Luckily for me, I never need to set an alarm since my internal clock works really well. The cab picked us up at 5:45am and approximately 5 minutes later, we were at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. It did not take us long to check our bags and pass through security. We flew with Southwest Airlines ($380.14 CAD) and we were fortunate to get the exit row. This gave us much more leg room. Our flight stopped in Tampa where we picked up some more passengers before arriving in Fort Lauderdale around noon.
We picked up our Honda Civic from Hertz ($37.36 USD) and stopped at Panera Bread for lunch before we went to Sawgrass Mills. This mall is huge. I mean we should have been working out to get ready for all of the walking that we did. We got a few deals at the mall, and then wanted to get to our hotel in the daylight, so we picked up dinner from The Cheesecake Factory, and headed to the hotel.
Karen found the Alhambra Beach Resort ($129 USD) on TripAdvisor. The reason why we picked this place was that it was within walking distance of the Intercoastal Waterway. This hotel is beautiful. There is a large courtyard around the pool which is heated to 85°F always. We ate our dinner outside our room at a little patio.
After dinner, we walked over to the seawall by the Intercoastal Waterway to enjoy the Winterfest Boat Parade. This was so cool. All the boats were decorated in Christmas lights, and some had music blasting, and people dancing. There were big boats, little boats and even a guy paddling a canoe. The parade ended with a brightly lit Santa on his sleigh.
We ended the night by going to Publix to get supplies for the cruise. Tomorrow we’re off to the Caribbean!
WOW! Looks like your already having a BLAST!
What a lovely hotel room… Have a safe journey on the LOVELY cruise you LUCKY BUMS!!!
Jealous….as I am sitting here on Sunday about to get ready for work, watching a wicked snow storm outside. haha Have a great time soaking up the rays!