Off the ship by 9am and on to our resort for the day. Our friends flight was cancelled due to snow so we were thrilled to have them join us for the afternoon. The resort for the day might just be my favorite new discovery, for a minimal cost you can check your bags into the hotel and enjoy their pool and other amenities, sure beats lugging your baggage around Miami. The pool was located on the 19th floor, with spectacular views of the water on one side and city on the other. The surrounding buildings provided shade, although I continued to chase the sunny spots. We ate delicious cubano sandwiches, a must try in Miami. We popped a bottle of sparkly, sliced an orange and toasted to our trip with our plastic cups, bootleg mimosas but they sure were tasty. Lounging by the pool, napping, reading and enjoying the bonus hours of our trip had us all feeling just about as lucky as a person could ask to be. Just as the universe was giving me this gift, a couple I had been chatting with came by and began telling me how we shouldn't take an Uber to the airport, instead we should walk down to the metro train and pay a minimal fee for the trip. I quickly told them not to let my husband hear this suggestion, knowing he'd want to try it! Too late, Tim was standing behind me, listening to the whole story and began asking questions about the train. Feeling confident with the strangers recommendation, Tim was eager to give it a try. Feeling a big mistake afoot, I should have argued more against it, but agreed to give it a go. The airport by Uber would have been a 15, maybe 20 minute ride, the train, start to finish we were told would be 30 minutes door to door. We pushed our luggage several blocks to the metro rail, where we caught our first train that would take us to another spot where we would buy tickets for the remainder of the trip. Well, one train turned into two, then three, four and the 30 minute ride grew into 60 minutes, then an hour and a half, then two hours!! I was close to hyperventilating and even Tim knew after an hour what a mistake it all was. By the time we arrived at the airport we were running full speed to the Southwest counter. We arrived at the counter at 5:15pm for a 5:35pm flight, with little confidence we'd make it. The woman at the counter initially told us we had no chance to make it, but asked for our ID's anyway. She began to tell us that the next flight our wasn't until the next day, as both Tim and I stood there, fulling accepting the blame for our tardiness. Out of nowhere, the woman asked us to put our luggage on the scale, told us that it would be a 50/50 chance our bags would make it but she would try. She then sent us over to a private security line, bypassing the hour long line we had seen as we were running, and the security check point hardly looked at our tickets and waved us through. We ran to our gate and to our surprise, it hadn't left! Holy cow were we thankful to all the Southwest workers, who went out of their way for a couple of late fools!! Whatever we may have saved on the Uber ride almost cost us a hotel stay, meals, roundtrip Uber fares and have us both miss a day of work. Life happens, mistakes are made, and this one was a doozy! Tim felt bad enough, no need to add salt to his wounds, but next time a stranger tries to give us advice, he might think twice before jumping onboard crazy ideas. The stress of the airport trip may have aged me ten years, but the customer service we received from Southwest airlines restored my faith in humanity. I'll be writing to the airline, letting them know how impressed I was with their staff and how thankful we were that they all went the extra mile for us.
My sister in law picked us up, my car had been parked at her house and wouldn't start (we were told this via text as we waited for train #3) ..but that's another story! Thankfully, she drove us home to several inches of snow, but our walkways all cleared...another glimpse of kindness. It's always so nice to be home, snuggle into your own bed and return to your own space. I will miss the sunshine, warmth and being served at each meal, but it sure was nice to be home sweet home, props to Southwest for getting us here and WITH our bags!!
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