That rooster on my phone is LOUD! It’s time to leave! Off we trundled to YVR to check in for our 6am Alaska flight #2165 to Seattle. It was an average Vancouver day for a flight in a Dash8 – cloudy but no rain. While I was not too impressed with Horizon, the local carrier for Alaska, as there was no ramp to get onto the flight like Air Canada uses for their Dash8 planes, the one feature of Horizon has, their valet service, does help someone who has extra cabin baggage! One can leave their roll aboard at the stairs to the plane and then pick it up as they get off the plane. As a person who carries medical supplies with them, which cannot be checked, this makes flying on these smaller planes a lot easier!
We arrived in Seattle on time, where a very nice lady met the plane with a wheelchair to escort us to our next flight, AS122, to Fort Lauderdale. This plane was a 737-ETOPS (Max) which is a really quiet and comfortable plane to fly in! I was especially enthralled with the seat back where there is a device holder where the video screen used to be on planes in days gone by. You can rest your phone/tablet on the ledge that folds down above the table and with the clamp above, that moves up and down, secure the device on top. Works well in turbulence I found out too!
I had booked us in the “plus” or front of Economy section so Andrew had extra legroom. It sure made a difference for him! Also easier to stretch out and move around. We had ordered meals a couple of days in advance of this flight, and while they did not have any gluten free specific ones, we did fairly well for the 5 hour and 19 minute flight! I had gotten the Signature Fruit and Cheese Platter which came with cheese/fruit and crackers(in plastic wrap) – the crackers were donated to Andrew! The Croissant Sandwich we ordered for Andrew and we shared the Fresh Start Protein Platter (I had the egg and fruit which were GF). The first two meals were great however the Fresh Start I expected more yogurt and nuts from the picture and description on Alaska’s website – instead they were mixed together in a tiny cup. I added a Kind bar and a couple of Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter GFB (Gluten Free Bites). That satisfied us for the whole flight – along with some water and soda’s.
We flew in to Fort Lauderdale over the Gulf of Mexico and across the Florida Pan Handle and there, after a VERY smooth flight, we hit thunderstorm turbulence! Lots of fun! The kids on the plane did not like it and there was some screaming as the plane dropped and shimmied around – it was AWESOME! The pilot did an excellent job of “threading the needle” between electrified clouds so we could get down safely. When we landed there was a wait for my walker at the gate, so I was able to talk to the pilot about the flight which was phenomenal – he said those thunderclouds were very daunting to go around however he enjoys that kind of flying as it is true flying – no autopilot involved!
Bags arrived on time and in one piece, so we then attempted to find a taxi to get to the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel. There are so many small taxi’s here that would not fit our luggage and my walker/crutches! I asked for a wheelchair accessible taxi, thinking, like in Vancouver, one would be sent right up from the taxi lot. However not so, it took 30 minutes for one to arrive and he had to be called to the airport! Claude, our taxi driver said that wheelchair accessible taxis are not that popular in Fort Lauderdale – most people who want to take an accessible taxi know the various drivers phone numbers. Their taxi system is also not like in Vancouver with a couple of companies – tons of different companies have 1 -5 licences. The man that Claude works for has 2 wheelchair accessible vans. So we booked Claude to pick us up and take us to the cruise ship on Sunday!
The Westin Fort Lauderdale Resort Hotel is very nice – it is across from the beach, however all the hotels are along this strip. I had booked a standard accessible king room on points and we were upgraded due to my status with Marriott to an Ocean view room AND it is wheelchair accessible which is a double luxury for me! So here I sit, at the desk in the room, looking out over the beach, writing this blog post. It is one of the most beautiful spots that I have ever written from!
Tomorrow we are going to explore Fort Lauderdale a bit, get some groceries and have a relaxing day prior to boarding the Nieuw Statendam on Sunday for our Transatlantic crossing!
