Wow – to say it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged is an understatement. After senior year, college graduation, sickness, and the job hunt I feel like I haven’t had a chance to take a breath. Now that things are finally settled down, I’m hoping to devote more time for blogging.
I’ve always wanted to go on a trip for my birthday. I LOVE my birthday (almost as much as Stassi loves hers), and with this past year not being my best, we thought it would be best to do something extra-special. I have a list of locations on my phone that I’m DYING to go to, so we sat down and picked Palm Beach from the list for a quick weekend trip.
We flew down on a Friday morning on a direct flight from BWI to PBI. We got in around 2pm, and headed straight to the hotel. We chose to stay at The Four Seasons Palm Beach which was beautiful. Our room wasn’t ready, so we grabbed lunch at Seaway, their new restaurant right by the water. After lunch, we laid low by the pool and the beach. Their property was so calm, pristine, and picturesque. The colors were amazing and I still can’t get over how pretty it looks in photos!
I didn’t pack much for my trip, and I didn’t order anything special, so I tried to ‘shop my closet’ and pull out items I haven’t worn much. I tried not to wear makeup as well, so I didn’t take too many pictures of myself. Here are the only two of myself that I have from the trip! They had a cocktail named The Slim’s (a nod to Slim Aarons) which I had to try. (Side note: I’m not on any medicine right now where it would interfere with alcohol, so I did have one drink because I was on vacation and couldn’t pass up a drink named after an artist!)
After spending the afternoon by the pool and the beach, we went to get ready for dinner. We decided to eat at Florie’s, the restaurant at the hotel. I wore my striped maxi dress and un-intentionally matched with the staff! The restaurant is adorned with Slim Aarons photographs that capture Palm Beach. The blush pink, greens, and blues create the most relaxing environment. The chef is a 3-Michelin star chef, so the food was amazing, and unlike anything I’ve seen before. If you’re in Palm Beach, Florie’s is a MUST for dinner.
After dinner, we went to bed early. The next morning, we ordered room service for breakfast (my favorite thing to do) and got ready slowly. We left the hotel around 10:30 to head to Worth Avenue and Royal Poinciana for shopping. We started off at Worth Avenue and it was gorgeous. Almost no one was out so we had the whole street to ourselves. Our first stop was the Lilly store, of course! I’m obsessed with this print so I picked up this adorable dress.
We stopped at several other stores throughout the afternoon: Stubbs and Wooton, Stoney Clover Lane, Palm Beach Sandals, but my absolute favorite was Lycette. I didn’t take any pictures because I was too busy chatting with the owner, but I picked up two needlepoint canvases. That was my favorite store that we stopped at on the trip. For lunch, we dined at Bice which was one of our highlights. Fresh pasta outside in Palm Beach? Any day. This is a must eat if you visit. After lunch, we stopped in plenty of other stores and made our way to the Restoration Hardware since we heard there’s a rooftop restaurant! It was such an interesting store concept and we had a lot of fun walking through it.
Then, we headed back to The Four Seasons Palm Beach for some more pool and beach time. There were s’mores by the pool which was a cute touch. We also ordered the Grasshopper Ice Cream Cookie sandwich which was amazing. Nothing wrong with a little dessert before dinner! I can’t get over how picturesque the colors at the hotel were. Everything was so on brand. Since we ate so many sweets, we weren’t that hungry for dinner. We sat at the bar at Florie’s and had a few small bites before heading to bed.
On Sunday, we woke up and had an amazing breakfast back at Florie’s. Unfortunately their brunch didn’t start until after we left, but based on the breakfast we had I’m sure their brunch is amazing. My favorite item was the Lavender Latte. We headed back to the room and packed up and headed to the airport. It was so hard to leave, but we had a fantastic (but short) trip.
After every trip, we sit down and talk about what we liked/didn’t like and what we would do different next time. It sounds crazy to analyze a trip, but I think this helps us become better travelers, and also ensures that each trip should be better from the last. I also wanted to let you all know in case you were thinking of booking at The Four Seasons Palm Beach. So, what would I do differently if we went back to Palm Beach?
- Stay closer to Worth Avenue at a more Resort-hotel. While The Four Seasons Palm Beach was wonderful, it was around a 20 minute drive to Worth Avenue. There wasn’t much to do around our hotel, and by Saturday night we found that we had done everything our hotel had to offer. It felt more boutique-y than resort, so that’s something to note. I know many hotels near Worth Avenue offer free bikes to guests to explore which would have been a lot of fun.
- Fly in/out at different times. Since we already took off Friday for work, I would have flown out on Thursday night so we could have had a full day on Friday. It just helps maximize your time if you’re only going somewhere for a weekend. I found myself getting extremely tired after travel, so perhaps it’s best for me to travel at night so I can sleep in our hotel and wake up the next day ready to go.
- Stay for Sunday Brunch. This goes off what I said above. The Brunch options in Palm Beach are UNREAL, and I really wish we had a later flight on Sunday so we could have gone.
- Visit The Breakers! We didn’t get to make it, and I really wish we had. I think it would be so fun to visit each of the major hotels in Palm Beach, including The Colony. We simply didn’t have enough time, but that’s okay since it gives us a reason to go back!
It really is such a gorgeous hotel and perfect for a short weekend trip, but I might try something new when I go back. The staff were incredible, the food was delicious, and the property was pristine. I would just like to be closer to Worth Avenue when we go back!
I wanted to close with a question I get a lot: “How do you live a normal life/travel with POTS?”
The answer is that I don’t. My life isn’t normal, but there’s no such thing as normal, so I do what works best for me and my health team. This means extra rest, extra medication, and extra prep and planning.
When I travel, there’s a lot of prep work that goes in to it. It’s often difficult because I can’t plan when I’m feeling good or bad, so my doctors and my home nurse and I have devoted a plan so that I can hopefully make it through the trip without too many symptoms. Even through all that, I still got sick my first night, so it really wasn’t as glamorous as the pictures I took. I know several people with POTS read my blog, and wonder how I travel, so I wanted to make that clear. Remember, with most bloggers, you’re only seeing their highlights, so it’s easy to look like I’m not sick. I only travel when I’m feeling well enough and if my doctors and nurse (and family) think that it’s okay. Thankfully, other than the first night, we had an amazing trip. I’m still recovering, but it was definitely worth it.
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