10. Before We Leave on the Cruise

The Link Motel and Pool

We spent a few days before the cruise in Ft. Lauderdale and as you can read it was time needed to set up our parking, getting to the terminal, etc. But, we also found that the hotel was not a bad place to spend the extra time. Sure it was not luxurious, sure it had lots of flaws but not bad all in all. 

Paella - Yum!

Next door to the hotel was a Cuban Restaurant named Padrino's, a place not to be missed. Monk called it the best restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, but I guess he just wanted to show off. Still, it was a good place, even if Monk overstated his opinion.

The hotel gave us a coupon to ‘Vico’s” in the same plaza, but we walked in, and walked out. Never mind the coupon, way too expensive and noisy and crowded. 

 OK, we are going to cruise now:   See y' all aboard!!!

9. Preparations in Ft. Lauderdale

OK, we have a parking place but now come more details, how will we get from parking the car back to the hotel? And then, how do we get from the Hotel to the Pier to embark on our trip?

Monk tells me he will do it…….for another $100. I guess he saw I had some money and he sees me as a cash cow. I tell him I will give him $50 if he takes us to the ship and if he drops me at the hotel after I drop off the car. He agrees!

Then I tell him he needs to make sure he has his driver’s license ready when we enter the port terminal because the Port Authority checks everybody’s ID to make sure nobody sneaks unto a cruise ship.

Hmm! I guess this deal with Monk is off!

He cannot ‘find’ his driver’s license and I cannot walk with 4 suitcases to the terminal.

Now what do I do? Well, let me drop off the Lexus at our parking spot first.

 

When we ‘visited’ the parking place I wrote down the address. So no problem finding it, the GPS will lead us to it.  I drop off the car, make SURE it is locked, write down the mileage on the odometer, write a note and put it inside the car, just in case it gets broken in to, hang a towel over the steering wheel to get it cooled off in the hot Florida sun, take pictures of the car all around and also take pictures of the house on my camera and take pictures of the neighbors cars. I do what I can to make sure the car is ‘safe’ and unobtrusive. 

Doug's Car - I Erased the License Plate

When I drop the car off there is nobody at the house, but ‘Doug’s’ red car is standing in the street. I take pictures of his car and license plate too.

So now, after dropping of the Lexus how to I get back to the motel? I walk a bit to try to find a taxi, but I cannot find one, it’s a residential neighborhood. After some time, I go into an office building pretending I lost my cell phone and ask the concierge to call a taxi. She obliges and I wait outside the office building for about 10 minutes and a cab comes and drives me to the motel… Cost is about $10.

 

The story of my trip to Port Everglades for embarkation is next. If you have been to Fort Lauderdale you know this is a HUGE port. It is a hub for cruise ships. You can get lost trying to find your cruise ship. 

The motel has a sign- up list for taxis to take you to the port. You need to sign up for the taxi the night before. You are given a time slot and then you need to be ready at the door for the taxi to take you to the ship. We were ready at our designated pick up time for the taxi. I signed up for this because Monk could not empty his car trunk for us, he had too much stuff in his car trunk and he still could not find his driver’s license.  So the story with Monk ends here. 

Monk's Cadillac With the License Plate Erased

Carol, being super cautious, took additional pictures of Monks car and license plate number and the tag that read S.A, Financial with the Tel. # on the bottom of it. Carol even took a picture of the bumper sticker ‘Check Twice for Motorcycles’.  I guess she is still a bit nervous and not trusting my instincts. Any number on the Cadillac such as that on the right side of the car was photographed. Just in case!

Long Lines in the Terminal

Anyhow, we took the taxi to the ship. Cost was about $40, so Monk would have been paid a fair price IF he had driven us. 

 

The embarkation was the typical mayhem, but all went well. There were LONG lines to check in and get to our assigned stateroom.

8. Arriving in Ft. Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, FL.  It is January 21, 2018, Sunday (and Monday and Tuesday for this and the next report).

 

Jean and Ross at Their Condo

It was just another 475 KM day of driving, with a stop-over at the nice condo our friends bought in West Palm Beach. We just stopped there for a quick drink since Ross was working hard to install a new dishwasher but we wanted to see the ‘bargain’ they found a few years back when the Real Estate Market was on the very low end of the scale in FL. Jean told us that yes, they got a bargain but they had to re-decorate and ‘improve’ the place. All that ‘work’ paid off big time, however. You did well guys. You found a jewel!

We are now at the Link Motel in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days. We are scouting out the area and getting our bearings to be ready to start our cruise 3 days from now.

I had already searched online for a place to park the Lexus. Parking long term in Ft. Lauderdale is a bit of a racket. The prices vary from garage to garage, from parking lot to parking lot. We need to park the car for a full 60 days. Let’s say we pay $10 per day, that would be a bill of $600 just to park the car. I am trying to find a cheaper way but so is everybody else who takes a cruise from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Parking is at a premium. Some places charge close to $20 a day in actuality. My chore is to talk to people, to find a ‘deal’. 

Have to Park the Car For 60 Days

I asked the hotel if we could park the car for 60 days on their parking lot and the answer is yes, $10/day. Too expensive!  It’s not a bargain.

 

I talked to everybody, even the guy who rented a room next to us at the motel. His name is Monk! His girl friend lives with him in the motel room and they sit outside the room most of the day, jabbering away. Monk is on a cell phone most of the time. Curse words fly out his mouth like water from a water fall. It seems he does not have a job. Or his job is talking on the cell phone?  His Cadillac is parked in front of his room and he smokes like a chimney. Well, you cannot pick your neighbors at a motel. Monk does not really bother me, he seems ok, but one never knows. This is Florida; there are lots of ‘strange’ people living in Florida. Well, I asked Monk if he knows a place where we can park the car for 2 months. I had an inkling this guy might know more than meets the eye. Sure enough, he made a phone call and voila, we have a parking place for 2 months. He wants $400 and we agree on $300.  

I want to see the place where the Lexus will be parked before I agree to the deal and Monk comes along to show us exactly where the location is. I am driving.

This Is Where the Car Will Be Parked?

It’s a ‘small house’ neighborhood that at the moment is changing from pure residential zoning to a mixed, upper scale office and residential mix. Some of the smaller houses seem abandoned but where the car will be parked, the house is occupied. Monk’s ‘friend’ Doug comes out of the house and greets us. Doug is the boyfriend of the lady who owns the house and Doug tells us he works as a line cook at the Red Carpet Inn on the Interstate ( I-95). Carol feels a bit weird about the whole thing and so would many more people, but… we need a parking spot.

While we are there, Monk talks to Doug and then comes back to me and tells me: “Doug said he will take $250 for the full time if you can pay him like …right now… in cash!” These are the decisions you have to make while on the road. 

Do I trust this guy Monk?  Do I trust Doug? Both seem in need of money, yet here is a place where we could park the car. Or is it all a play, a farce, a trap? What do you think I did?

I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a prepared envelope with $250 cash and gave it to Doug. Who in turn walked with Monk into the porch and gave some money to Monk. I saw the exchange; I just don’t know the amount that was paid to Monk. I guess $50 went to Monk.

Did we get a bargain?

Will the car be there when we get back?

Carol is nervous, it is her car.  She is not as trusting as I am!

Did we make a mistake?

(We will find out at the end of the trip, won’t we?)

7. Full Day in St. Augustine, FL

We have the time and our motel is ‘reasonable’ for this part of the U.S. We paid $70 with Wi-Fi and a hot breakfast.  We are staying over another night. 

It is time to just be a tourist. Do nothing (we are good at that) and just loaf.

A lazy AM, with a lunch of fruit and yogurt, was followed by:  “OK, let’s see downtown Augustine in the afternoon.”

Grave of Joseph Hernandez, 1826 - 1877

After we found parking, always a challenge in St. Augustine, we walked past the Tolomato Cemetery.

Touring the Cemetery Named For a Seminole Indian Chief

The Preservation Society had an ‘open house’ on the old grounds and we took the free tour.

 

This Shelf Has a Worm Syrup & Intestinal Evacuant

We marched past an old drug store, actually the oldest drug store in town and Carol was smiling at the sign:  ‘Wash for weak Women’.    

City Gate

We ambled along St. George Street, now a pedestrian mall, took a few pictures of the Old City Gate and ended up in front of the Oldest Schoolhouse in the U.S.A. and  

Oldest Schoolhouse in the U.S.A.

 

Murals in St. Photios Basilica

St.Photios Basilica, a Greek Orthodox Church with beautiful murals.   

  

Oldest House

We walked for what seemed like hours and after visiting the ‘oldest’ house we had an early dinner at another ‘old’ place, the OC Whites Seafood and Spirits Tavern (1790) to end the day. 

Everything was the “oldest’ in St. Augustine and since St. Augustine is the ‘oldest’ City in the U.S. going back to 1565; they might have a claim that is true.

Yes, it was a bit touristy, lots of tourist shops, but we had the time to do it. So… why not!

Going further south tomorrow!