mahdnc

Yes, now that I went through my Cruise Critic therapy, I am laughing!

We made it to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. After we dropped off our bags, Marcia checked in while I drove the car to the JW Marriott to return it to Enterprise Car Rental. The return of the car is an embarrassing comedy of navigational errors on my part. I am only disclosing this to you as a form of self healing. It all occurred during the peak of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic in downtown Miami full of one way city streets where there is a large time penalty for each driving error. First attempt: I overshot and missed my turn because I wasn’t familiar the scale of the navigation map in the minivan screen. I had to go back around the block in gridlocked traffic (counterclockwise). Second attempt: Determined not to miss my turn the second time around, I made my left turn, but one traffic light too early. So back around the gridlocked block I went to set up attempt number three. Third attempt: the gridlock was aggravated this time by a bridge opening to let some expensive boat pass through. So going around the block took a real long time. You get to do a lot of pedestrian people watching. This time I made the correct turn (yay), but I missed the entrance to the hotel…. Fourth attempt: now that I had practice in making every error possible, I nailed the landing and proudly drove up to the JW Marriott Marquis entrance. I told the valet who approached me that I was just returning the car. He told me that I was at the wrong JW Marriott! I was supposed to go to the “other” JW Marriott only a mile away. I wanted to cry and beg the valet to take the car over there himself! Instead I asked him for the basic directions there. He told me that I had to drive 3/4 around the block and then continue on for a mile or so—during rush hour traffic…. This is why I cruise and don’t do any sailing on my own. I’d be “that guy” that ends up sailing to North Korea by accident. There. Therapy session over. Send me the bill.

and, they say that half the fun is getting there. I’d say that was especially true for you guys.

the ferry is a lot longer, too

Yes, we’ve visited this remote national park that can only be visited by boat or seaplane. We took the ferry option. We did snorkeling, not diving.

The drive between Miami and Key Largo isn’t as awesome as it is when you go further west onto the Overseas Highway.

Our car rental. No, it’s the white minivan in the back.

We will likely be on the road during the two most exciting minutes in sports.

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.

We arrived about 2.5 hrs before our flight. We checked our bags and breezed through security. We currently relaxing in a United Club near our gate. Like the airport itself, it is not very crowded.

Thanks, Susan. We will finally meet—a year from now in Solstice. I’m looking forward to that, too.