Day one

Background music:  "Under Pressure", Queen

The pirate king is a little bit organized.  He packs three days before the trip, prints out tickets and itineraries, checks details multiple times.

I'm not so organized.  As in, I was still packing at 4:00 this morning.  Caught a few hours' sleep, and stopped at the drugstore for a few last-minute items before heading to the pirate king's house.

The plan was to drive to our friend Donna's house, so that Donna could drive us to the airport.  Since the king didn't want to leave his brand-new, picked-up-from-the-dealer-last-week minivan on the street by Donna's house, we decided to take my car. 

Which meant I actually had to clean all of the junk out of my car.  I think I found the lost treasure of the Incas in there.

So the idea was to get to the airport by 1:00 for a 2:55 flight.  Got to La Guardia and to the curbside checkout.

And that's when Mr. Organized realized that he left both his passport and driver's license at home!

So I checked two suitcases and got my boarding pass, and took the rest of the lugguage to the food court, got some lunch and found a table.  And waited for Donna abd the king to race back to his house and then back to the airport.

The only reason we made the plane is because boarding was delayed until 3:15.  First time I've ever been happy for a flight delay.

Mostly slept on the plane.  Not well, though.  We were in the very last row of the plane, right near the restrooms, and EVERYONE used the restrooms.

Background music:  "Changes in Lattitude, Changes in Attitude"

There's always something magical about arriving in Florida, more so in winter when there's snow back home.  But palm trees scream that you aren't home anymore.  Love it.

But didn't love the Baatan Death March from the plane to baggage claim.  Thought about taking the Sky Train, but the escalators up to the platform were out of order.

So we wound up at the La Quinta, too tired and frazzled to do much more than order room service (Cuban sandwiches, rice and beans), watch tv and go to bed.