Thanks for Your Patience

I realized that it has been two weeks since the last newsletter, which would mean almost 3 emails I haven’t sent. I do apologize - it’s been hard keeping up with creating the content while handling fatherhood. I don’t want to use that as my excuse, but sheesh some days feel difficult to balance everything. All is good - just making sure I win at fatherhood :D.

Have you found my 2026 World Cup content useful? Buy me a coffee to show your appreciation! Tu sabes that I like my cafecito! Never mandatory, always appreciated.

Miami Finally Has a Transit Plan - Will it Work?

Last week, the Miami-Dade County Governement and Miami FIFA World Cup 26 Host Committee (FINALLY) announced a transit plan for World Cup fans. On the surface, the plan sounds great - fans will have access to free shuttles from FOUR transit hubs. The four hubs are:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Metrorail Station
Brightline Aventura Station
Golden Glades Intermodal Station
Seminole Hard Rock Casino (Broward County)

Fans with a valid ticket will be to get into a shuttle FOR FREE (with the assumption that this a FREE round-trip shuttle). For those of you that have never been to Miami, this sounds fantastic. Given all the reporting on how Miami has terrible traffic and that there is no direct public transit to the stadium, the fact that Miami is providing free ride is really great. However, we need to take a closer look at the map below to fully understand the positives and the drawbacks behind the plan. Down below, you can see three of the four transit hubs: Golden Glades (on the Tri-Rail BLUE line), Aventura (on the YELLOW line), and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (on the green line). The Seminole Hard Rock Casino is not on any transit lines, so you will definitely need to drive/rideshare to that site. As of May 3rd, parking at Dr. MLK Station is not available, and the other two stations will also have parking but pricing has not been formally announced.

But when you zoom out and include the full road map of Miami-Dade and Broward County, you can see one of the biggest problems with the transit plan:

If you’re plan was to drive/rideshare to one of the four transit hubs, you can see that it’s going to take you a minimum of 45 minutes in a car to get you to one of the transit hubs (depending on where you are driving from). The next concern is that 3 of the 7 games will be on the weekday (Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia Monday, June 15 - Scotland v Brazil Wednesday, June 24 - Round of 16 Match Friday, July 3). The region has some of the worst country not only in the United States, but in North AND South America.

Another concern I have is that for those fans that don’t any better, they will basically all travel towards one of the four transit hubs rather than learn the first map above. These stations are located in areas where there’s either limited road access (Dr. MLK and Aventura Brightline) or that you will be stuck in traffic (Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Golden Glades Intermodal). Funneling tranveling fans into 4 hubs is only going to complicate matters. In order to avoid these issues, here are my tips to travel as effectively as possible in Miami:

1. AVOID Traveling Directly to One of the Four Hubs - If you are staying in the western or southern parts of Miami-Dade County or in the western parts of Broward County, I suggest you avoid going to Dr. MLK Station directly and instead make your way to one of the other Metrorail stations in the county. If you are staying in the eastern part of Broward County or in the northereastern part of Miami-Dade County or in Palm Beach County, then the Tri-Rail becomes your option.

2. AVOID Staying at the Beach - I get it, that’s what Miami is known for. Heck, I am even promoting a beach property. Pero if you can avoid it, skip staying at the beach because the traffic in and out of the area will be a pain in the ass to overcome. If you do end up staying there, then add at least one hour extra to your travel times. Yes, its that bad.

3. STAY Near the Trains - This won’t be a good idea for all stations, but depending on which train line you are closest to, it might make sense to stay near one. Some hotels offer shuttle service to the Tri-Rail, while the stations south of Vizcaya on the Metrorail have hotels within a mile radius. A special shoutout goes out to the Metromover, for those of you deciding to stay in the Brickell/Downtown areas as well.

4. AVOID BrightLine from Dowtown Miami to Aventura - Literally a late-edition change as it was reported Sunday AM that Brightline will charge from $70-$150 on game days, like NJ Transit. In a way, they get to do this since they are a private company, but the pain on the wallet isn’t any less. Unless you are staying near the Brightline Aventura station, it’s not worth using this rail line during game days. Prices haven’t been announced from Palm Beach/Broward south to Aventura, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are similar in range.

If you need a travel consultation to give you even more travel tips to Miami, feel free to book one of my limited consultations through the following link: https://calendly.com/travelfutbolfan/2026-fifa-world-cup-money-travel-consultation

If you feel like this is all too complicated, I can connect you with my friends at Absolut Sport, who are still offering full ticket/hotel/transit packages, or if you have your tickets to a game, they’re also offering hotel and transit packages. Email me for further details!