| WV USA- 2004-2005 | |
| Miami Spanish Student Field Trip Itinerary | |
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| Click here for a printable PDF of the Miami 3-day Spanish Itinerary. | |
| Day 1 | |
| 1:30 PM | BIENVENIDOS a Miami International Airport. Deboard your plane, meet your bilingual Winged Victory USA tour guide at your baggage carousel area, and gather your bags. |
| 2:15 PM | After collecting your luggage, meet your deluxe, climate-controlled motorcoach and begin a Miami city site-seeing tour which will include Little Havana and Calle Ocho. |
| 4:30 PM | Arrive and check in to your rooms at the Miami Airport Hilton. Experience tropical seclusion, exclusive accommodations, 30,000 square feet of newly renovated function space, and extraordinary dining - all at Hilton Miami Airport. Shady palm trees surround our hotel, situated on a private peninsula in the heart of Blue Lagoon, a 100- acre freshwater lake. Downtown Miami, Miami International Airport, the Port of Miami, Coconut Grove, South Beach, and several golf courses are just minutes away. Refreshing recreation includes our jogging trail along scenic Blue Lagoon lake, a 3,000-squarefoot swimming pool, and tennis and basketball courts. Start planning your unforgettable getaway today! |
| 6:30 PM | Reassemble in the lobby, then board your bus and depart for a Spanish dinner. |
| 7:15 PM | Enjoy a Spanish dinner at Café Tu Tu Tango! Starting in Coconut Grove in 1991, CAFÉ TU TU TANGO opened its doors and immediately became a must for anyone visiting Miami, a favorite among tourists and locals alike. During your meal, enjoy entertainment by a Latin Tango/Salsa Dancer…...A very exciting, high erergy performance to a stimulating latin beat! |
| 8:30 PM | Despues de la cena, you will have a little free time in CocoWalk of Coconut Grove for souvenir shopping. |
| 9:15 PM | Return to your hotel. |
| 10:00 PM | Overnight security begins. |
| Day 2 | |
| 8:00 AM | Enjoy a continental breakfast in the hotel, which will include: Orange Juice, Cereal, Milk, Donuts, Pastries, and Coffee. |
| 9:15 AM | Reassemble in the lobby, meet your guide and meet the bus to depart for your morning activity. |
| 10:00 AM | Arrive at the Ancient Spanish Monastery: the oldest building in the Western Hemisphere. The
Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux was built in Sacramenia, in the Province of Segovia,
Spain, during the period 1133-1141. Cistercian monks occupied the monastery for nearly 700
years. The cloisters were seized, sold, and converted into a granary and stable due to a social
revolution in that area in the mid 1830's. In 1925 William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery's outbuildings. The structures were dismantled stone by stone, bound with protective hay, packed in some 11,000 wooden crates, numbered for identification and shipped to the United States. About that time, hoof and mouth disease had broken out in Segovia, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fearing possible contagion, quarantined the shipment upon its arrival, broke open the crates and burned the hay, a possible carrier of the disease. Unfortunately, the workmen failed to replace the stones in the same numbered boxes before moving them to a warehouse. Soon after the shipment arrived, Hearst's financial problems forced most of his collection to be sold at auction. The stones remained in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, for 26 years. One year after Hearts' death in 1952, they were purchased by Messrs. W. Edgemon and R. Moss for use as a tourist attraction. It took 19 months and almost $1.5 million dollars to put the Monastery back together. Some of the unmatched stones still remain in the back lot; others were used in the construction of the present Church's Parish Hall. |
| 10:45 AM | Meet the bus and transfer to the nearby Aventura Mall. Here you will eat lunch at your own expense. |
| 12:15 PM | After lunch, meet the bus and transfer to the Seaquarium. |
| 12:45 PM | Arrive at the Miami Seaquarium, located on the beautiful Biscayne Bay, just minutes from downtown. Here you will spend the afternoon, where your visit will be highlighted with a truly unforgettable performance by Lolita, a 6000 pound killer whale. |
| 3:00 PM | Meet the bus and depart for Bayside Marketplace for a 3:30pm check-in time at Island Queen Cruises. |
| 4:00 PM | Begin your hour and a half sightseeing cruise on Biscayne Bay. The Island Queen Company
has been a family operated business for over 50 years. It specializes in sight-seeing tours
along Miami's Biscayne Bay, featuring the homes of the rich and famous known as "Millionaires
Row". Gaze into the backyards, of the rich and famous by taking a relaxing cruise on the Island
Queen. Spotting celebrities has always been a popular pastime in Miami, and the Island Queen can take up to 140 passengers per trip. Narration is provided in English and Spanish, and the leisurely one-and-a-half hour cruise takes you alongside the Port of Miami, past towering cruise ships and international freight carriers. The boat then heads to Fisher Island for a closer look at the $500,000 and up condominiums owned by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Boris Becker, Mel Brooks, Ann Bancroft, Paul Newman and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Cruising by Star Island, you can peek into the backyards of Rosie O'Donnell's and Gloria Estefan's estates. Other properties of interest include the honeymoon cottage of Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher and the house used in the film "The Specialist" starring Sharon Stone and Sylvestor Stallone. On Palm Island you can practically peer into the guard house at Al Capone's old abode. |
| 5:30 PM | Afterwards, walk to dinner. |
| 6:00 PM | Arrive for your dinner reservation at Los Ranchos, a fine Nicaraguan restaurant at the water's
edge at Bayside Marketplace. Los Ranchos - In the late seventies, when the Central American region was experiencing political upheaval and revolution, four savy Nicaraguanborn entrepreneurs arrived in the city of Miami to escape the newly established communist goverment in their country. Between the four of them, they launched the first Los Ranchos restaurant in J1981, thereby introducing to Miami's multi-cultural society the heartiness and richness of Los Ranchos now internationally renown signature dishes. |
| 7:15 PM | Despues de la cena, you'll have 90 minutes of free time at Bayside Marketplace. |
| 8:45 PM | Meet the bus and return to your hotel. |
| 9:30 PM | Overnight security begins. |
| Day 3 | |
| 7:45 AM | Meet your guide in the lobby, board the bus and depart for breakfast on Calle Ocho. |
| 8:30 AM | Arrive at Versailles for your authentic Cuban breakfast. Almost as famous as its palatial namesake in France, Versailles is a kitschy, iconoclastic Cuban diner with wall-to-wall mirrors, a constant buzz of activity, and a mammoth, unabridged bilingual menu featuring every dish known to the culture. If you're feeling adventurous, Versailles is a fun place to grab a postclubbing midnight snack of Cuban sandwiches and potent cafe Cubano. Everything here is full of flavor, as are the people who frequent the place. |
| 9:30 AM | Depart for your morning activity. |
| 10:00 AM | Arrive for a 10:00am visit to the Miami Museum of Science and the Smithsonian’s Latin America Expedition exhibit (featuring an Olmec Giant head, at right, among many, many other artifacts). This marvelous exhibit is on a long-term loan to the Miami Museum of Science for an indefinite period. |
| 11:15 AM | Transfer to lunch at your own expense at CocoWalk in Coconut Grove. |
| 12:30 PM | Meet the bus and depart for a Half-Day EVERGLADES TOUR hosted by Style Ventures. Venture into a unique wilderness, the Everglades, and discover a complex ecosystem known for its abounding variety of life. Enjoy an airboat ride and view animals in their natural habitat. Become acquainted with the Everglades’ most notorious creature, the alligator, in an educational wildlife show. Learn about Florida’s first inhabitants by touring an Indian village. A knowledgeable guide will enhance your experience by relating facts about this fascinating natural phenomenon. You should return to the hotel by 4:30pm. |
| 5:30 PM | Reassemble in the lobby, then board your bus and depart for dinner. |
| 6:15 PM | Enjoy a waterfront dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant! Life is Like a Box of Chocolates…..Bubba taught Forest Gump all he needed to know about the shrimpin' business! The restaurant shares recipes from his mama, Bubbba's mama, Lieutenant Dan and Jenny! |
| 7:15 PM | Despues de la cena, transfer to your Latin Dance Lesson. |
| 8:00 PM | Enjoy a 1.5 hour Latin Dance Lesson at the Latin Heat Dance Studio in Miami, which will include professional instruction in the Salsa and Mambo! |
| 9:30 PM | Return to the hotel. |
| 10:00 PM | Overnight security begins. |
| Day 4 | |
| 8:00 AM | Enjoy a continental breakfast in the hotel, which will include: Orange Juice, Cereal, Milk, Donuts, Pastries, and Coffee. |
| 9:15 AM | Check out of your rooms, place your bags on the bus, meet your guide in the lobby and depart for the Monkey Jungle. |
| 10:00 AM | Arrive at Monkey Jungle where the Wilds of South America, Asia and Africa come to life with this jungle safari escape as crab-eating monkeys dive for treats. A lush, tropical Amzaonian-style rain forest is filled with hundreds of exotic monkeys. Grounds also contain one of the South Florida’s richest fossil deposits. Exhibits include rare Amazon parrots, the Cameroon Jungle and the Lemurs of Madagascar. . |
| 12:00 PM | Meet the bus, say your goodbyes and thanks yous to your tour guide, and begin your journey home, exhausted yet forever enriched. |
| Your trip also includes: | |
| A customized, keepsake DVD for each student and group leader, made from photographs taken with a camera that we will loan you for your trip. The images are downloaded, set to music, and then mailed back to you on a DVD to enjoy for years to come! A comprehensive Travel Protection Plan, underwritten by Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company and administered by Trip Mate, Inc. is included in the price of the trip. This Plan provides benefits such as Pre-Departure Trip Cancellation, Medical Expense Emergency Assistance, Travel Delay, Baggage and Baggage Delay. A Travel Insurance Certificate will be provided to your child’s teacher for each child on the trip. Liability Insurance - WINGED VICTORY USA carries $2,000,000 in Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions insurance. |
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