From Frigid to Florida

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

My alarm was set for 4:00 am but I woke up ten minutes before it went off. Right away I checked the weather app on my phone and it was -16º F but the "feels like" temp was -31º! 😲 Our son had the coffee ready when I walked downstairs so I grabbed a travel mug and we loaded up our car. We were lucky that he has a large heated shop area where we had parked our car last night so even though the outside temps were frigid, the car didn't feel too bad.

Our early morning view...

At that time of the morning there was very little traffic and for a change we weren't dealing with a snowstorm...just the cold. It seems like anytime we plan for our son to take us to the airport, Minnesota gets hit with a blizzard! It was a little before 6 am when we walked into the airport and the place was hopping! We got our large bags tagged and when we took them to the counter I held my breath when Bob placed mine on the scale. It showed 51 pounds! If by chance the agent hadn't noticed that it was overweight Bob gave it away when he exclaimed "uh, oh". Luckily the guy didn't say a word about me being a pound over the limit. Bob's luggage, of course,, was several pounds under 50.

Bob popped into the TSA pre-check line while I was stuck going to the regular line. It was misleading because the pre-check line snaked out into the main part of the terminal making it look longer, but in reality there really was no line once you entered the security check area. My line on the other hand, had a roped off queue that snaked back and forth to reach the security check and it took me about 20 minutes to get through. When I did, Bob was waiting patiently for me at the end of the line.

The gate for our Delta flight was about as far away as it could be. It had been a little over a year since I tore the meniscus in my left knee so it was a long and painful walk. By the time we got to the gate, we really didn't have too long to wait. I would have been panicking if we had been much later getting to the airport. Bob chose to sit by the window on the flight and I like the aisle so we ended up with a stranger between us. Susy was nice enough and I felt bad for her because she had been trying to get home to Florida for two days and the flights had been canceled for various reasons. After finally getting on this  flight she was stuck in a middle seat with a TV screen that didn't work. She alerted the flight attendant more than once and each time they promised to re-set it, but it never happened.

I had convinced myself that I would wear a mask during the flight, but when we got onboard I just couldn't bring myself to put it on. The plane was totally full and odds were that someone sitting near me was probably fighting some type of bug, but just thinking about having my face covered for four hours caused me to get anxious. I heard coughing from a couple of young kids nearby, but no adults in the rows around us seemed to be experiencing any signs of illness. Time will tell if I should have been more careful. I am actually more fearful of contracting norovirus on the ship than I am covid or some type of respiratory infection. I don't even want to imagine what it would be like for two people with vomiting and diarrhea to be cooped up in a tiny cruise cabin and sharing one bathroom!

Our plane had to be de-iced, which put us about a half hour behind schedule. But because of a strong tail wind, we still made it to Fort Lauderdale as scheduled. 

A view of the de-icing process through the frosty window.

During the flight I watched news reports from the Delta plane that crashed and flipped over in Toronto the day before. I tried to envision what it would be like to be strapped into my seat hanging upside down and dangling from what now is the ceiling. How in the world do you ever unbuckle a seatbelt and manage to NOT crash to the floor? Much more video was available and it was unbelievable to watch a large plane totally flip over on landing.

It took a little time to get our bags but as soon as we had them, we phoned the hotel to request the shuttle pick us up. By the time we walked outside, it was approximately a 10 minute wait. The warm, humid Florida air felt wonderful after coming from the subzero temps in Minnesota. It was raining a bit while we were waiting to deplane and then really poured on the shuttle ride to the hotel.

Waiting on the hotel shuttle.

Our hotel, the Sleep Inn & Suites Ft. Lauderdale Airport was one we had stayed at in 2015. The hotel wasn't anything special, but the price was reasonable, the airport shuttle was free and the location was convenient. After checking in, our lunch consisted of some snacks we had brought from home and then, because of our early morning, a nap was in order. 

Our room at the Sleep Inn & Suites.

When we woke up, the rain had stopped and we walked across the street to a small shopping center where I could pick up a couple of things I needed for the cruise. I was tempted to take a swim in the hotel pool, but the clouds were still thick and it really wasn't as warm as I would have liked to be in the water. Bob and I did sit by the pool for a little while when we got back to the hotel. It was fun to Facetime with our middle son with palm trees in the background of our video call!

Over a dozen years ago we discovered a fast food restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale called Pollo Tropical. Since then we have gone there for our "pre-cruise" dinner several times. The price is cheap and the atmosphere is lacking, but we like the chicken and all of the interesting sauces. 

Copied from pollotropical.com

I knew I couldn't walk the distance to get to Pollo Tropical so Bob went on his own and got our meal to go which we ate in the hotel room. Bob and I each ordered the 1/4 chicken with rice, black beans and Caesar salad.

The rain showers returned and Bob got interested in a paramedic show on TV (bringing back memories of his former career) so we showered, got into our jammies and called it a night.

Tomorrow we will meet up with our friends, Jon and Michelle on the Eurodam. They are driving to the port from their home in Georgia and are spending the night with Michelle's brother near Orlando.