Day -02 - Thursday, 11/07/24

 Today was our travel day from Seattle to Ft. Lauderdale.  In previous years there was a redeye flight, but the only flight this year in Alaska Airlines is a 2pm flight.  While we typically fly standby, I could see that unsold seats were rapidly decreasing, so I purchased 2 seats using our companion fare offered by our Alaska credit card.  


A church friend drove us to the airport. Checking in was a breeze as was TSA Precheck and we were at the gate N10 2 hours before the scheduled 2pm departure. I ate a Wendy's burger  while waiting.  Just before we were to begin boarding , the gate attendant announced that the incoming flight from LA was late and 2:30pm would be our new departure time.  That slid, and our actual departure time was 3:02pm. Our plane was a 737-900ER decorated in memorials to our military and the winglets were red white and blue which you'll see in the pictures below. Our son in law has piloted this plane.

Mt. Rainier

Early dinner of a fruit & cheese plate and Cuban sliders which I split with Angela 

Yellowstone National Park



We had scenic views of Mt. Rainier and the snow blanketing Yellowstone National Park.  The flight was fine with the exception of a number of rough sections.  I think we felt some of the air disturbances from the approaching hurricane in the gulf. With our T-Mobile phone plan we get free internet on most airline flights so I spent much of the flight using the internet.  I tried watching a couple of movies, but just couldn't get into them.  We arrived into FLL (airport code for Ft. Lauderdale) at 11:20pm.  We were last off the plane and our luggage was waiting for us at baggage claim, although my red security strap was missing.  


I called the hotel and arranged for a shuttle pickup and we waited about 20 minutes for that.  We were finally in our room by 1am.  This room at the Rodeway Inn & Suites on Highway 84 is just a few doors down from the one we stayed at last year before our Grand South America cruise.  The hotel is clean and neat, has a reasonable room rate during the week, free breakfast, free shuttles to/from the airport and to the cruise terminal, and a nice restaurant next door.  It's about a mile walk to a shopping area and a very nice German Restaurant.  We'll plan to walk there tomorrow.

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