. Check in was quick, and they had complimentary fresh fruit and yummy juice. The Grand Wailea is definitely grand. The lobby is gorgeous, and is all open-air. This resort is massive and you'll do your fair share of walking if you stay there. They have tons of swimming pools, including ones with a swim up bar, water slides and a lazy river. If you have kids, they'll be in heaven.

I'd heard the Wailea was popular for conferences and corporate events because it can accomodate such large groups, and as were exploring the property, we stumbled upon a private event some company was holding. Participants just so happened to be getting leis as they entered and since we had ours on from arriving, we decided to try and crash the party. It was really easy and we helped ourselves to some free drinks and apps. Once we noticed everyone had name tags, we decided not to push our luck and headed to our room to get ready. The rooms are the Grand are pretty nice, but we were bummed that they didn't have minifridges. We made do by using the ice bucket but a fridge would be nice. We loved picking up a bottle of wine at the ABC store and having happy hour on our balcony while watching the sunset.

All of the hotel restaurants were way overpriced (although there's reasonable options right next door at the Shops at Wailea) and there's not a ton to do to in town, so we opted to explore Kihei, the next town over. We were told by one local that there was some nightlife there, too. A cab to Kihei from Wailea is about $15 one way, but we decided to try the bus (even though the concierge tried to discourage us, saying it would drop us off really far away from the main area). There's a stop fairly close to the hotel, and it actually dropped us off exactly where we wanted to go! Bonus: it only costs $1.

The bus drops you off right in front of Sansei, a local sushi chain in Hawaii. We ate there one night and it was well-priced and delicious, too. They also have late-night karaoke as well, if you're in the mood to sing after your spicy tuna rolls. The nightlife in Kihei is pretty limited to one area called "The Triangle". I'm not sure why, since it's really more of a square, but the main bars are The Dog and Duck, Life's A Beach and Ambrosia. The Dog and Duck has nightly live music and Life's A Beach is a karaoke bar. While we were at The Dog and Duck, we met a local who offered to take us surfing and show us around...which ended up with us at Maui's only naked beach. Seriously. Video of that will be up later this week...check back!

The Simple Life in Lanai

2010-11-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

Aloha! I'm back from an amazing trip to Hawaii and since there was so much to talk about, I figured I'd split my trip into two posts about the two separate islands, Lanai (pictured below) and Maui.

My friend Jana and I arrived at LAX bright and early Wednesday morning and boarded an uneventful American Airlines flight to Honolulu. But when we touched down in Hawaii, we found out our connecting flight on Mokuele Airlines was on a propeller plane that sat 9 people. At check in, we had to weigh ourselves and our luggage and so they could seat us accordingly to balance the tiny plane. Anyone who knows me can attest that I'm a slightly nervous flier (to put it mildly), so we headed to the bar for some liquid courage before boarding...

And even though I was trying to escape Hollywood for a few days, it still managed to follow me to the Honolulu airport. While going to our terminal, I ran into Paris Hilton's boyfriend Cy Waits and his friends who were heading to Molokai, another remote island to hunt wild boar. True story. Paris would be joining them next week for the non-hunting portion of their trip in Kauai.

After downing our drinks, it was time for Jana and I to head to Lanai via our little plane. This is what was waiting for us at the gate:

Despite my hestitation, we boarded the puddle jumper and tried to pretend it was a private jet. After a slight delay on the runway, we were off...and once we were up in the air, it was actually pretty awesome! They flew fairly low so we could see the island and the reefs from the air as we left. We even flew right next to rainbow! I figured that was a good sign and relaxed...a little.

When we touched down in Lanai, I was ready to start my vacation. Lanai is super small and very laid back. Jana kept saying "I feel like we're on Lost!". Apparently, we came during a slow time and we almost had the Four Seasons Manele Bay resort to ourselves. We liked how all of the rooms had empty minifridges, since Jana had packed snacks for our trip, and that the hotel offered free fitness classes. On our first night, we took the shuttle into Lanai City...if you could call it a city. As our bus driver said, "Blink and you might miss it". The "city" consists of a few restaurants, gas stations and not much else.

We tried to go to Pele's, which one traveler recommended, and they stopped seating people at 8 p.m! We settled for pizza and an early night. The next morning, we decided to do some hiking. There were a few different trails by our resort, and we opted to do the legendary Sweetheart's Rock path, which the front desk assistant recommended. It didn't disappoint! The hike was pretty easy and began with us walking along south by the beach until we reached the rocky cliffs. That's when the views got even more amazing.

By the time we reached the top of the summit, we could see the Sweetheart Rock and our entire resort. It was stunning! Don't miss this if you ever visit Lanai.

After we got our hike on, we decided to hit the beautiful beach in front of our hotel.

The Four Seasons has tons of good freebies, and we're not just talking about your standard beach towels and chairs. They had free umbrellas, ice water, lemonade, cold hand towels and snorkel equipment.

We laid out for awhile and watched the spinner dolphins swimming in the bay. Apparently they're frequent visitors and the staff won't check out snorkeling gear when they're in the vicinity, so we just relaxed and read our books. Ironically, Jana had brought Swimsuit by James Patterson, about a serial killer on the loose in Maui. He also kills someone on Lanai and in Kihei (which we visited later in the trip). It definitely made me lock the patio doors at night!

Once the dolphins finished playing, we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed down the south side of the beach by the rocks. The water was so clear and you could see lots of colorful fish by the reef. We even saw an eel, and suddenly, that was enough snorkeling for us that day!

For our second and last night in Lanai, we decided to attempt a bar crawl. First, we hit the pool bar for happy hour. Although everything at the Four Seasons is pretty expensive, they had a good half price happy hour from 4-5.

Then, we took the shuttle up to The Lodge, the other Four Seasons property on the island. It's located up in the mountains and had a very rustic feel to it, complete with fireplaces in the lobby. Although it was cool to see, I was glad our hotel was by the beach. The Lodge wasn't that happening so we headed to Pele's (again) for their happy hour.

This time, we made it. All of their appetizers are half price until 8 p.m. and beer and wine was discounted, too. There were a few other people there, but it definitely wasn't crowded. That was the extent of our search for nightlife. If you're looking for a party, Lanai isn't the place to go. But if you want some peaceful relaxation in a beautiful oceanfront setting, I'd definitely recommend a visit. Just ask Bill Gates. He got married on the golf course at Manele Bay in 1994 and rented out the entire resort to ensure his privacy.

If you'd like to visit Lanai and the Four Seasons rates are out of your price range, there's one other option on the island: Hotel Lanai. It's located in the "city" but you can easily take the Four Seasons shuttle to the beach and rooms start at $99 a night. The restaurant there is supposed be excellent, too.

Lanai was a great place to start our trip and get into mellow vacation mode. Our next stop, Maui, was way more exciting. Check back here for more pictures and video soon!

Aloha!

2010-10-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! You may know me as E! Online's Hollywood Party Girl, but in this blog, I won't be discussing Paris or Lindsay...unless we're talking about Paris, France, of course.

I've always loved traveling and have been to Croatia, Australia, Spain and all over the US, Carribean and Mexico, but never took the time to document my trips beyond Facebook photo albums.

They say there's no time like the present and since I just booked a trip to Hawaii, I figured I'd seize the day and get started on this. I've been to Hawaii twice before, but only visited Oahu. I did a lot during my time Oahu, including swimming with sharks, hiking Diamonhead (view above) and checking out President Obama's beachy hometown (photo below).

This time, I'm going to the islands of Lanai and Maui and staying in the Four Seasons Manele Bay and the Grand Wailea. I'll be reviewing hotels, sharing my stories, travel tips, photos and maybe even video if I get fancy.

So the countdown starts now: 10 days until I'm headed to Hawaii. Have you ever visited Lanai or Maui? Tell me what I need to see below!