As Winter Storm Gia was in the process of depositing a foot of snow on our home in Missouri, my wife & I landed safely in sunny south Florida. Temperature – a balmy 74 degrees. We walked smiling into the sunshine outside the terminal, joining a phalanx of people waiting for or looking for transportation
My plan was to impress my wife by summoning a ride from Uber on my phone. Our very first Uber ride! Inputting our location and our desired destination on the Uber app, I awaited a response.
Then I awaited some more
Finally, I got the following response:
So much for impressing my wife.
On to Plan B.
We dragged our luggage a few feet to the airport shuttle desk.
Within minutes we were aboard a van with a very personable driver with great depth perception who maneuvered our van skillfully in and around traffic while telling funny stories. My wife and I, leading edge Baby Boomers, were the youngest passengers on the van.
Check-in at the Marriott Beachplace Tower went smoothly and an hour after our plane touched down we were gazing in awe at the turquoise Atlantic from our 17th floor balcony. My wife was duly impressed. That may have been influenced somewhat by the tasty fruity drinks they kept handing her while I checked-in. I suspect some fermentation may have been involved in their making.
On our minds were our friends who were going to join us a day later. They were scheduled to fly out of Kansas City the next morning with Gia still snarling traffic and disrupting air travel.
To paraphrase Forrest Gump’s mommy “January weather in Missouri is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get.”
The View From the Other Side of the Hill 