mahdnc

Today’s trip plan. Finish diving and check out of the Courtyard hotel. Drive back to Miami. Pick up a few things at the grocery store along the way and refuel the car rental. Check in at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. Then drive over to the nearby JW Marriott Marquis to drop off the car by 4pm to keep the car rental charge to one day (Enterprise). Dinner at Osteria Positano (Miami Beach) at 6:30PM.

We just filled out the health questionnaire. Remember when this was not so straight forward 2-3 years ago?

The drive from Miami to Key West via Highway 1/Overseas Highway is very scenic and takes at least 4 hours on a good day and considerably longer on a not good day. So in my opinion, four days is about right. One day to get there, one day to get back, and two whole days to spend there. Don't forget a visit to the very nearby Everglades National Park.

I am waiting for our first Live thread created by ChatGBT.

The only thing kinda bad about this Panama Canal sailing is we disembark on Derby day. Are you going to Thunder tomorrow or will you skip the event and the crowds?

Good luck with your flight, Linda. See you onboard tomorrow!

Hello, Mary. My residential history is spelled out in airport codes for fun since this is a travel forum. So LAX for Los Angeles. I went to graduate school in Pasadena from 1982-1983. It's a nice area and I enjoyed the time I spent there. For Christmas vacation in 2021, I took my family on a Las Vegas - Zion NP - Bruce Canyon NP - Death Valley NP - Joshua Tree NP - Los Angeles vacation. On the last night of the trip, we had dinner at The Stand House and we really liked it. We also walked around Manhattan Beach to watch sunset on that New Year’s Day.

She took her GoPro with her. So we’ll see what she brings back. I dove Key Largo back in 2010 We took our kids to Key Largo for five nights and Key West for five nights back then. Katie and Chris got their open water testing done there which got them certified. The diving is pretty good here and Marcia has always wanted to come back. So here we are!

No. I’m not a big Key Lime Pie fan. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. The food portions were huge and I couldn’t even eat all the lobster mac and cheese I ordered!

Cathy, because me asthma has been acting up lately, I’m a scratch for the diving unfortunately. Marcia is diving with a guide. I’m sure she’ll have fun. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the marina view (and I got to sleep in).

Having dinner at this restaurant in Key Largo tonight. It’s not too far from the hotel and seems well reviewed on TripAdvisor.

We have checked into our room at the Courtyard at Key Largo. Fairly simple and clean hotel. A big draw for us is that it’s right next to tomorrow’s dive center, Rainbow Reef which is great because we have to be there bright and early at 7:45 am tomorrow. We booked a basic room with Marriott points but received an upgrade to a Marina View room at check in. The hotel is not very full tonight.

Heavy traffic to Key Largo.

We’re on ground. First things first.

We had a nice ride to the airport (ORD) today. It’s about an hour away from our house. For the last few years we’ve booked a private car through a driver. It’s $89 each way. Lately the person who has been driving us is his son. He’s in his late twenties. Nice kid. He is into cryptocurrency. I asked him how his investments were doing. He told me that he cashed some of it in for the new car he was driving us in. It was a nice hybrid Lexus and he bought it last week. I don’t think the $89 fare covered the depreciation on the car though. We had a long talk about ChatGBT. He uses it quite a lot. It was an illuminating discussion. I may try it at work when I get back from this cruise.