Ocean Palm Motel

Ok, I understand the appeal of beach proximity. But seriously, if you cannot afford Miami and your budget forces you to stay here, then perhaps you should vacation somewhere else. On the plus side, the beach is right there and the people that run the place are friendly and laid-​back. Now, the negatives: Window shades are really flimsy, and there are insanely bright lights on the outside walkways. So, bottom line, in the middle of the night, you room is lit up like a Christmas tree. I like darkness when I sleep, so that didn’t do it for me. The state of the room is a little off-​putting: Furniture is busted, I didn’t want to walk bare-​foot on the bathroom tile (I actually showered in flip-​flops…), the carpet and mattress seemed like hand-​me-​down throw-​backs from the 70s. Carpet had some sort of foreign material stuck to it in places. No safe, towels are torn, no real bed sheets, everything is old, worn, musty and dusty, like an old urban boxing gym. The smell of dampness and mold permeates everything. There was a fridge, but it didn’t work. Internet access was advertised, but I never got it to work and I gave up. Outside, there’s some unfinished concrete structure that never quite made it into a building and reminds you of ground zero, about 8 years ago. The thought of entering the pool was immediately associated with skin diseases that were eradicated in the 18^th century. Further, should you should use what seems to be a grill, do it at your own risk. The only thing that seemed to be in proper working condition was the microwave. Seriously, I have traveled all over the world (South East Asia, South America, Southern Europe), I’ve stayed in all sorts of bad places, ranging from budget dumps in Bangkok to student hostels in Paris. It really wasn’t much worse than this. Basically, the place needs to be brought down and rebuild in order to restore its turn-​of-​the-​century class. And by «century», I mean the 1800s.