A couple weeks ago I headed down to Florida to spend a week in the sunshine and beautiful weather. There were a couple reasons I needed to be in Florida, so I decided to just make a trip of it.

At the beginning of the week I needed to be in Miami for the Leisure Lifestyle awards. Along with some of my colleagues, I flew into Miami and headed to the InterContinental Miami. While there for work, we had a team dinner, the event and some other work stuff to take care of. It was a busy but fun beginning of the week, but I was looking forward to my upcoming vacation.

After two and a half days in Miami, it was time for me to head up the coast to Fort Lauderdale. It had been a stressful beginning of the year for me, so I treated myself to a little solo getaway. I wanted to stay right on the beach so I didn’t have to worry about a beach chair or anything else like that, so after some research I booked the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first; but once I arrived, I realized it was a cute little beachside resort, perfect for a solo traveler like me. I had two days to do what I wanted, and I chose to just relax by the pool or at the beach while reading a good book. I didn’t even leave the hotel for meals; the food at the hotel was so good I didn’t want to go anywhere else. Once the night hit, I just wanted to lie in my bed and watch whatever I could find on the TV or continue reading my book — it was the perfect relaxing solo vacation.

Once Thursday hit, I had to pack my things up and make my way over to Delray Beach for my best friend’s bachelorette party. We had a weekend of fun planned, and I couldn’t wait! We started the trip off with a relaxing night at the house, settling and preparing for the rest of the weekend. The next day we had a tiki cruise, which to our surprise had two slides off the top. We spent the ride hanging out, listening to music and spotting houses that belonged to celebrities like Ariana Grande, Adam Sandler and more. Once we got to the swimming spot, we were able to relax in the water, go down the slides and just hang out; it was so much fun! That night we had a hibachi chef come to our house, which was so fun and delicious!

The rest of the trip we just hung around the pool at the house, explored the local night scene and bars, had drinks at the beach bar and celebrated our bride!

It was a much needed week in the Sunshine State for me!

— Mary Melnick, digital content producer