Friday March 30th

The day began not unlike every other day in the last 2 weeks, incredibly early with a lack of sleep to be sure. We showered and packed up everything into the truck and locked the house down for our 8 day adventure away from home.

Roads were icy and slick but we managed to make it to the airport in half an hour and decided to try out a new parking location called ParkForU. It is a tiny parking lot northeast of the airport about 5 minutes that only charges half the price of the others. It requires that you stop at the office and pick up a driver to take with you to the airport in your own vehicle, drop yourselves off and they drive your vehicle back to a secure parking lot while you are away. Everything went according to plan and we were able to get into the airport with hopes of getting some breakfast and through security quickly. Our hopes were soon dashed as the majority of the airport was experiencing huge technical difficulties and people had to sign in old school by hand as the computer systems were down. We managed to get through security reasonably quickly and grab some breakfast sandwiches at Tim Hortons while awaiting our friends to arrive and join us. After some enthusiastic discussion, we were able to board the plane and unfortunately spend the next 60 to 90 minutes sitting on the tarmac watching the snow come down quite furiously. A couple of inches were on the ground before the De icing trucks finally arrived to soak us in pink and green liquid and then another continued wait on the ground before we were able to take off. We were concerned about making our connection in Toronto but were assured that we would make it in time. We got a brand new 737 complete with full Wi-Fi and were able to watch a few movies before touching down in Toronto. Unfortunately it took forever to get off the plane and we literally ran all the way to customs after being assured that our luggage would make it onto the airplane. Our Nexus cards were of some help but we still waited a long time to get through security and then finally to customs only to discover that our baggage was waiting downstairs for us and we would have to do this all over again.

All 8 of us ran back to the basement to retrieve our luggage and then head back up. The cutoff time was not available and so we had to check our luggage in manually hoping it would make it on to the plane. We ran back up to customs and begged to get to the front of the line much to the dismay of several American people who were in line and verbally abusive to us. We got through and then through customs briskly and then ran passed 20 gates arriving just in time to board the plane. What an adventure!

We were all starving to death as we had no time to eat. Thankfully two of the flight attendants helped us pre-order some meatless meals that came out in the first half an hour of our flight. I can't remember ever eating food that quickly before in my entire life.

The flight was not nearly as nice as the previous plane as this one had old video screens with very limited choices for entertainment but it made do for the 4 hours as we made our way to Fort Lauderdale.

Landing was uneventful but entering the airport and feeling the high heat and humidity was such a great feeling that never gets old. We gathered all our luggage and found our shuttle out on the street to take us to the Home2 hotel - very newly built and booked so long ago that we got it for half price compared to current asking price.

We were all starving badly so we headed out for a walk to the nearest shop to find some deodorant for one of the teenagers and a bite to eat. We walked down a major thoroughfare trying not to get run over in Hollywood Florida and stopped in at a gas station for some snacks and ice cold beverages for the walk back. We popped over to McDonalds for a Filet o Fish to wrap up Good Friday's meatless day. We wandered back to the hotel and visited in the lobby before calling it a night after a busy day of travel. Everyone is so excited to get on the ship tomorrow and begin our amazing adventure cruise!

Our plane was on time and waiting for us when we got there - good start !

90 minutes waiting on the Tarmac for the airport to get its computer systems up and running properly before we departed and waiting to get de-iced - took forever....