Note to Self....

We left Phoenix at 9:30 AM after sitting on the tarmac for nearly 40 minutes. The flight to Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful except for running out of sandwiches and snacks for purchase. (Note to self, remember to take a sandwich if flying on someone other than Southwest).

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 4:15pm and found our luggage. We made our phone call to the hotel for the free airport shuttle and went outside to wait the 20 minutes they told us it would be. Standing in the hot and humid Florida sun we patiently waited, and waited, and waited. One hour later our free shuttle arrived to take us the 2 1/2 miles to the hotel. (Note to self, take a cab next time and pay the $10.00)

Our Ramada Inn hotel proclaims free airport and free cruise port shuttles which is why we chose it. Unfortunately there are no nearby restaurants or food stores so the only place to eat was their own restaurant. Since we were starving we found our room and went to dinner around 6:00pm. Jim ordered off the bar menu (a cheeseburger) and I got the Chef's Speciality (stuffed shrimp with crab). (Note to self, order from the bar next time)

And now for the best part. We retired to our room and watched the final ER and turned off our lights around 11:00pm. At 12:15am I awoke to a great noise. I jumped out of bed and went to the window. Not seeing anything I just stood there. Soon the noise returned and I recognized it as an airplane flying low and overhead. Surely it is going to crash because the roar of the engines was so loud. Not seeing the burst of flames I expected I just stood there waiting. In another 3 minutes the same sound returned and I soon realized that we were right over the flight path of the airport and probably were within feet of the wheels being right over us! I couldn't believe the noise. Why we never heard it earlier I have no idea. Was the TV covering it, was the air conditioner helping bring in the noise, did the airport change runways and now they were flying right over us? This went on for almost 2 hours!!! Every 3 to 5 minutes the roar of a plane on top of us kept waking both of us up. We would just drift off and then this most incredible roar would startle us awake. Around 2:00am I took another Tylenol PM and finally slept. (Note to self, stay away from the Ramada Ft. Lauderdale Airport if you want any peaceful sleep).

Oh well, we have 8 long, luxurious days at sea to recapture our lost sleep. We can't complain! Print this post