Our getaway flight the night before arrived into Fort Lauderdale pretty late and the boys had class to get up for in the morning. Luckily Wednesdays are lighter days for the them, but we still had to get up relatively early.
Breakfast and Classes
Luckily we were on the same floor where the free breakfast was served so it was quite convenient. In normal times the breakfast would include some hot items, but options were limited. They had some baked goods and some yogurts and cereal. It was a basic continental breakfast layout, but they also had breakfast sandwiches which you could heat up in the microwave. Tomatico took advantage and had himself an egg sandwich.
There weren’t many people at breakfast which made it easy to keep our distance. After we ate, we headed back to the room and were thankful to have a room larger than average. The boys logged into their school Zoom sessions while my wife and I worked.
Around 10am Tomatico and I decided to head out to the pool and work from there, taking advantage of the warm weather. To get to the pool we needed to check in at the front desk. Apparently they needed to enforce the number of people at the pool. While we were down there I requested late checkout since we needed a place to stay until the boys were done with school for the day.
Since I have Platinum status with IHG (the hotel was a Holiday Inn Express which is a member of IHG), one of the perks is late checkout if available. The hope booking this hotel was that the hotel wasn’t full and we could more easily get late checkout.
Normal checkout at this hotel was 10am and they said we could stay until noon. The boy’s classes went until 1:30 so I pressed for a little more time. They allowed us to stay until 1:00pm which we’d have to make work. We’d have to work from the lobby, which had several areas that offered relative quiet and privacy to attend the last class of the day.
Tomaticio and I went up to the pool to hang out and join our Zooms. During a break he dipped his feet into the pool. While the air was warm, the water was decidedly not.
Finding Lunch
We needed to find some lunch between classes. Tomatico had a break so he went with me to walk around the hotel to see what our options were. We ended up finding a nearby mall/grocery area with several restaurants. We ended up getting a pizza which worked well given our time crunch.
We brought the pizza back to the room and it was timed perfectly with my youngest’s lunch break. We quickly ate and finished packing so we were ready to be out of the room by 1:00 and in place in the lobby for my youngest’s last meeting of the day which started around 12:45. It’s too bad we couldn’t get that extra 30 minutes in the hotel but the front desk was not willing to budge.
Picking up the Rental Car
Since Tomatico was done his classes for the day he helped me get the luggage down to the lobby to check out. Once we were checked out and my wife and our youngest were set on their calls from the lobby, Tomatico and I set out to pick up the rental car.
The rental location was just over a mile from the hotel and the weather was amazing, we decided to walk. We had plenty of time and wanted to take advantage of the sun.
It only took us about 30 minutes to get to the rental location. The location was off-airport and there weren’t any other customers when we arrived. We had officially reserved the car for 2:00pm, but we were there about an hour soon. That didn’t seem to be an issue at all. The agent seemed relieved to have something to do.
He gave us a choice of three differen types of SUVs and I chose the Toyota RAV4. I’ve owned several Toyotas over the years so I feel comfortable driving them. Tomatico wanted the red one (a Hyundai) but we went with the Toyota even though it was white. I’m not a fan of white cars because they are so hard to find in a parking lot since there are SO MANY other white cars out there!
The agent described the options for tolls. Since we had the car for more than 2 weeks he recommended we not pay for the unlimited tolls package. He described that if we went through the automated tolls it would cost us $30 in addition to the actual tool plus a surcharge. That was still cheaper than the ulimited tolling which was going to be several hundred dollars. We’d just have to try to avoid tolls where possible and bite the bullet when we couldn’t.
We got the car adjusted and headed back to the hotel to pick up my wife and our youngest, assuming they were done with their calls. My wife was still working but our youngest was done whe we arrived. The boys and I loaded the luggage into the car and got everything settled while my wife finished the last bit of her work.
Alligator Alley to Fort Myers
Once my wife finished, we were off to Fort Myers. The car had Apple CarPlay which I wish our cars had. It was great having the maps show up on the big screen in the dash rather than on my phone. But not nice enough that I feel the need to buy a new car as the kids suggested.
I had plugged in the route to Fort Myers that avoided tolls, but it would have taken an extra hour so I was preparing myself to have to pay the fee/toll/surcharge.
When we hit the toll plaza there was a lane to pay cash rather than using the transponder. This was a big win, especially because we actually had cash on us, as it meant we wouldn’t have to pay the $30+ fee.
The ride was only a few hours. There wasn’t much traffic and it was an easy drive, though there wasn’t a lot to look at other than the swamps on both sides of the road.
As got close to the hotel, we started down the road to the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, my youngest started to remember it. He had somehow forgotten the water slides and lazy river!
Checkin and Exploration
Checkin was seamless as we were the only ones in line despite it being 4:00 and normal checkin time. The agent was extremely nice and welcoming, telling us about all the great things we had access to.
He also told us that the lounge was closed and we’d instead be getting breakfast in the restaurant. Also, since there was no lounge, he gave us some coupons for $25 each in credit at Cool Beans, the cafe/market off the lobby that had all sorts of goodies. For our 7 night stay he gave us 11 coupons for cool beans and 7 coupons for breakfast in the lounge.
In addition, since we booked a “Work from Hyatt” rate, one of the perks was that we got a $50/day dining credit we could use at any of the restaurants (including Cool Beans) on any food or drinks. The credit was per day and if we didn’t use it then we’d lose it, including on our day of arrival (but no credit or our day of departure).
We had also used a Suite Night Upgrade certificate when we originally made our reservation so we had been confirmed into a suite. We looked forward to seeing what it was like!
With our keys in hand we headed up to our room to check it out. It was much better than expected. It was HUGE! We walked into a living room area with a TV and small casual dining table. There were three balconies off this room and ocean views. Off to the right there was a formal dining room table with seating for 8. There was also a TV in this room and two more balconies. There was a bathroom just off the dining room as well.
Off to the left was a door leading to to the main bedroom which had it’s own bathroom. The bathroom had floor to ceiling windows AND a balcony. The windows took some getitng used to but it wasn’t like anyone could see in. Then there was a large master bedroom with a king bed, and of course another balcony (and TV).
The space would come in useful when we were all doing work. We wouldn’t be cramped at all. Having seen the room, the boys were laser focused on going to the pool. It was more than 80 degrees out, so I also put my suit on and joined them at the pool.
We all went on the water slides and in the lazy river. There were barely any people there and if felt like we had the place to ourselves. We played until it closed at 5:00 before heading back up to the room excited about the rest of our stay.
Dinner Plans
Since we had the $50 to spend, I convinced my wife to try the fine dining seafood restaurant called Tarpon Bay while I took the kids someplace to get something else. I figured she could enjoy a nice meal with the credit since I’ve read several glowing reviews from travel bloggers and the rest of us wouldn’t have been as interested in the food.
The boys and I had our own version of fine dining at 5 Guys in the nearby mall just a few miles from the hotel while she enjoyed her food. She said it was alright, but nothing special. Oh well. Maybe she didn’t order the specialties.
After dinner we decided to use one of the vouchers for Cool Beans to get ourselves some ice cream. It wasn’t the greatest ice cream but it certainly hit the spot, especially for the price (free).
Back in the room the rollaway bed we had requested for Tomatico had arrived. Our youngest likes to sleep on the couch rather than with the sofabed pulled out so we’ve found if getting the rollaway for Tomatico the kids tend to be happier the next morning.
The boys had school the next two days before we’d have a break for the weekend, so we’d have to get up to get breakfast when it opened in order to be ready when school started.
Tomatico Travels 
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