Florida In June
If Florida was created to escape the single-digit winter temperatures that we experience in New York, what’s the point of flying down to South Florida to trade hot, sunny days up north for hotter and even more humid days down south? This meteorological conundrum is about the old Florida that our bubbies and zaidesused to frequent. Today, the hills of Boca Raton and Boynton Beach are alive with more than just a place to escape the grasp of Zohran Mamdani, which is definitely a valid enough reason to want to escape New York.
I heard a radio personality commenting the other day that it seems odd to refer to Covid and Bill de Blasio as representing the “good old days.” While Covid and de Blasio are mostly gone, Mayor Mamdani and his new generation of progressive politicians are reason enough to pine for the “good old days.”
If you’re one of those types who abhors Florida in the summer because of the hot and humid weather, the truth is that over the last few days, it was just as hot in New York as it was in South Florida. Last Friday afternoon it was 82 degrees in South Florida. At the same time, it was 88 degrees in New York. Another observation about the warm summer months in Florida is that last Thursday afternoon’s Jet Blue flight from JFK was only about a third full. In fact, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen JFK so empty and PBI looking equally quiet.
Every time we fly down to Florida, I think I’ve discovered the perfect time to travel hassle-free from JFK to PBI, only to find that when I try to replicate the scenario, the exact opposite happens and the airports are unbelievably packed.
At the start of this escapade, I first tried flying Delta but couldn’t figure out what I was earning in terms of “points” so I could at least feel as if we were flying for free after a while. The Jet Blue system was impossible to understand at first, but the more I spoke to people, the clearer it became how to earn free flights along with a few other important perks.
For starters, there’s the matter of paying for luggage on a flight. Before we earned enough Jet Blue points on our credit card, it cost anywhere from $75 to $100 per bag to ship a piece of luggage from New York to Florida. The bags were limited in size to 50 lbs., and your carry-on bags had to be a certain size as well.
Well, we finally used the credit card enough last year to jump to Level 2 of Jet Blue’s Mosaic program. I don’t know who thought up this system, but now we almost always have enough points to book our trips to PBI with no cash outlay. In addition, our suitcases can be up to 70 lbs. instead of 50, and we don’t have to pay for any of our bags. In addition, there’s a special check-in counter for Mosaic customers, which means no lines. In addition, if your bags are tagged as “Mosaic,” they usually come down the carousel first, which is great since it means we’re usually the first ones out of the terminal.
So, while it seems that Florida is pretty empty in June, the truth of the matter is that we really wanted to see what it was like to be down here in June. So, these are our findings: It’s hot here and it’s hot in New York. On some days there’s a fair dose of humidity in the air to accompany the temperatures in the 80s and 90s. But then again, on days like last Shabbos, there was a hot, penetrating sun with no real humidity to speak of.
As far back as I can recall, there were always neighbors in New York who would spend an entire summer with their kids in Florida. But those were aberrations. Most people who wanted to do something special for the summer packed up their bags for their annual trip to the Catskills.
We did that for almost a decade when the kids were very young. I’m talking about ages in single digits. I remember my dad coming up from the city to our bungalow in Ulster Heights as late as midnight on Thursday night and taking an extra day off after the weekend, so he didn’t return to his office in the city until Tuesday morning.
Later, I followed a similar pattern with some nuanced changes. I’d skip out of my office in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday afternoon and arrive at our bungalow at around 6 p.m. There were times over that decade that I had to leave on Sunday afternoon because I was hosting a radio show in the city from 10 p.m. to midnight. When I wasn’t doing that, I’d leave Ferndale at about 6 a.m. and if traffic flowed in my direction, I’d step into my office by 9 a.m.
Those were tough times because of the primitive communications that were in place if someone needed to reach you, such as pagers. For a couple of years, that meant I had to pull over and find a payphone and call the number that was beeping me. That was annoying and usually amounted to little or nothing but still the call had to be made.
In a way, I miss the solitude that was driving on the Palisades Interstate Parkway and then the New York State Thruway. The drive back to the city on Monday morning was less enjoyable because there were no phones in the cars and I had to review in my mind all the things I had to do that day and throughout the week. I don’t miss those things in any way, shape, or form.
There’s no denying that the Catskills are inextricably linked to Jewish life. Today, on the properties where dilapidated bungalows once stood, families have built magnificent homes with up to ten bedrooms plus additional amenities to make summer what it’s supposed to be: enjoyable.
As far back as I can remember, there were families that spent the summer in hot, steamy Florida, with the men flying down to Miami on Thursday night and catching the 6 a.m. flight back to New York on Monday morning. That was, of course, a step up from taking the Thruway to or from the Monticello or Woodbridge exit.
While it’s true that it is indeed difficult to break away from the traditions and habits of our parents, today’s South Florida offers a mostly year-round opportunity for a quick getaway from your usual routine. It really doesn’t matter anymore whether it’s January or June, it’s hot down here in Florida and the people have adapted to living in a tropical weather environment and atmosphere.
The great dichotomy is that in New York you can have a rainy day, while down in Florida, the sun can be shining one minute and ten minutes later, you can have a torrential downpour that resembles a monsoon. Then, a few minutes later—the sun is shining brightly again.
Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
