65) The Link Hotel, Back in Fort Lauderdale, FL

The Link Hotel, Back in Fort Lauderdale, FL                    82 F

Please be off the Ship by 8 AM or so…we were given a time slot to be in a group that gets off the Ship at a certain time but we waited and waited… the whole group that is.

Our suitcases were picked up during the night and would be unloaded from the Ship I guess. 

It was us, the people, who could not leave until we had clearance from somewhere off the Ship.

So we waited until our time slot came and went. We waited over another hour. Then I walked up to the gangway and told the lady I HAD TO get off to make my ‘connections’.

She bought my story and led us past the waiting crowd to the front of the lines. I had to fill out paperwork for U.S. Customs (strangely Carol, being Canadian, did not have to fill out those papers) and then we were given clearance to leave the ship.

Once off the ship we now had to find our bags in the huge hall full of luggage. Although they were supposed to be sorted according to deck, one of our suitcases was not in the correct section. It was extremely frustrating. It took a long time to find the second bag. I was loaded down with the carry-on stuff, too. Hat (Panama) box, knapsack, tote bag, etc. But finally, finally, we found the second suitcase. We passed through customs and stood outside the huge hall to now find transportation to the hotel when I realized one of my bags, my carry-on, was missing.

No problem, I will just go back and get it, right?

NO!   Once you step out of the hall you cannot get back in. 

A guard stops you from re-entering.

 

Now what?

Some lady, in regular clothes asked me to describe my knapsack and said she would go and get it, just ‘wait here’ she said.

I waited, what other options do I have? I tried again to get into the hall, but no, I had to wait.

After a while another lady came out, looked for me and told me they are still looking for my bag, to just wait.

We waited, other passengers from the ship came out, took a taxi and left.

We stood and waited for what seemed like 45 minutes when finally, a guy came out with a bunch of luggage and among those was my missing knapsack. 

Ah, we would have been at the hotel already had it not been for this bag. 

You understand how you can overlook one bag when you see what we had to pack into the taxi, the taxi we found across the street.

We had 2 large suitcases on wheels, big, as big as it gets, medium stuff bags, Carol’s carry-on bag on rollers, my carry on, 2 knapsacks and my hat box with our Panama hats in them, 9 pieces of luggage total.

The taxi was full when we got into the car.

We told the taxi driver to take us to our parked car, not to the hotel.

Yes, remember the car we had to park somewhere for the duration of our cruise?

Will Carol’s Lexus be there we each thought within our own heads?  Will all be in good shape?  What do you think happen?

Whew! The Lexus Is Still Right Where We Left It

Miracle of Miracles, yes Miracles happen. 

When we arrived at the small house where the Lexus was parked, the owners came out to greet us; all of us very happy. Lisa owns the small house and she was a good looking lady. Doug, her boyfriend was there, too. It was like a reunion; lots of hellos.

All worked out perfectly in the end, we loaded up the Lexus, started it up and drove off. There was no drama, there was no surprise, and Lisa and Doug are nice folks, just not as lucky in life as some of us are. 

The Link Hotel - It Was A Great Place

When we arrived at the Hotel, the Link Hotel, our room was not ready. We had to wait. No problem, we knew the immediate area from before we left on the cruise, I had re-booked the same Hotel for our return. 

We walked over to the iHop for lunch and dinner later on. We are back in the U.S. of A and the easy living is gone. We have to find places to eat, to sleep, etc.

We now have to drive every day to get back north to Canada. 

But…Life is still very good, we are much better off than Lisa and Doug for example.

Monk's Car. We Liked the 'Check Twice For Motorcycles' Sticker

I cannot say much about Monk; I don’t know what happened to him. We checked where his room used to be. Two months ago he looked like a permanent resident at this Hotel, but when we checked, he was gone, along with his car. There was no trace left of Monk. Thank you, Monk.

We went to bed early that night, all the uncertainty, all the excitement wore me down. I needed some beauty sleep.