10/30/2021: Off to Florida

Our departure from Dreams Tulum was relatively uneventful, except our luggage was supposed to be picked up at 5:30 a.m. Our shuttle to the airport was departing at 7:00 and we needed to be in the lobby at 6:40. At 6:15 I called the bell captain and was assured they were on the way. At 6:35, we decided to leave our room and head to the lobby with bags in tow. Fortunately, once out of the elevator from our room, we met the guy with a luggage cart heading to our room. So that worked out okay.

Our bus ride to the airport was good, faster than our trip from the airport to the resort. We arrived in plenty of time to get checked in, bags dropped, and through security. Just before security, thought, there was a pileup of people because some form about COVID exposure was required to be filled out before security. One could scan a QR code and fill out the form on line, but you had to join something to get to the form and I didn’t want to do that. Fortunately, we found 2 paper copies of the form on a table, but he printing was so tiny we had trouble reading what information was required. I guess we answered the questions because we got through the checkpoint okay.

We were keeping an eye out for my brother Grant and his partner Bob. We were looking out the window and noticed a JetBlue plane arriving at just a couple of minutes before 10:15 and we’re pretty sure that was there plane. It would have been so nice to actually see them, but at least we know they arrived safely.

Our flight from Cancun to Atlanta was fine. The Atlanta airport, on the other hand, was not fine! What a crazy messed up place. We first went through immigration, which was okay. Then we had to retrieve our luggage in order to go through customs. From there it was anyone’s guess what the next step was. Some border agent was standing in the middle of the hallway yelling instructions that were totally unclear. But we figured out that our bags had to go through a screening checkpoint and so they were dumped onto a conveyor belt. Then the guy screamed that we needed to turn around and go back the way we came, but go up the escalator. From there it was on to security. We were given TSA precheck cards, but I messed up and had my cellphone in my pocket and tripped the alarm. I had to go back through, but since I had already handed in my TSA precheck card, I was treated to the customary screening. Christine also encountered the same problem and got rather flustered since she kept saying she was TSA precheck and didn’t understand why she had to go through the regular security. It was a mess. Then we had to find the train to Terminal B. There was no signage anywhere and we wandered around until we found the train. Once in Terminal B, we started looking for a place to have a meal and after a long wander around the vendors, we settled on a panini and salad place. After eating, things seemed better, thank goodness. It was a good thing we had a 4-hour layover in Atlanta because it took us nearly 3 hours to get through everything.

Our flight to Sarasota was fine except we were in the last row of the plane which made our disembarking a very long wait. Flying along the Florida coast was pretty at night, though.

Coming into to Sarasota

We landed pretty much on time. Our friend Deeny had arranged for a driver for us and we rendezvoused with her without trouble. It was about a 45-minute drive from the Sarasota airport to Deeny’s house in Venice, Florida. The driver, Joyce, was very talkative and we talked the entire drive about travel as Joyce is a travel agent but has been driving to earn money during the pandemic. We arrived at Deeny’s place at about 10:00 p.m. after a long day of traveling.

We were very happy to see Deeny and to be “home” at her place where we’ll stay until our departure on November 9.

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