From Albuquerque to Fort Lauderdale cont.

We ate breakfast at the Waffle House and were on the 5 a.m. shuttle to the Sunport (we leave our car at the Comfort Inn while were gone – it’s cheaper than putting it in one of the park-and-fly places plus we almost always spend the night at the Comfort Inn on our return home anyway.)

We were in the “B” section of boarding Southwest. From Albuquerque to Houston we sat in the back of the plane. We had a tail wind so we got there ten minutes early. That gave us 55 minutes before our flight to Fort Lauderdale took off. I’d been a bit concerned about the 45 minute turn-around but the gate we were going out on was only two or four gates from the one we came in on. Again we were in the “B” section for boarding but we still got to sit together. We were 15 minutes late in taking off from Houston and once we got to the Fort Lauderdale area we had to circle for 30 minutes before we could land.

Once on the ground it was the same old game of waiting for the Marriott shuttles/trailers to come get us. There were probably 50 or 60 of our 91 person group on our early flight. Also, I’d only had a couple of granola bars since eating breakfast at 4 a.m. and it was now almost 1 New Mexico time. My blood sugar was dropping. Our luggage, including the carry-ons, made it to the first wave of vehicles going to the hotel but there weren’t any seats for us.

Finally we made it to the Courtyard Marriott. We got to our room, not a good view but the room was nice, if arranged a little oddly. The bed was against a wall so that we could look out the window over our feet. But since we kept the curtains closed it wasn’t all that bad.

Around 5 local time, after I had a soda and Ritz Bits Cheese crackers earlier, we went to the Outdoor World nearby. It’s within walking distance. We ate at the seafood restaurant there. We both had grouper sandwiches, John’s was a Ruben, mine was a restaurant special, and shared a key-lime pie for dessert. Now I know I like grouper and can eat it again if offered on a menu. The pie was made in a large soup cup. The crust was a bit thick but there was plenty of filling for both of us and it was delicious.

After dinner it was into the Bass Pro store to buy matching t-shirts. I was planning on buying matching t-shirts on the cruise anyway, just didn’t expect to have to get so many. We bought two sets. Unfortunately the Bass Pro t-shirts have their designs on the back, not the front so you have to see us going to know we match. I also discovered that my Disney fannypack’s waist belt was about to tear through so I picked up a Jantzsport bag. Then it was off to bed.

We didn’t need to check out of our room until 11 so we spent most of the morning there. It gave me a chance to record some things on the laptop.