Florida 2020: Diary – Day 0

Our first day of the trip was a getaway day. It was the first time we had been on a plane in 9 months and we were a bit nervous about what to expect.

Getting a Lyft

We considered driving to the airport to minimize our interactions with other people, but the cost of parking was just too high for how long we were going to be away. We ended up scheduling a Lyft XL to have a larger car so one of us wouldn’t have to sit in the front seat. The app was requiring the larger car anyways for groups of more than 3 since people weren’t allowed in the passenger seat.

The ride arrived right at 5:00pm as requested. The boys had done in-person school that day and would be remote for the rest of the time before their school break. They would be working from school so they had all their school supplies with them as well as luggage.

The ride into the airport had much less traffic than usual at 5:00pm, but then again most offices in Boston were still closed.

Airport Experience

The airport was eerily empty. There were no lines at the checkin kiosks and very few people when checking our bags. We had two large suitcases which were free because my wife holds the JetBlue Plus credit card. The free checked bags alone more than offset the annual fee.

When flying JetBlue we often try to eat at a Priority Pass restaurant in Terminal C in Boston. It’s unfortunately closed and it’s uncertain whether it will reopen after the pandemic so our only choice for dinner was to find a place airside after going through security.

My wife and I both have TSA PreCheck and the kids can go through with us because of their age. When we went through the PreCheck line, though, my wife’s boarding pass didn’t have the logo for some reason. They said we’d have to go through regular security since the PreCheck line was about to close for the night. Bummer!

It took a lot longer to take all of our laptops and gadgets out of our bags to get screened. The line wasn’t long, but was full of newbies that weren’t used to the security routine. PreCheck really is a huge time saver.

We’d have to figure out what the issue was with my wife’s account because her ticket showed her PreCheck number, but it wasn’t registering properly with the system.

After security Tomatico and my wife found Legal Seafood and decided to eat there. My youngest and I ended up at Wahlburgers. There were very few people and no wait to sit at the restaurants.

After dinner we found our way to our gate only to hear an announcement that our flight was delayed because our crew’s inbound flight from somewhere else was delayed. At least our plan was there.

I looked to see if any of the Priority Pass lounges were open but none were. They have limited hours and days because of COVID and we were out of luck. My youngest and I still decided to pass the time by walking to the international terminal which is connected to the terminal we were in.

The international terminal was nearly desserted. It was quite odd to walk around. We made our way to where an Emirates flight was going to board in a few hours and sat down. We had hoped to be going to Dubai for Christmas but we were going to Florida instead! At least we were able to go somewhere.

My wife called and said the flight was starting to board so we made our way back to our gate. There weren’t any crowds to get in our way so we were back in plenty of time to get on the plane.

Flying to Fort Lauderdale

Despite a nearly deserted airport, our flight was completely packed. We were in the back and surrounded by people that seemingly weren’t used to flying. Everyone had a mask on, but several were using them more as chin diapers and didn’t have them over their nose. I was with the kids so at least we were further away from them, but my wife was right next to them and it was not ideal. Fortunately the flight left only a few minutes late once the other crew members arrived and we arrived in Florida almost on time.

It was late when we arrived and the boys were tired. Fortunately our bags came out quickly and we were able to find the place to pick up our Lyft. This Lyft driver had me sit in the front seat next to him rather than set up one of the seats in the far back. Luckily it was less than 10 minutes to our hotel.

Hotel Experience

The hotel was a Holiday Inn Express near the cruise terminal. The hotel itself was new and clean. It took only a few minutes to check in. We got a free bottle of water as a welcome gift due to my Platinum status with IHG. The night was on a free night certificate and it showed properly in the system so it wasn’t going to cost anything. It’s the perfect use for that type of certificate and well worth the $49 annual fee on the card.

The room itself was new and larger than expected. It had two queen beds plus a sleeper sofa. We’d appreciate the extra space in the morning because the boys would be doing remote school before we’d pick up our rental car to drive to Fort Myers.

We all quickly got ready for bed and were asleep within minutes. It was a long day but we had made it to our first destination safely!