Sheraton Hotel
My plan for today is pretty straightforward. Finish packing, work until about 3 pm, then have Ashley will drop me at the airport. I will fly to Miami, where I will spend 3 days before hopping on my flight to Buenos Aires.
Why go to Miami so early and have to spend extra money on a hotel? Great question! When planning this shindig, Ashley actually suggested that I leave a few days early. That way, if any sort of winter storm hits New England, I will either already be gone, or I will have a couple of days to reschedule my flight to Miami. The last thing I wanted to do was to miss the flight to Buenos Aires and have another situation like I had when I went to Brazil for the Rio de Janeiro marathon!
I finished the lion’s share of packing last night. When I say “packing” I actually mean gathering everything up. Marathon Tours staff strongly suggest only taking ONE large suitcase because checking two bags on an airline can get interesting in South America. I was planning to check one and then carry on the dry pack that I need to carry race gear on marathon day. However, I was unsure whether everything would fit into one large suitcase + and a 30-liter backpack. I put everything on the floor in my office and started meticulously packing. To my surprise, everything fit in one suitcase and a carry-on! It was tight, but it worked. Then I got a great idea. If everything fits into two bags, then why not take three? WHAT?!?!? Have you lost your mind, Bob? Allow me to explain. I get two free checked bags on Southwest to and from Miami, and I get two free checked bags to and from Buenos Aires from Miami on American Airlines because I booked Premium Economy. That only leaves the charter flight to Ushuaia, which is where it can get interesting by checking two bags. Since everything fits into two, I will just put my backpack into one of the other suitcases, then use my small suitcase as the carry-on for the charter flight to Ushuaia! When I get back to Buenos Aires from Ushuaia, I can spread out over three pieces of baggage and will have a place to carry my gifts. I hope it works (and will let you know whether I hit a homerun or crashed and burned in the appropriate blog post in a few days).
By 2:45, I was ready to depart. I had my two suitcases and 30-liter dry bag as my carry-on. Ashley dropped me off at 4:10 pm for a 6:25 pm flight to Miami. I zoomed through check-in/security and had TONS of time to wait. I took two more work calls then got some late lunch / early dinner at D’Angelo’s. I got a small steak number 9 (without mushrooms) and a small tuna sub. I have traveled enough to know that I would be hungry when I get to Miami, and there would probably be nothing to eat. I ate the Number 9 and stashed the tuna in my dry bag for later.
My flight from Hartford to Miami went via Nashville. Everything was more or less on time, and I arrived in Miami at 12:10 am. When I arrived at baggage claim, my two bags were one of the first on the belt! How often does that happen? Like N-E-V-E-R! Actually, once my bags were the second off the plane, so I have hit the baggage lottery at least one other time in my life.
I exited the airport and hopped on the shuttle to the Sheraton Hotel. Within 15 minutes I was in my room eating a tuna sub that was made 1,500 miles away – which brings me to where I am now – writing my blog update for today!
Tomorrow, I have to go to a CVS that is 1.2 miles from here for a COVID PCR test. After that, I will work the rest of the day.