Days 14 & 15 - It's good to be home...
Category Vacation
Yesterday and today were "travel days", so to speak, for our vacation trip home. Because Alaska Air had changed our return flight on the 31st from 5 pm to 8 am out of Miami (and we were four hours away in Orlando), Sue convinced them to put us up at a hotel on the 31st so we could fly out today without leaving Orlando at 2 am... So...
We left the Boardwalk at 6 am on the 31st for the four hour drive back. We had to have the car turned back in by 11 am. The hotel we were staying at was the Miami International Airport Hotel located, where else, but in the airport. The drive was event-free, and we were back at Hertz by about 10:15. We took the shuttle over to the airport, and checked in early (2 rooms, so we didn't have to entertain the kids). After checking out the shops and restaurants at the airport (that took all of about 15 minutes), we were looking at spending a "fun-filled" New Year's Eve.
The MIA Hotel is rather strange. It doesn't look to be affiliated with any of the major chains. The best way to describe it is modern 70's/80's decor that hasn't been updated much. The hallways and rooms make ample use of mirrors to make the place look larger than it actually is. The entire wall at the head of the bed is mirrored.
Don't go there...
The bathroom has modern sleek faucets with hidden handles. The toilet has no tank, just one of those flushing mechanisms you see in stadium bathrooms (and it's just about as loud). A nice Princess Trimline push-button phone (slightly yellowed) is mounted conveniently by the toilet so you can "multi-task" as necessary. In the entryway, there's no closet area... just an open hanger setup that looks "sleek and modern" (or probably did 30 years ago). The room's window area is completely shuttered with only a small area that can be slid open. Which is fine, as our room view was blocked by a huge pipe that obscured the view of the parking garage. My iPaq and wireless card showed four wi-fi access points (named "tsunami"), but I couldn't connect. I asked the front desk about the access, and you'd thought I was speaking Swahili. The guy tried to explain to me in broken English that there was access, it was the hotel's access, it was usable during business hours, but the 31st was New Year's Eve. Yeah, so?
All things considered, it wasn't a *bad* hotel. It just felt like it was pretending to be something it hadn't been for at least 20 years.
Today's trip home was pretty much uneventful, if not long. The plane left Miami at 8 am and got to Seattle at 11 (add the three hours time zone shift). Since the flight was 40 minutes *early*, we were able to get some lunch before boarding the puddlehopper from Seattle to Portland. The flight was much smoother coming home. Ian was talking to deities, but not making deals with them. We got home around 3 pm, the cats hadn't torn up the house too badly, I've got five boxes of books to review, fun, fun, fun... :-)
Did we have a good time? Yes. It was relaxing, everyone had fun, and we tried some new things. But am I glad to be home? You bet. I'm tired of living out of a suitcase and lugging far too many pounds of electronic equipment from place to place... :-)
Final parting shots...
Florida's rest areas on the Florida Turnpike rock. They are commercial entities with gas stations and a visitor area with fast food and travel information (and nice clean bathrooms). Beats the Oregon rest areas with iffy bathrooms, sometimes a few vending machines, and volunteers manning a coffee area.
One reason I *need* to lose weight in 2005... airline seats. My butt fits OK, but the shoulder width is an issue. I'm tired of sitting forward or slanted for hours because the person sitting next to me is hogging space and my shoulders don't fit.
With as many times as we've been to WDW, you'd think I could drive the area with no problems. Nope. I always get lost or turned around at least once (if not more). But this time, I didn't get lost once. I think it was the electronic compass in our rental car. It helped knowing whether you were traveling north or east...
Christmas music after December 25th seems strange. Christmas music after December 25th when it's 75 degrees outside is just plain wrong!
And finally... If you use a hotel internet connection, make sure you use a firewall. I downloaded ZoneAlarm to use while I was traveling, and didn't think much of it. A couple of times I clicked on Windows Explorer and looked for "Computers Near Me". Not only could I see other users, but on more than one machine I could browse their drives. On one machine, I could have deleted a student's entire semester of homework. I'll make sure that ZoneAlarm is up and running at all times in about three weeks.
Yesterday and today were "travel days", so to speak, for our vacation trip home. Because Alaska Air had changed our return flight on the 31st from 5 pm to 8 am out of Miami (and we were four hours away in Orlando), Sue convinced them to put us up at a hotel on the 31st so we could fly out today without leaving Orlando at 2 am... So...
We left the Boardwalk at 6 am on the 31st for the four hour drive back. We had to have the car turned back in by 11 am. The hotel we were staying at was the Miami International Airport Hotel located, where else, but in the airport. The drive was event-free, and we were back at Hertz by about 10:15. We took the shuttle over to the airport, and checked in early (2 rooms, so we didn't have to entertain the kids). After checking out the shops and restaurants at the airport (that took all of about 15 minutes), we were looking at spending a "fun-filled" New Year's Eve.
The MIA Hotel is rather strange. It doesn't look to be affiliated with any of the major chains. The best way to describe it is modern 70's/80's decor that hasn't been updated much. The hallways and rooms make ample use of mirrors to make the place look larger than it actually is. The entire wall at the head of the bed is mirrored.
Don't go there...
The bathroom has modern sleek faucets with hidden handles. The toilet has no tank, just one of those flushing mechanisms you see in stadium bathrooms (and it's just about as loud). A nice Princess Trimline push-button phone (slightly yellowed) is mounted conveniently by the toilet so you can "multi-task" as necessary. In the entryway, there's no closet area... just an open hanger setup that looks "sleek and modern" (or probably did 30 years ago). The room's window area is completely shuttered with only a small area that can be slid open. Which is fine, as our room view was blocked by a huge pipe that obscured the view of the parking garage. My iPaq and wireless card showed four wi-fi access points (named "tsunami"), but I couldn't connect. I asked the front desk about the access, and you'd thought I was speaking Swahili. The guy tried to explain to me in broken English that there was access, it was the hotel's access, it was usable during business hours, but the 31st was New Year's Eve. Yeah, so?
All things considered, it wasn't a *bad* hotel. It just felt like it was pretending to be something it hadn't been for at least 20 years.
Today's trip home was pretty much uneventful, if not long. The plane left Miami at 8 am and got to Seattle at 11 (add the three hours time zone shift). Since the flight was 40 minutes *early*, we were able to get some lunch before boarding the puddlehopper from Seattle to Portland. The flight was much smoother coming home. Ian was talking to deities, but not making deals with them. We got home around 3 pm, the cats hadn't torn up the house too badly, I've got five boxes of books to review, fun, fun, fun... :-)
Did we have a good time? Yes. It was relaxing, everyone had fun, and we tried some new things. But am I glad to be home? You bet. I'm tired of living out of a suitcase and lugging far too many pounds of electronic equipment from place to place... :-)
Final parting shots...
Florida's rest areas on the Florida Turnpike rock. They are commercial entities with gas stations and a visitor area with fast food and travel information (and nice clean bathrooms). Beats the Oregon rest areas with iffy bathrooms, sometimes a few vending machines, and volunteers manning a coffee area.
One reason I *need* to lose weight in 2005... airline seats. My butt fits OK, but the shoulder width is an issue. I'm tired of sitting forward or slanted for hours because the person sitting next to me is hogging space and my shoulders don't fit.
With as many times as we've been to WDW, you'd think I could drive the area with no problems. Nope. I always get lost or turned around at least once (if not more). But this time, I didn't get lost once. I think it was the electronic compass in our rental car. It helped knowing whether you were traveling north or east...
Christmas music after December 25th seems strange. Christmas music after December 25th when it's 75 degrees outside is just plain wrong!
And finally... If you use a hotel internet connection, make sure you use a firewall. I downloaded ZoneAlarm to use while I was traveling, and didn't think much of it. A couple of times I clicked on Windows Explorer and looked for "Computers Near Me". Not only could I see other users, but on more than one machine I could browse their drives. On one machine, I could have deleted a student's entire semester of homework. I'll make sure that ZoneAlarm is up and running at all times in about three weeks.
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