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Your friend wendy leigh has sent you this document from HighBeam™ Research: wendy leigh's comments: I found this premium document on HighBeam Research -- a research engine where you can search the web and 35 million documents from over 3,000 quality publications. Try HighBeam for yourself! Enter a research term in the search box below to view results from HighBeam's extensive library of articles from trusted business, trade, consumer & reference publications. To Sign up for a Free Trial of HighBeam Research, click Here. Miami's nice-not; You don't have to be the PM to enjoy a luxury holiday in Florida, reports WENDY LEIGH. Source: The Daily Mail (London, England) Date: 1/13/2007 Byline: WENDY LEIGH MERE mortals set on spending their holidays in Miami clearly won't land ten days at Robin and Dwina Gibbs' $10 million waterfront mansion - like Tony and Cherie Blair and their family. Everyday folk can bed down at the Courtyard By Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront (3925 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach; 00 1 305 538 3373; marriott.com), an art deco hotel, from just [pounds sterling]129 per night. And besides, the rest of the Prime Minister's Miami sojourn is available to everyone, without breaking the bank. On their first day in Florida, the Blairs, plus bodyguards - a party of 12 - had lunch at The Big Pink restaurant (157, Collins Avenue, Miami Beach; 00 1 305 532 4700; bigpinkrestaurant.com), a massive Fifties-style diner, with eight TV screens blaring from the walls, deafening music and main courses that don't cost more than [pounds sterling]8. Served lunch by a waitress who went by the felicitous name of Krissy Sparks, Tony and Co ordered a variety of food, ranging from chicken Caesar salad (Tony) to salad Nicoise (Cherie, probably). When presented with a $264 ([pounds sterling]136) bill, the party left a tip of less than 15 per cent - relatively miserly in America, where 15 to 20 per cent is de rigueur. The Blairs only other known Miami restaurant foray was to North One 10 (11052 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami Beach; 00 1 305 893 4211; north110.com), where they supped on wild mushroom risotto, scallops, Caesar salad, New York strip steak with truffled frittata, and a dessert of bread and butter pudding. After all that culinary excess, the Blairs opted to have three meals delivered to their mansion. The first, Peking Duck and duck with vegetables, came courtesy of Mr Chu's Hong Kong Cuisine (890 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach; 00 1 305 538 8424; mrchu.net). The second, which cost a staggering $1,232.95 ([pounds sterling]635), was a New Year's Eve surprise from a neighbour. The sumptuous feast was created by Miami Beach's answer to Fortnum and Mason, Epicure (1656 Alton Road, Miami Beach; 00 1 305 672 1861) and included two colossal shrimp platters and a large cookie tray. Finally, on their last night, the Blairs just for Tony ordered two large pizzas, a Veggie Lovers and a Cheese and Pepperoni, from Pizza Hut (1604 Alton Road, Miami Beach; 00 1 305 672 1900). Along the way, Cherie was spied slipping into the mansion carrying the latest PlayStation 3, not yet on sale in Britain. And while she and Tony have denied buying it themselves, the box was unopened. Any tourist to Miami would be mad not to take advantage of the weak dollar. So, for PlayStations and any other electronic gadgetry, the perfect store is Best Buy (Dadeland Mall, 8450 South Dixie Highway, Dadeland Station; 00 1 305 662 7073; bestbuy.com). And if Cherie succeeded in sneaking off to buy some bargain clothes, she's bound to have visited-Sawgrass Mills, a 50-minute drive from Miami (12801 West Sunrise Boulevard, Sunrise; 00 1 954 846 2300; sawgrassmillsmall.com). She and the boys also managed to squeeze in a visit to the Kennedy Space Center (120 miles from Miami (00 1 321 449 4444; ksc.nasa.gov), where they were given a VIP tour. The rest of us, however, can take a Nasa Up-Close Tour - $59 ([pounds sterling]30) adults; $43 ([pounds sterling]22) children, aged three-11 - where you can see the Space Shuttle launch pad, find out where the Shuttle is assembled and where the astronauts train. On a more spiritual plane, the Blairs attended Mass at St Edward's Church in Palm Beach (114 North County Road, Palm Beach), where the Kennedy family-also used to worship. Tony even grabbed a game of golf at the PGA National Resort and Spa one-and-a-half hours outside Miami (400 Avenue of the Champions, Palm Beach Gardens; 00 1 800 633 9150), which boasts five of Florida's best 18-hole golf courses. But however much Tony and his family may have been lambasted for staying at the Bee Gees' mansion, at least they didn't hire the palatial $25,000 ([pounds sterling]12,600) a night penthouse at South Beach's 40-storey Setai Hotel (00 1 305 520 6000; setai.com). Fly there on the cheap from the UK for [pounds sterling]351 per adult, [pounds sterling]304 per child, with Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007; virgin-atlantic.com). COPYRIGHT 2007 Solo Syndication Limited This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. Click here to see more articles on this topic. 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