Tucson to Pompano Beach - December 16-18, 2022

 

Date: December 16 – 18                Temp: 66 at 6am (better than yesterday at 30)

Place: Tucson – Pompano Beach Florida

 

S – 4          (Sail minus 4 days)

 

Our journey on 12/16/2022 began with a trip to Tucson International Airport Friday at 2:45pm. Our driver was a very nice lady from SCOV. The trip was impacted with a fatal auto accident on Oracle. So, we detoured around that and arrived at the Hampton Inn around 4:15pm. 

For dinner we chose a restaurant very close to Hampton Inn so Russ would not need his walking sticks. It was an Ok dinner $18.00 for 3 fish sticks and fries. Beer $7/each. 

After a poor night’s sleep, we rose at 3:10 am to gather our stuff and head to the airport, got there just before 4am (American and TSA open at 4am). Checked in, moved out to B 10, and sat until boarding at 5:25am. Full flight, very full. Got our seats and took off, after de-icing the wings at 6:15. NO breakfast and the pilot stated rough weather ahead, so no service. We did manage to get a Bloody Mary each prior to take off. 

About halfway to DFW our phone notified us that our flight to FLL was delayed about an hour, this made it easy for us reach the terminal. We landed at C terminal and had requested assistance with transportation, a wheelchair, for Russ. Since we had ample time (we thought,) we asked the pusher of the wheelchair to take us to the American lounge. Once there, we were told the American “Admirals Club” was for international travelers and holders of first-class tickets ONLY or people that had purchased a membership, not what we thought we saw on their web site. OH Well. 

As it turned out the movement between C terminal and D was a 29-minute train ride, we got there and had a 45-minute wait. Jan found a Chick-fil-a and we had breakfast. Got on the plane, early as we checked our last bag, it had all our meds in it for the 150+ day trip. Fingers crossed they don’t lose it. 

Arrived FLL about 3:15pm local time and it took 45 minutes to get our luggage. Then a short hike to the bus that would take us to the Rental Car area. Turned out to be 5 minutes driving time. The car rental took about 20 minutes, and we were on the road for a short 19-minute drive per Google Maps. Well, it took about 30 minutes with several turn arounds we got to Wyndham Santa Barbara condos. Checked in. 

We had brought lunch from the plane for dinner, thank goodness as we were both exhausted from the early morning flight, the delay of the afternoon flight and the GD traffic here in the Fort Lauderdale area. 

Had a restful night, got up early, unpacked some, asked the desk where a good breakfast was, and it had to be near-by.  They suggested Stingers. When we got there, we were told they opened at 9am and it was 20 minutes ‘til 9. The wait gal suggested we wait and that we did, drinking a large glass of water each. We split a Corned Beef Hash and 2-eggs with deep fat fried potatoes. Wow what a breakfast. We came back to the condo and planned our shopping trip. 

Shopping trip was to purchase consumables that we did not want to ship, we went to Walmart and found most everything we wanted. On the way back to the condo we noticed that the check engine light was on. 

Once we unloaded the car, and got back in the condo, we called and left a message regarding the check engine light being on. 

They said the car had to be returned to FLL and they would give us another vehicle. We left at about 3pm, the trip took right on 30 minutes (much quicker than the day before.) We turned in a KIA for a Toyota. The whole process took from 3pm to 6:30pm as we took the beach route back so we could see the Westin. The traffic in front of the Westin was bumper to bumper at 10 MPH. 

What the traffic was like. 

 Here is the view from our room.