Hookay, vacation almost over. My flight wasn’t for a while, I had plenty of time – in fact, if I checked out at checkout time, I’d have more than enough time to tank up the car and get to the airport. I’d vaguely thought about getting up early enough to take a swim – although early swims didn’t seem to be a thing among the guests, it was certainly available as a possibility. No matter – I woke up late enough that I just did my morning routine more leisurely, then cleaned up and headed down to breakfast.

I’d realized that there was a bunch of stuff in the car that I needed to pack, so before breakfast, I went out to the car (still there! no tickets!) and brought in the snorkel kit, the beach towels and a bunch of other crap. I ended up, after breakfast, going through the lobby to reception and offering the unused snorkel kit to the receptionist to offer to a guest if they wanted, and she said ‘sure’. So, something I didn’t have to pack, and this turned out to be more helpful than I thought.

Got all packed up and took everything down in two trips. I could have probably done it in one, but it would have been a struggle and stairs aren’t easy for me right now, even though I was going down, not up. Out to the car, packed it up, then went back in to check out.

Off to a gas station. The car was a hybrid, and I’d only used about a quarter of a tank or so. Tanked up, then off to the airport. This got confusing – I drove into the rental car garage following a big sign that had all the rental companies listed, including Avis – and then once I was in, there was no more signs for Avis. Exited and went around again. Turns out the Avis spaces were immediately after entering, and ther was no ‘AVIS area’, which is what I’d been looking for, just these subtly-marked spaces. The idea being you’d park, then bring your car keys in to leave at the desk. Which I did.

I’d never been to this airport before, and it was oddly set up, and for some reason, it looked like I couldn’t actually get to the ticket desks without exiting the rental car building, crossing the street to the garage, going up a floor in the elevator, then crossing back on the crossbridge. Maybe you could have, but I didn’t feel like exploring while pushing two suitcases, etc. So I took the silly path that I knew would work.

Now I check in. I’d flown down to Miami in ‘comfort plus’ class, which allowed one suitcase check-in, but was flying back from Key West first class – two suitcases, or so I thought – and that’s how I’d packed, assuming I could keep both my backpack and a tote bag with me. NO! Denied! Turns out that Key West Airport has the shortest runways of any American international airport, so that limits both the size and weight of the aircraft. So this lady barks at me that I can only check one bag, and then immediately barks at me again because I have too many bags for carryon (now). I glared at her and say, “Understood, I’ll have to figure that out”.

OK, so before security, I reconfigure my carryon situation. Then go through security and the guy flags my little bottle of bourbon that’d I’d bought along the way, which was in the top pocket of the little suitcase. (which was supposed to be checked, so it wouldn’t have been a problem) “Do you want to drink the rest of this now?” Me: “No. I mean, YES, but no.” Oh well, I had bourbon at home.

Then elevator down to the waiting area, which was insane. Hadn’t occurred to me that flying out midday on a Tuesday would be a big travel nightmare. But there’s only one waiting area for about 8 gates, and it was packed and there were no seats. I headed back out to the elevator lobby, which had some unused benches (and one of those pods that allow breastfeeding ladies to get some privacy) and parked there for about an hour and a half.

There was only one Delta gate and the previous flight to mine was delayed, so I waited until that flight had boarded, then headed back in (still a zoo, but I found a little protected nook to stand but be out fo the way). They’re not posting anything about the LGA flight, though. And still not, and still not… and there are mutterings among the other passengers and someone checks the flight app and says something about rerouting the flight to Miami. Meanwhile, there’s a chickie up at the desk chewing gum and looking at the computer screen, but not actually telling us anything.

This went on for quite a while, way past our boarding time and even our flight time. And then after boarding finally started, they didn’t even announce the zones, it was really kind of a shitshow. But I got in line and out the door and rolled my little suitcase across the tarmac and up the ramps to the plane. Only issue with the plane was that I was in the very first seat, so had no seat in front to put my bag under. Pulled out my knitting, kindle, and put the backpack up top, and got settled.

After that, it was actually very pleasant. The flight crew was communicative – yes, we were making an unscheduled stop in Miami, to take on more fuel or something. This didn’t make a lot of sense to me – I got the whole thing about the short runways and weight of the plane, but that had always been true, not suddenly a new situation – so why wasn’t that always the flight plan? Also, they were clear that we’d really be on the ground in Miami just long enough to get fueled, they weren’t going to deplane or anything.

So short flight to Miami, short layover, then a 3-hour flight to New York. I had a mimosa, of course, and then (wasn’t expecting this) they actually served lunch to us high-class people. I did my usual mix of knitting, reading and whatever.

No problem getting into LGA, no problem getting my bag from baggage claim, and no problem getting an Uber. I will say that now in the age of ride-sharing, it’s nice to not go through that experience of waiting in the taxi line, then having the taxi driver react to getting a very short trip to Jackson Heights rather than the money-making trip into Manhattan. With an Uber, they already know where you’re going, and they just won’t pick up the ride if they don’t want it.

I was about two hours later getting home than I thought, but I had nothing planned except pizza and TV, and I carried out that plan. Back to work the next day.

---

More than one friend was mildly puzzled by this trip, not sure why I’d make the effort to do this. But I’d always wanted to spend more time in Key West and see the other Keys, and this seemed like a really nice way to do that. It was easy to plan, fit nicely in my schedule, and I had a great time, so there.

There are benefits to traveling alone, but also drawbacks. Next time I plan a trip like this, I’ll have to think about whether having company is worth the fuss.

Next up travel-wise: a weekend in central PA, a conference in Toronto, a visit down south with my dad that will include a weekend in Chattanooga, TN, and the festival trip to Buxton (UK) in August.