January 4, 2016 - In Transit

At 7:45 AM the water and water heater are turned off. The heat is set on hold, and the taxi has just arrived. We are off. Due to traffic the driver decided to go through Bensenville, and approach the airport from the south. This doubled the normal ride time and took much longer than the congested route would have taken. We had allowed extra time, so not to worry. At least it as not snowing.

Check in at United went smoothly, and we headed off to TSA Pre. No taking off shoes or removing liquids and computers. Nice. Then security steps kicked in. Alice's knee and elbow set off the alarm. I forgot to remove my reading glasses and case from my pocket, so I also set off the alarm. Once this happens you must go through the full body scan. That led to a pat down for Alice. My scan showed an issue with my right foot, the result of two titanium screws in my right foot. Shoes off for scanning and a pat down of my feet and ankles. The agents were extremely courteous and efficient. We were on our way in no time.

Our flight was mostly smooth, and we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale 20 minutes early. We were directed to luggage carousel 1. Luggage from Houston and Denver was still making the rounds on the conveyor. I set off to let the Holland America rep know we had arrived. He, Jaris rhymes with Paris, told us where to wait for him after we collected our bags. He soon joined us. 

Houston and Dallas bags were still circulating. No Chicago bags. Jaris assured us they would start coming out as soon as all of the remaining Houston and Denver bags were removed to a holding cage. He was right. 45 minutes after arriving at the carousel we had our luggage. Ft. Lauderdale really needs to improve efficiency here. Carousels 2 and 3 were not in use this entire time. 

Jaris called the coach company, and learned our bus number and pick up location. He rolled our luggage cart out to the bus stop as we followed. Ah, yet another wait. After half an hour, our bus finally arrived. Luggage loaded, we bid Jaris farewell, and boarded an empty 44 passenger coach with a driver who seemed not to understand English. He did nod as Jaris and I repeated that our hotel was the Marriott Harbor Beach. 

We stopped at two more terminals. Then we were off to the hotel. I recognized the route from two years ago. I had also used Google Maps to find the location. Before long we pulled into the driveway at the Marriott Marina Hotel. We thought he must be dropping someone else here, but he kept looking at us and saying Marriott. Fortunately we had stayed here two years ago prior to boarding the Grand South America. I told him this was the wrong hotel. He kept insisting this was it. I kept saying Harbor Beach. Finally the light went off. He grabbed his GPS, found the hotel and we were off. Five minutes later we were at the right hotel. A couple we had picked up at another terminal got off with us. All breathed a sigh of relief.

Our room is on the 9th floor overlooking the ocean. The beach is beautiful, and the bikinis even more so. Alice was kind enough to point this out. We went downstairs to survey the property and scope out the restaurants. It was after 5:30, and the sun was sinking. It was comfortable, but the wind was picking up. The facilities are beautiful.

We returned to the lobby and and checked out the upscale eatery. Too many wine glasses on the tables. We headed off to the poolside restaurant, and chose indoor seating. The sun had set and the temperature had dropped. The wind had gotten even stronger. The waitresses had put on jackets for the outside service. After an excellent, but overpriced dinner of calamari and salads we returned to our room satisfied.

Our suitcases were to be inside our door by 9:00 AM for transfer to the coach. We were to meet the Holland rep at 8:00 AM to learn our departure time. We crashed at 8:30. This had been a long day.