Bahamas 2015 Day 1

Saturday September 26: Getting There

We flew United Airlines out of SJC via DEN to MCO. We used off-site long-term parking, and on the quick shuttle drive over to the departure terminal we ran into several other families from our school district who were also taking quick trips out of town over the school vacation. One family was going to Disneyland, another to Hawaii – not sure about the others.

As is typically the case these days, the flights were completely full. We travelled with 3 carry-ons plus a hanging garment bag. Having skipped both formal nights on Oasis we decided that, this time, we’d actually take some nice clothes with us and experience formal night. Part of this was motivated by the desire to give the boys another opportunity to wear the suits we’d bought them for Nobel Week in Sweden before they outgrew them! If not for that we’d have taken 4 carry-on bags plus a backpack for electronics, plus a tote bag for miscellaneous stuff. 

Given that we already had to check the garment bag in any case, when they asked for volunteers at the boarding gate to gate-check additional carry-on bags at no charge we jumped at the chance to hand over our three carry-ons and have them checked through to MCO. This was great as it completely freed us from having to stress out about finding overhead bin space once we boarded the planes on our outbound journey. We could board the plane at our leisure without having to worry that we'd be fighting over precious overhead space.  Yes, it would take us another 10-15 minutes to exit the airport as we'd have to wait for our bags - but we were on vacation, and time was something we had in abundance!  Finally, at the stopover in Denver we wouldn't have to lug our bags around and keep a watchful eye on them constantly.  This let us take our time during a quick layover at DEN and purchase some sandwiches which we ate on the 2nd leg of our flight.

We arrived at MCO around 7PM and, after picking up our bags, made our way to the Budget rental desk where we planned to grab our pre-reserved rental and get moving. Unfortunately, a long line greeted us. No big deal, we figured – how long can it take to get through the ten or so people in front of us? Turns out the answer was: a REALLY long time. Ridiculously long. Like an hour. We spent much of the time joking with the group behind us about the snail’s pace. Honestly, we cannot for the life of us figure out why every group in front of us was taking 10-15 minutes each to get their cars. Once we reached the desk and handed over our paperwork we were done in about 6 minutes. Why everyone else took so long is still a huge mystery.

So by the time we picked up the car and exited the airport (a VERY easy process) it was about 815P. Of course, this was only 515P California time, so our bodies were only just starting to get ready for dinner. As our plan was to make the drive to Port Canaveral that night we had pre-selected our dinner location to be close to the airport with quick access back to the highway. We had purposely decided to try a Cracker Barrel so we could experience first-hand what we knew to be a regional favorite. It was pretty much exactly what we expected – which is to say that it wasn’t good. We were expecting something much like Denny’s and that’s pretty much what we got. However, I can understand that if this is what you grew up with as a kid you’d likely have a soft spot in your heart for it. On our way out I tried to find a geocache that was just outside the entrance, but there were too many people around and I had to go away empty-handed. Sigh.

We got back into the car and headed out to the east on the toll road. The drive from the airport to our hotel took us about 50 minutes – once you hit the toll road it is pretty much a straight shot out to Port Canaveral. There were (I think) four toll booths along the way, with tolls ranging from $0.50 to $1.00. We had brought along a baggie full of quarters so were able to take advantage of the “exact change” lanes. If that hadn’t happened we’d have had to use the manned booths in order to pay cash and get change.

We checked into our hotel (Carlson Country Inn and Suites) where we had booked a two bedroom/one bathroom suite. The room wasn’t exactly what we had expected. I had expected two bedrooms sharing a central living room. Instead we got a large living area with a queen sized bed, one small plush chair, and a small dining table with 4 chairs, next to a doorless sleeping area with two twin beds separated from the main area by 3/4-height walls. Not the end of the world – just didn’t match the mental picture I had formed.

Even though it was only about 1030P Eastern (and consequently still 730P Pacific time by our body clocks) the long day of travel was catching up with us so we were happy to crawl into bed and go to sleep.

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