2018 Caribbean Cruise - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Thursday, November 22, 2018

Having moved less than two weeks ago to a brand new state, this vacation crept up on us without any warning.  Before I knew it, we were loading suitcases in the car early in the morning, looking at each other unsure of where the airport was.  Fortunately, my husband had loaded the destination in his GPS the day before and within 10 minutes we were circling the parking ramp at the airport in Birmingham.  Once we entered the airport, it was quite clear this was much smaller than General Mitchell which we are used to.  There was almost no line for security and even though our gate was the furthest away, it was still quite a short walk (with a Starbucks next door!).

We took advantage of lower airfares by flying on Thanksgiving Day which would give us three days to enjoy Ft. Lauderdale before our cruise leaves on Sunday.  An added bonus was that first class airfare was not much more, which we couldn't resist.  We had never flown first class before.

Upon boarding, we were offered drinks and sat back in large seats with plenty of leg room.  The first flight was only about 30 minutes so probably not really worth the first class experience, but we took full advantage of it on our second flight where I enjoyed complimentary champagne (which they refilled several times) and my husband watch a movie on a large screen.

We landed in Ft. Lauderdale around 1:00 p.m. and were at our hotel, the Sleep Inn & Suites Ft. Lauderdale International Airport, before 2:00 p.m.  On the shuttle ride in, we drove by a pond with a ton of birds just a few blocks from our hotel so after settling in the hotel we decided to take a walk.

There wasn't a lot open on Thanksgiving so we ended up at a Walmart Neighborhood Market for food we could take back to the room and then enjoyed some time by the pool.