Sanibel Island, here I come.......at some point

Tuesday morning, bright and early, I arrived at work, to start what I hoped would be a quick day. HA HA HA. As usual, fate just chuckled and said, We'll see about that. As it turned out, I didn't finish work until 5:30-ish. I still had to pack, do my dishes and generally straighten up my place, get gas, visit my parents and drive to Baltimore. UGH

I didn't get on the road until almost 8pm. And just to keep it interesting, it was pouring rain. At least it wasn't sleeting anymore. We finally made it to Aloft which is near the airport. I've never stayed at this hotel brand before. I used Priceline and got this hotel for fairly cheap. Because the flight departs at 6am, it made sense to drive down the night before. And, because I could leave the car at the hotel and not have to pay at a lot, the hotel was almost free. We still didn't get a ton of sleep as we needed to eat some dinner and have a few drinks at the hotel bar. (Me especially after the day I had)  We needed to get up at 3:00am!!!  We went to sleep about 11ish and the alarms went off at 3:10am. Blah

The hotel was interesting. Very hip, modern, trendy--kind of an urban loft feel. Hence the name, I guess. I'd like to stay there another time when I can get to Baltimore earlier. The room was unlike any I've ever stayed in. It was very comfortable. I would stay here again. What I would not do is eat and/or drink in the hotel bar. 3 draft beers each and some 'meh' food costs as much as the room. Unreal.

I have to comment about the bartender/cook/server.  A more flustered and inept person could not have been assigned to these jobs. If I heard "I'm so sorry" once, I heard it 50 times. We tried to order food and they were out of most of the items on the menu. And bottle after bottle of empty liquor bottles were on the lighted shelves. WTH? I guess to keep it looking pretty. The bartender kept saying how she had been slammed earlier---she had a full bar. I should mention that the bar had about 10 seats.

Fast forward to about 4:30am the next morning. We left for the airport on the free shuttle. The airport was empty. I've never seen it like that. We had TSA Pre-check but it really didn't make a lot of difference. We made it to our gate and it was fairly empty. As the time passed, there were still not very many people. As it turned out, there were only 37 passengers on the plane. That happens to me NEVER. Each person could pretty much have a row to themselves. Nice. And......one of the computers on the flight deck was not working. They actually did the 'help desk' fix for the computer. They turned the plane off and on--twice. No luck. The Tech people came to take a look. Again, no luck. They called the 'big guns'. And we sat and sat and sat. It was FREEZING on the plane. After more diagnostics were performed, the expert figured it out and the faulty part was switched out.

We took off about an hour late--we think. Because we were both asleep when we finally took off. LOL! We arrived at the Fort Myers airport about 930. We were off the plane in minutes and walking to baggage claim. When we arrived, the bags were sitting on the belt --which was not even moving as there were so few bags. Again--never happens to me. We walked across the walkway to the rental car place. Again, luck was on our side--no line at Alamo. We were on the road in no time.

The room at Holiday Inn Sanibel Island was ready when we checked-in. Wow. We were on the beach by 11am. Ahhhhhhh. Finally in my happy place!  Life is very, very good.  Sun, sand, warmth, shells and there were tons of sponges washed up....And you know who could not control herself. (Note: It wasn't me)

A late lunch at the hotel Tiki Bar and several wonderful Strawberry Pina Coladas and I was feeling mellow. I decided to go over to the pergola and sit in the comfy chairs and read my book. Aaaaaand of course, the previously quiet pool area was overrun by loud children. "Mom, watch me" at least a hundred times. My chill vibe oozing from my body, I made my way back down to the kid-free beach and did some more shelling and some more chilling in a lounge chair.

When the no-see-ums started biting, close to sunset, we left the beach and went back to the room and immediately realized we locked both keys in the room. Nice move! 20 minutes and in possession of a new key, we got cleaned up and went to get a few things at the store.

We are back in the room now, watching Survivor. I think we will be calling it an early night tonight. That's all the news for now.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I'm too tired tonight.

Ciao

New digs and New travel.... Life is good!

Since the last time I posted, I've accomplished quite a bit. I actually moved from my house to an apartment. AND it's actually about 93% decorated! I know...amazing. Art work has been hung, things are put away and the most amazing thing---everything fits!

I was quite worried despite the fact that I measured the rooms here, measured all my furniture and then used graph papers and scale cut-outs of all the furniture prior to moving. (I know, organizational craziness.)

I was also assigned a storage cage type thing in the basement, but the only thing I am storing down there are empty boxes and bins that I will need for the next move. That basement creeps me out so bad. I will not go down there unless it's daylight, I have a box cutter in my hand and there is someone with me. Because of some law, the door to the place needs to be kept unlocked. So my imagination goes into overdrive and pictures some murderer lurking down there. Plus, there is all sorts of forgotten furniture down there (perfect hiding place for said murderer) and.. well, it's a basement.

But enough of that topic--

In two weeks, I've changed my life in a major way and I have to tell you, it feels great!

Now, onto more important topics! Travel!

I'm leaving next week for a quick trip south to hopefully, stock up on Vitamin D to help me make it through the winter. (I am still considering one of those light boxes for my desk at work) A few clicks and it could be on its way with Amazon Prime. That is deadly--believe me. So easy to get just about anything you want in 2 days. People say you can get it cheaper elsewhere, but I'd rather pay a little more so I don't have to actually go to the store and get it!. But once again, I digress.

Back to Travel. Sanibel Island is once again calling my name.  I am looking forward to long days on the beach and eating dinner outside at our favorite restaurants! Of course, pasty Jilly will need sunscreen. But it does inhibit Vitamin D absorption so I will have to balance that out.

And, I have another cruise planned for April. Believe it or not, I got a great casino rate for any cruises I book by the end of the year for next year!. Honey, I was on that faster than you can say Blackjack!
I'm thinking of booking a second cruise for October or November of 17. Well, I'm not thinking of doing it, I am doing that, I just haven't booked it yet.

The cruise in April is eight nights and it stops in Puerto Rico, Grand Turk, St Maarten and St. Kitts. I'm really looking forward to that. The Serenity area on this ship is amazing. It's 3 levels and it has a pool with a waterfall! And on top of that, there are four wonderful sea days!

So that's all the news for now. It's unreal that we are into December already. The only good thing I have to say about the onset of winter is: At least this winter I will not have to do any shoveling!