DAY 1 - THE TRIP BEGINS/WELCOME TO FORT LAUDERDALE

Our trip began at approximately 7:00 AM as we were picked up at home by a private vehicle and driver for our drive to our area airport which is located approximately one hour from home.  Since it was Sunday morning, there was not a lot of traffic on the road.    

Our driver's name was Joe.  He has worked for the car service company for four years and he moved to this area around the time we did, seven years ago.  We never ran out of conversation.  

Joe worked in Hospitality Services for 25+ years which is the same field that our son, Eric, works in so we covered a lot of ground.  We learned some things we didn't know.  For a short time, he and his wife had opened up a Jazz Club on the town square of our local town but as they say timing is everything as it was shortly after the economic downturn in 2009 and with many stores closing early evening, he just didn't have the traffic that was needed to keep the business running profitability.

Also he spoke about some of the actors/actresses that he has met and one of them visits our community from time to time as his Mother lives here.  

It is always interesting to speak with drivers of private vehicles as so many of them began in other careers.  Some of them drive because they still need the income but others drive to keep busy.  For those who like to meet others, it is quite enjoyable and that is the case for Joe.

Once at the airport, we checked our luggage curbside and once inside the airport we were pleasantly surprised that it was not crowded.   We had expected large crowds with people returning from the Holidays.  

Our preferred airline doesn't offer direct flights to Fort Lauderdale, Florida so we looked Southwest Airlines.  We haven't flown them since we flew on occasion between where we used to live and where our son went to university from time to time in lieu of driving their ourselves.  When Keith worked he used them from time to time to get to/from one of his organizations locations in an adjoining state. 

With our boarding passes, we made our way over to TSA Pre Check.  We have had TSA Pre Check with the airline we fly often but we had never taken the time to apply for this capability.  A few months ago after applying and going for our respective interviews we did obtain Global Entry and one of its benefits is that it includes TSA Pre Check so it made going through security much faster and easier.  With TSA Pre Check the process is much closer to the way it had been many years ago.  It is nice not having to take computers out of the luggage,  just for the fear of dropping them, and not having to take off shoes or even the bag of liquids.    With that said, we will happily comply with whatever security measures are required if that is what is needed to keep us safe and secure.

While we are not taking a World Cruise this year, Anne Marie wore one of our World Cruise jackets from the 2013 World Cruise.  It is a nice jacket with plenty of pockets.

Keith brought his World Cruise jacket as well, but had it tucked away in his carry-on.

We were able to use the airline lounge for the airline we regularly fly since Southwest doesn't have one so that worked out well.  We were surprised that it was not crowded either.  Maybe everyone flew home yesterday.

Our flight took off on time and we enjoyed an uneventful flight to Fort Lauderdale Airport.  Once we claimed our luggage we took a taxi over to our hotel.  This is one of the only times in recent memory that we didn't arrange for a private vehicle given the close proximity of the hotel to the airport and that that we had less luggage than we normally do for longer cruises.

On our way to the Hotel we passed by several familiar places and also Port Everglades where we saw several cruise ships in port.  As we continued we saw many people on the beach.  After all today is Sunday.

We are staying at the Ritz Carlton in Fort Lauderdale.

We are in a lovely room.  Keith took two sets of photos; one right after we got to the room and a second one shortly after we started to unpack.  The first few photos are a little out of focus as we later realized that he did not have the lens completely on the base of the camera.  We'll take some additional photos and post them in the next day or two.  We have beautiful views from our room.

We plan to have dinner at the hotel this evening and will post about that tomorrow and then we will explore the area tomorrow.

We are excited to be here and we look forward to a nice pre-cruise stay.

Keith & Anne Marie