Part II of My Florida Trip. Subtitle: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

This was a blog I wrote last year (second in a series of three) that I didn't publish for some reason. So I've decided to go ahead and publish them now. Hope you enjoy! I'll get the last one out soon. And then maybe I'll write something new!

The other day I wrote about traveling by airplane on my annual winter Florida sojourn.

 

Once I finally arrived, I had a lovely time with my friends Susan and Jeff. As always, they were gracious hosts and we spent the days laughing and frolicking in the sun. Okay, that’s not entirely true. In reality, it was a little rainy and chilly that week in Florida in February. On the other hand, it was not Ohio in February and it was NOT snowing with wind chills in the single digits – so I was happy.

 

This was not a typical Florida trip for me as I was gallivanting across Florida to visit other friends. I tried including my cousin Brian in the mix as I would love to see him and his lovely wife, Joy, but I couldn’t manage it without renting a car. And I really do not want to drive in Florida, if I can help it.

 

Anyway, my next stop was in Tampa. Or Largo, to be more specific. I had rented an Airbnb in Largo and I was clued in to the wild and wonderful world of Train Travel via Amtrak. So Sue, being the extremely generous and kind friend she is (I have lots of extremely generous and kind friends), dropped me off at the Amtrak station in West Palm Beach about a half hour before the train was scheduled to depart.

 

To my knowledge or memory, I had never traveled by train before and wasn’t sure what to expect. I had purchased my ticket online, but I still sort of expected to see an Amtrak ticket counter where someone could direct me to the appropriate place to wait for the train.

 

No such luck.

 

Fortunately, I was able to decipher the signs that had me cross over to the other side of the tracks or else I would’ve been traveling south instead of north.

 

And so I sat on the outside bench awaiting the train. And sat. And sat. The guy to my left on the bench started asking me questions about the train; questions I was completely unable to answer. By this point, the train was about 45 minutes late. Was this normal? Did I somehow miss the one daily train that would take me to Tampa?

 

Finally, a train approached and stopped. I assumed I would get on the train at the nearest entrance to my location, but noooo. I had booked a “roomette” since it was a nearly 5-hour train ride and I wasn’t sure how the seats were configured. I am, of course, basing my knowledge of train seating on movies I’ve seen where four seats face each other. And I really didn’t want to take the chance that I’d be spending 5 hours with someone sitting directly across from me staring at me while I tried to read my book.

 

Anyway, a train employee took a look at my ticket and said I had to go to the other end of the train. It was only a four minute stop and I knew there was no way I could hobble all the way to the other end of the train. Fortunately, she was kind enough to grab a golf cart, hoist my suitcase into the cart and, after I sat down, we sped off to the other end of the train.

 

My roomette was cute. It included a sink and a toilet and I’m guessing if it had been an overnight stay, I could have folded down the two seats in there to make a bed. Fortunately, it was not an overnight stay and I could just sit in comfort, relax and watch the scenery go by (and read my book). The car attendant handed me a menu and said she would take my order and bring me my lunch.

 

I hadn’t even realized I would get lunch on the train – so…score. No small bag of pretzels to sustain me for the 5-hour trip!

 

I am not sure if my suitcase could have been put somewhere else for storage, but it pretty much took up the rest of the usable space in the roomette. Had I been traveling with another person, we would’ve been better off in the regular seats with people sitting across from us staring at us as we tried to read our books.

 

Because, for sure, we would have been a little cranky in such an overly cramped space. As it was, I was able to sit with my feet on the chair opposite me and avoid my suitcase altogether. But there was very little room to maneuver otherwise.

 

After about four hours, I decided I needed to use the, uh, “facilities.” I closed and locked the outer door to the hallway. Shut the curtains. Flipped down the sink. Opened the lid to the toilet…

 

…and only then remembered I also needed to close the curtains on the window side of the train. Woo. That could have been embarrassing. Especially given that we were approaching a city where the train frequently slowed down at the many train track crossings. People in cars were right outside my window!

 

Eek! I could have given them a show. Or at the very least a good laugh.

 

Anyway, I did like the convenience of having a toilet in my roomette so that was a plus on train travel.

 

What I didn’t realize is that this daily train starts in Florida and ends up in Chicago. It even stopped in Alliance (my hometown) at around 2 in the morning. Hunh. Didn’t even know they still had train schedules like this anymore.

 

I arrived in Tampa well over an hour late. My friend Doug, who had kindly and generously offered to pick me up and take me to the Airbnb, had been clued in by my frequent texts updating the delay in arrival. So fortunately, he hadn’t had to wait very long. But it was pouring rain in Tampa, so once I got off the train, I arrived at his car somewhat resembling a drowned rat.

 

I spent the next three days in Largo visiting Doug (friends since Ohio State) and in St. Petersburg visiting Christine (friends since grade school!). We talked, shopped, laughed, cooked and drank wine. But what we did not do, was swim. Even though there was a pool at this Airbnb. Why? Because it was chilly and rainy with only intermittent bouts of sunshine.

 

But that was okay. Again, because I wasn’t in cold and snowy Ohio.

 

After three days, Doug drove me halfway to North Ft. Myers and my friends Melinda and Dan drove halfway up from North Ft Myers to get me. The four of us had lunch somewhere in the middle in Sarasota. And then Doug headed back home to Largo and Melinda, Dan and I headed to N Ft Myers for the last leg of my trip.

 

Which I may end with Part III of my February Trip to Florida. Who knows? By the end of the year, you may even get the chance to read about my spring trip to Michigan. I’m so timely.

 

Anyway, stay well, my friends. Until next time…

The Trials and Tribulations of Airplane Travel

This was a blog I wrote last year (in a series of three) that I didn't publish for some reason. So I've decided to go ahead and publish them now. Well, the first one, anyway. I don't want to overwhelm anyone with putting all three out there at the same time! I'll get the other two out soon.

My 2025 Trip to Florida:

I was reminded recently of my annual winter trip to Florida when a friend I hadn’t seen in a while asked me about it.

 

And I had to admit – it was kind of a disaster. Oh, not the “visiting of friends” part of the trip – that was awesome. But the traveling part of the trip? Now, that was rather disastrous.

 

And I’d conveniently put much of it out of my mind lest my blood pressure begin to creep up once again into the danger zone.

 

It all began on the morning of my departure when I had to leave the house around 5 a.m. to head to the airport. I was fully prepared to drive myself and leave my car in Long Term Parking – even though parking at the airport these days nearly requires one to take out a signature loan in order to afford their hefty daily rates.

 

For some odd reason, I’m not comfortable ordering an Uber for an early morning airport run in case the driver decides it’s not worth crawling out of bed that early and leaves me stranded and forces me to come up with Plan B on the fly.

 

But my extremely generous and kind friend Debbie volunteered to drive all the way from Dublin to pick me up and take me to the airport. She volunteered! Who does that? (Extremely generous and kind friends do, that’s who!)

 

So Debbie and I confirmed the night before my trip that she’d be in my driveway bright and early the next morning at 5 a.m. I was already packed with my suitcase by the front door and I had my travel clothes set out for the morning. All I had to do was take a shower, brush my teeth and toss on a little lipstick and I'd be ready to go.

 

Yeah, right.

 

After I hung up the phone with Debbie, I got distracted by something and ended up repacking my entire suitcase – with the end result being that I didn’t go to bed until about 1 a.m. I set no less than three alarms for the morning – although by that point, I was only allowing myself a paltry 3-1/2 hours of sleep.

 

Which, you should know, at my advanced age is not enough rest. There are no more all-nighters in Jane’s Domain.

 

In the morning, I was awakened by something that was not my alarm clock or Siri or Alexa. Turns out it was my extremely generous and kind friend Debbie frantically knocking on all my doors and windows because I had not answered her initial knock on the front door. Because I was still sleeping at 5 a.m.!

 

When I looked at my phone and saw that it was 5:05 a.m., I re-enacted the whole Home Alone scene where I sat up in bed in a complete panic and, well, probably said a dirty word or two.

 

I then raced to the front door, saw Debbie’s car outside, but no Debbie – because she was still walking around knocking on windows and sliding patio doors. So I left my front door open so she’d know I was alive and ran back to my room to brush my teeth (at least) and throw on my clothes.

 

I had no time to wash, dry or style my hair; no time to slap on a little lipstick so I at least looked semi-prepared for a day of travel. Instead, I threw on some deodorant, sprayed some dry shampoo on my head and spritzed myself with a little cologne in the hopes that I could fake being daisy-fresh to any fellow passengers who might get close enough to get a whiff.

 

We were on the road around 5:20, which is in and of itself a miracle. Jane in her younger years would have simply missed the flight as she would not have been caught in public without a face full of makeup and a fully washed, dried and styled coif.

 

On the other hand, oversleeping like this was not something I have ever done before. Ever!

 

Oh, and by the way, you should know that Debbie had been on the phone with her husband asking him if he thought she should dial 9-1-1 so the authorities could break down my front door and check for a pulse.

 

Thankfully, he either convinced her not to make that call – or I finally answered the front door in time.

 

This little snafu was but a precursor to the delays and seat reassignments and airplane and airport problems I was to encounter.

 

Fortunately, I have TSA Pre-check, so at least I breezed through airport security. I waltzed up to the gate to make sure we had no delays – and then I hightailed it to the ladies’ room so I could do a little self-maintenance and try to appear marginally presentable for the day ahead.

 

I had used miles/credit card points to pay for my air travel – the first time I’d ever used this benefit.

 

Not sure I’ll use it again – unless it was just coincidence that I was the one getting bumped to different seats on every leg of my journey – both to and from Florida.

 

I knew it was not a good sign when I heard my name being called up to the desk at the gate. I was told that the airplane on which we were originally scheduled to fly to the connecting flight in Atlanta had been struck by lightning and they had to send a different plane.

 

Really? Struck by lightning? Yikes.

 

So she moved me to a less desirable seat – but I felt as though I didn’t have any options. Y’know – lightning strikes being out of their control and all.

 

For me “less desirable” is any seat other than the window seat on the left side of the plane. This is due to being deaf in my left ear. Planes are noisy enough – and I am forever craning my neck trying to hear either the flight attendant or my seatmates as they ask me either what I’d like to drink – or begin some inane sort of conversation that I’m loath to participate in. (Sorry – but it’s hard for me to talk to strangers on a plane when I can barely hear.)

 

The flight attendant, however, was bright and personable. She had on interesting red and black checked eyeglass frames and we literally said to each other at the same time, “Ooh – I love your glasses!”

 

So that was fun. And when she came around asking me what I’d like to drink, she recognized me and said, “Oh, my eyeglasses girl!” (So…see? I’m not totally obnoxious to get along with!)

 

We were delayed leaving Columbus and we were delayed leaving Atlanta. I had received a photo from Debbie showing her snow-filled front lawn with the comment that it had started snowing in earnest as soon as she started driving home. (Remember – this was back in February here in Ohio.) And so I wondered if we would have any sort of weather-related delays in Atlanta.

 

Well, but of course. Atlanta was experiencing a monsoon and there was another seat shuffling snafu and a delay in departing.

 

But the bigger problem was at Palm Beach International Airport.

 

We arrived in PBI, but rather than calmly touching down, gliding to the gate and deplaning – we started a holding pattern and spent the next half hour circling with a bunch of other planes. Apparently, there was a “VIP” at the airport who hadn’t yet departed and no planes could take off or land until said “VIP” left.

 

Passengers were not supposed to be out of their seats – but after a while the captain allowed folks to use the facilities. Only it became a free-for-all – and all the people who could no longer hold their bladders were standing in long lines awaiting the restrooms.

 

And the longer we circled, the surlier our formerly “bright and personable” flight attendant became. She was required to sit in the jump seat during the airport circling maneuver – but all these folks with weak bladders were blocking her in. Which is apparently a big no-no in Flight Attendant World.

 

Finally, we were given permission to land – only to spend another half hour sitting at the gate without being allowed to deplane.

 

I was supposed to arrive before 1 p.m. – but I didn’t pick up my suitcase in baggage claim until nearly five o’clock.

 

Now I was a little surly since I had had no time for breakfast (obviously) and my only food all day had been a couple of tiny bags of pretzels.

 

Fortunately, Sue and Jeff are great at following flight arrival times and had not spent the afternoon at the cell phone lot of the airport. And instead of going out to lunch, we all went out to dinner. Where I had a big glass of wine to recuperate from my day of travel.

 

Anyway, I’ve written a book. So time to shut it down.

 

Stay tuned for part II.

 

Stay well, my friends. Until next time…