I’ve spent the last 24 hours here in Fort Lauderdale for an all-day client meeting that happened today. Truthfully and as spoiled as this sounds, I rarely look forward to my work trips down to Fort Lauderdale because they are always for meetings that I know will rarely have concrete next steps. They are those froufrou meetings that end up being more about “putting a face to a name” and have nothing actionable that comes out of them. However, there are three things I like about these trips: 1) waking up for the sunrise on the east coast, since Fort Lauderdale is on the east side of Florida, 2) getting my trusty Publix sub sandwich at some point during my Florida stay, and 3) getting more American Airlines miles…. Mmmm, miles.

This afternoon during our Uber ride from the client’s office to Publix and finally to the airport, my colleague said to me, “I feel bad saying this… and this may just be me, but does everything in Florida really just look the same?” I’ve only been down here to see Fort Lauderdale and Tampa for work, plus Orlando for fun about six years ago…. but I realized… what she is saying is partially true. Florida feels like a lot of white people, boats, beaches, strip malls, and way too many chain restaurants and stores. Is it just us?

Then, I sat on a plane in first class with a Republican who is originally from Boston but relocated to Fort Lauderdale with his wife and is now raising three children, and he actually said this to me himself. “Everything here looks the same. If you want your children to have culture and be aware of the world, make sure you travel if you live here and don’t just have them stay here. They will be so sheltered and world-stupid.” Hmmmmm.