We started our adventure today by meeting for breakfast around 7:30am. We learned that Michael woke up in the middle of the night with a bad ear ache. Not a great start to the trip. After a quick bite, we boarded the shuttle bus for the ten minute ride to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport,
Once we got inside the terminal, we found the Spirit Airlines counter. We decided to fly with Spirit since it was cheap ($308.18 USD / person) and they fly to Fort Myers which is only one hour away from Marco Island. While Karen and I were checking in, we were surprised to learn that the weight limit for luggage on Spirit is 40 pounds but they average the weight amongst all the people under the reservation. It did not take the Paisley Maloneys long to get checked in and then all of us headed to security.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:50am and around 9:30am, the gate agent announces that our flight will be delayed two hours. He explained that they needed to bring in another First Officer since the original one became sick at the tail end of the flight. In a way the delay was a good thing because that gave Michael more time to sleep before getting on the plane. At 10:15am, the gate agent informs us that the replacement First Officer has arrived and we would be departing at 11:15am.
We got on the plane and quickly got ourselves settled for the two and a half hour flight. We passed the time eating, talking about what we would do in Florida, watching movies and napping. Liam even slept through the landing. These two boys are so much fun to fly with. The best part was hearing Michael say just after he woke up “We’re in Florida” with such enthuasium. We took our time deplaning and when we got to the baggage claim, ours was the only luggage remaining.
Southwest Florida International Airport is a small airport. The rental car agencies are a quick walk across the street as opposed to having to take a bus to a rental center. After picking up our 2016 Kia Optima from Hertz ($275.73 USD), we proceeded to the highway for the one hour ride to Marco Island. The temperature was 82 degreees and it was a beautiful sunny day. Much nicer than the weather we left behind.
Karen and I arrived first at our vacation rental that we booked through VRBO ($xxxx USD). We were greeted by the owner who gave us a tour of the house. It looked exatly like it did on the website. We unpacked our car and shortly there after, the Paisley Maloneys arrived.
The sun was just starting to set so we thought we better get our first swim in before dark. Both Michael and Liam are becoming excellent swimmers. It was getting near dinner time, so we first went to Publix to pick up groceries for the week and then some delicious pizza from Joey’s Pizza & Pasta House. We ended our long day by watching the movie “Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: A Rock and Roll Mystery”.
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