Miami

Image: alreadytaken, Flickr (license)

Walt Disney World is a crazy place to vacation, with a do-this/do-that pace that can make you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. But, if you’re someone who thrives on that kind of energy and adrenaline rush, why not go to Florida’s most exciting city for the second part of your vacation?

Miami is everything you expect it to be, and more. The food, heavily influenced by both its Cuban population and its relocated-New Yorker contingent, is world class cuisine on-par with some of the best food cities in the country. The art, fueled by the world-renowned Art Basel festival in the city, is some of the best you’ll find in any city in the world.

And, of course, there’s the fashion, music, and style. Miami might call to mind a tacky 1980s aesthetic, but the real thing isn’t quite as lame as that. Influenced by the 1980s, modern Miami is more a cosmopolitan melting pot — with a bit of America, Madrid, Paris, and Rome.

Miami has everything you’d want in a vacation, from pro-sports to great museums to the iconic South Beach and amazing restaurants. It’s worth a visit, for sure.

The Keys

Image: GR, Flickr (license)

Or, if the excitement of Miami seems to much for you, keep driving south until you run out of road. The Florida Keys are like a country unto themselves — so much so that the southern keys even half-heartedly tried to declared themselves “the Conch Republic” years ago.

They weren’t successful, however, because a necessity for Keys life is a carefree air and the determination not to be determined to do anything. Keys life is simple, things open and close when their owners want and not a minute sooner or later. Shops and restaurants might sit dark because the shopkeeper decided to go snorkeling that day, and you know what, god bless ‘em.

The views in the Keys are like no place on earth — looking one direction will show you the Atlantic Ocean, and the other will show you the Gulf of Mexico. The tiny sandbars in between play host to all manner of tourist life, from seafood shacks to roadside bars to mini golf courses to snorkeling coves.

The Keys are for everyone — the perfect place to disconnect and forget about the real world. Just be careful — many who came before did the same thing ... and just never left.