How we make these notes

This page explains how the guides on My Beacon are put together, what we check, and what we deliberately leave out. If something here does not match what you find on a guide, tell us.

How a guide is made

Topic. We start from questions visitors to South Florida commonly ask: getting around without a car, choosing an area, phones and data, day trips, and planning around the seasons.
Draft. First drafts are written with the help of an AI writing tool, working from a brief that sets strict rules: no invented people, quotes or statistics, no first-person travel stories, no named private businesses, and no changeable figures.
Separate check. Every draft goes through a second, separate review pass focused only on accuracy and standards: removing anything unverifiable, softening absolute claims, and replacing prices, hours and times with general wording.
Editor read. An editor then reads the whole guide, checks place names, directions and permanent facts against public sources, and rewrites or cuts what does not hold up.

Our rules for facts

No changeable numbers. Fares, tolls, entrance fees, hotel prices, opening hours and exact travel times change, so we describe them in general terms and tell you where to confirm them.
Permanent facts are fine. For example, the Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30, and ESTA is the official US government application for Visa Waiver Program travelers.
When in doubt, general. If we cannot confirm the current name of a place, route or service, we describe it rather than name it.
No visit claims. We do not write as if we stayed somewhere or ate somewhere. The guides are planning notes, not trip diaries.
Official sources first. Each guide ends with a short list of the official or primary sources to check before you rely on a detail.

Money and links

We do not accept payment for coverage, and we do not run affiliate links to hotels, tours or booking sites. Some of our phone and data guides link to Cellesim, an eSIM store run by the same team behind this site. Those links appear only in guides where phones and mobile data are the actual subject, at most once per guide, and the guides still explain the other options, including roaming with your home carrier, a local prepaid SIM and Wi-Fi.

Corrections and updates

When we change a guide in a meaningful way, the date shown as “Checked” at the top of the guide is updated. If you find an error, write to [email protected] with the page and what needs fixing.