Always Up: Quiet Miles

A volleyball tournament, a new hotel, and proof that breaking routine still counts.

The tournament was forty minutes from home.

Close enough to commute.
Far enough to hate it.

My kids had a four-day weekend. My daughter had volleyball. And I kept thinking, what if we tried something different?

The idea of staying overnight felt unnecessary.
The price felt irresponsible.
The traffic and parking, however, felt inevitable.

So I did what any disciplined adult with too many tabs open does.
I kept checking the price.

Again.
And again.
And again.

The moment it dipped just enough to make me feel less reckless, I booked it on Expedia.

Not because it was cheap.
Because I wanted to give my baby girl a new experience.
And because I didn’t feel like spending four days arguing with traffic.

The Decision

Money was tight. Still is.

I went back and forth more than I care to admit. This wasn’t some big vacation. It was a volleyball tournament I could technically drive to every day.

But sometimes technically isn’t the point.

Sometimes you just want to change the rhythm.

Arrival (An Immediate Win)

We pulled up to the new Omni hotel near the tournament and I realized something important.

The walk from the room to the courts was under five minutes.

Under. Five. Minutes.

At that moment, the entire mental spreadsheet I’d built about cost versus value collapsed.

Check-in was perfect. Lordy at the front desk greeted us like we were expected. Calm. Warm. Efficient. One of those people who makes you feel like you made the right decision without saying it.

The room was immaculate.

We dropped our bags and did what you’re supposed to do when you’re pretending this was planned all along.
We toured the hotel.

Exploring the Property

The sports bar was solid. Pool tables. Golf simulators. Good energy.
The lobby bar felt comfortable.
Reef 76 looked like a safe breakfast option.

Later, I checked out the rooftop bar, the Ibis Sky Lounge, to see if we could get a reservation for later. I showed up in a hoodie and Yeezy slides, mostly to gather information.

They were turning guys away. No hats. No printed shirts. Before I could finish my sentence, I was told I couldn’t come in.

I said I was just checking reservations.

Then I mentioned I had kids.

That ended it. 21 and up.

As I got into the elevator, two women stepped in behind me complaining. “It’s not that fancy.” “The people were rude.”

I didn’t say anything. I just noted that this felt like an interesting policy for a hotel restaurant.

The New Hotel Reality

The elevators were slow.
Some didn’t work.

New place problems.

I had booked two nights but decided extending one more day made sense. I went to the lobby and saw the line wrapped around the corner.

I walked to the front and took my chances.

Lordy came through again.

The Stay (Not Perfect, Still Worth It)

Housekeeping came late the first day, after my daughter and I were already back from her games and relaxing. They didn’t return the next two days.

That was a miss.

Room service, though, was solid. The kids menu was affordable. Cheeseburger. Caesar salad. Ravioli.

Of course, my daughter only ate the fries.

That’s parenting.

Breakfast, Briefly

We had a few minutes before she needed to be with the team, so we tried breakfast at Reef 76.

Kids buffet was $18. Adult was $26.

My daughter ate two pieces of bacon, looked at me, and said, “I gotta go.”

I asked if I could just get the adult buffet since she barely ate. The answer was no. Policy.

I didn’t argue. I just didn’t eat.

Lesson learned.

The Real Win

The walk to the courts was short.
The team performance was average.

But that wasn’t the point.

I went to the gym every morning. The water was freezing.
The kids hung out by the pool with friends. Fire pits were a nice touch. I didn’t get in the pool. We live in Florida and it was chilly.

Most of the trip was conversations.

Volleyball.
Practices.
Games.
Strategy.
Laughing.
More talking.
More laughing.

I’m not sure I’ve ever spent that much uninterrupted time talking with my daughter over a four-day stretch.

And it hit me:
I didn’t spend money to upgrade the hotel. I spent it to downgrade the noise.

If we had commuted back and forth, she would’ve been on her phone the rest of the day.

Breaking the routine changed everything.

The Verdict

We ended the trip at the lobby bar on our last night after hanging with friends earlier at Fair Ketch.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
Big shoutout to Lordy at the front desk.

Was it perfect? No.
Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Sleeping in.
No rushing.
No traffic stress.
No parking chaos.

I can see us doing this again. Possibly on a consistent basis.

Quiet Takeaway

Sometimes you don’t need to go far.

You just need to stop doing the same thing the same way.

Forty minutes was far enough.

Quiet miles count.