Wanderung 27

Bob:

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale's port shortly before dawn and had a big, relaxed breakfast up in the buffet, not knowing when would be able to eat next. However, just out of curiosity we peeked into the passenger exchange section of the ship's library, and that was a deadly mistake as other passengers had discarded many, many books in order to lighten their luggage, no doubt. We, however, are suckers for free books, so we ended up taking with about five extra books that had been left by the other passengers. We had to stuff those in with our other miscellaneous excess baggage in our sole remaining repository, a free "Princess Cruises" bag. Finally we rolled out of our cabin with the third wheelie plus the Princess bag, Monika's big purse, and the computer bag all dangling from our shoulders. When we retrieved our wheelies dockside to process through Customs and Immigration, we were really loaded!

Once safely and legally back on shore, we had to decide whether to trundle all our gear a couple miles out from the port area and up and over a long bridge, or simply catch the free shuttle over to the Avis car rental agency. Guess which we chose! Once there, we signed out a nifty Mazda 3 and drove over to the airport to pick up Martin.

Martin's plane had been delayed by mechanical problems, however, so we drove over to a nearby strip mall to have a snack and do a spot of shopping. Monika purchased a light jacket and I bought an automobile USB charger so we could keep our cell phone and GPS charged while driving around. We finally picked up Martin about 1:00 p.m. and headed North on I-95 to Titusville where Monika had booked our room for the night.

Once there we settled into our motel room, but not before having dinner and visiting the nearby Aldi store for some mixed nuts, macaroons, pretzels, and wine. Having a good WiFi connection at the motel was also pleasant after having such a slow (and expensive) one aboard the ship, so we used that to catch up on our email and so forth before turning in for the night.