Even though our flight was much later this morning, it still took a few alarm clocks to wake us up. The first thing we did was to look outside, turn on the tv to see about the roads and double check our flights. Everything was on go so we got ourselves ready and then waited...with no kids in tow, it didn’t take too long to get ready and then when we were ready, there was not much to do!
Soon Grandpa arrived for our ride to the airport. The boys had his house had woken up early, early-5:45 but had all slept well. The trees were pretty heavy with ice but the roads seemed fine and we were soon walking through security. We flew with the kids 2 years ago and Robby and I haven’t flown alone for about 3 years. Wow, what a different experience the security line with kids and without kids is. Our kids would have done perfectly but it was much calmer with just us to worry about. Just for grins-if we had the kids we would have had 7 backpacks, 7 roller suitcases (5 of those child sized), 2 laptops, 8 coats and 2 shoes to put on the security belt. All that said, I am getting pretty ready to take them on a flight somewhere and my big ones are starting to ask when they can fly again. Maybe we should buy a few more lottery tickets! :)
The security line was non existent and no one really was around our gate. We were there a bit early and Robby bought breakfast and chatted with a friend. Soon we were boarding our flight-Robby read the newspaper on his ipad and I did one page of my bible study, read a magazine and started on a book (I, by far, was much more productive)
Flying is just amazing to me-dark clouds and rain everywhere in Little Rock and the little plane windows were caked over with ice but in just a few minutes, all you can see is the beautiful sun shining bright. I can see why people love to fly. Since we were near the back of the plane, we just waited to be the last ones off. It was a good thing because we had to wait in the jet way for our suitcases. It was so cold in there that you could see your breath. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait too long and we were soon on our way to find our next gate.
We ate some crazy priced sandwiches for lunch-they were delicious though. And then a bit of a wait for our next plane. Nothing like standing on a crazy cold jet way trying to get into the plane. I was shivering by the time we found our seats. This plane was absolutely full. And apparently Robby and I have grown since the last time we have flown or the seats are smaller. I was careful not to crowd the lady next to the window but that meant that I was crowding Robby.
Before we left the gate, we had to be de-iced. That was pretty exciting-imagine a plane full of adults oohing and aahing at sound of liquid being sprayed onto the plane and the orange liquid flowing over the windows. We then had to join a pretty long line for takeoff so we left about 45 minutes late. Robby had thought that our flight was less than 2 hours but he forgot to account for the time change so it was nearly 3 hours plus the time that we were sitting on the plane before leaving.
The flight was uneventful and soon enough we were landing in Ft. Lauderdale. When ever I hear Ft. Lauderdale I think of the Golden Girls but I don’t even know if they were from here or not. We then boarded the rental car shuttle with a zillion other folks-I do not remember that last time that I have been to a rental car place because Robby usually fetches the car while I wait with the kids.
After picking our car out and figuring out how to start it, we were off….except the silly gps takes forever to find a satellite so we did make a few loops before heading on our way….heading on our way to continue my Ikea tour of America.
We only had about an hour in this Ikea before closing so we started with supper. I had meatballs, mashed potatoes and butternut squash with apples soup. Robby had chicken fingers and fries. It was all pretty delicious or maybe we were hungry after a long day of traveling. We quickly walked through the store spending a whopping 4 dollars. Oh I did see plenty of things that I would happily purchase but just couldn’t get them home-like the dollar wrapping paper.
After Ikea we had about 60 miles to drive to get to the hotel. The silly gps gave again gave us a bit of difficulty but we figured it out and headed in the right direction. On the way, there we talked to the boys-having already talked to the girls earlier. The boys did their school work early this morning, played on their kindles, made paper airplanes and even got to play with Lilly and Cash today. The girls were no less busy since they watched tv, ate lots of snacks and played with Jason tonight. Jason and Grandpa even sent us a few pictures of the kids from the day.
Our drive flew by and soon we were stopping at Walgreens and walking around grabbing a few things for the rest of the week. It was like we were 12 and our momma said that we could get whatever we wanted in the store. Then just a mile until we got to our hotel and listen, we parked and then walked right in. Seriously, I didn’t have to wait in the car, we didn’t have to clean the car and now I am already unpacked a finishing the blog in record time. I miss my kids but traveling without them sure is different! Tomorrow’s plans are a few new national parks and then on down to Key West.
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