D1 - Vancouver to Fort Lauderdal

We woke up quite early today - 5 am for me and 5ish for Ken. Our flight was at 8:20am, so we had to be at the airport latest by 6:30am. After grabbing a light breakfast of yogurt and granola with my milk tea, I washed up and finished last minute packing. We managed to be out the door just shortly after 6 am. Luckily, an uber driver was just around the corner from our house and we managed to be at the airport by 6:20ish.

Check in was quite speedy with Ken's AC status and our NEXUS cards. We dropped off our bags and were able to go through the NEXUS line. Security was nice since we didn't have to take off our jackets nor shoes. NEXUS customs was also a breeze with the officer only asking us two questions - where are you going? and what are you doing there?

The AC Maple Leaf Lounge was set to open at 6:45am, and there was a long line up of people already waiting there. Once the lounge was open, the line moved quickly. We took the stairs since there was only one elevator and the less mobile people were already waiting for it. We found a table by the food area. There was a swam at the food table and a string of people lining up for the coffee station. I picked up some hard boiled eggs, hummus and tomatoes. Got some oatmeal with cranberries and maple syrup for my second round. We filled up our water bottles prior to heading down to our gate (which was next to the lounge).

There was small line gathered at the Group 1-2 section. The announcement for boarding was made shortly with Group 1 going first (which was us). We sat at aisle seats across from each other at the emergency exit rows. Boarding was relatively smooth and people filed in cordially and efficiently. Once in the air, I was hungry again. I decided to purchase some hummus and breadsticks to eat. When the flight attendent came to charge for my snack, Ken told him that he was entitled to a free snack and wanted a small bag of cashews. The flight attendant was very nice, and not only got the cashews for Ken but also didn't charge for my hummus.

There were a few mild turbulence episodes but overall very smooth flight. I watched "Wonka" - a muscial about how Willy Wonka started his chocolate factory. It was not as good as I had hoped. I expected it to be a bit more wacky and colourful, similar to the Johnny Depp remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However, Hugh Grant playing the Oompa Loompa was quite funny.

For lunch on board the plane, I had the mac and cheese, while Ken ordered the hummus wrap. I had never ate a more bland mac and cheese in my life. Thank goodness the utensil pouch had some salt and pepper. I basically sprinkled both packets on the meal to make it edible!

The rest of the flight was boring. I tried to watch The Gilded Age and couldn't get through the first episdoe. I tried listening to the podcast on Moriarty - a twist that he was actually innocent of killing his fiancee. Then finally settling on the HBO crime miniseries called Love and Death, based on a real story starring Elizabeth Olsen. The story is about two churchgoers that started and affair until someone was killed. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the second episode when the plane had reached Fort Laundedale.

Deplaning was the usual affair of waiting until the plane can be parked at a gate, people getting up trying to get their luggage with some being more impatient than others. The walk to the baggage claim was long since there was no movator. Carousel 1 was downstairs and at the other end of the terminal. It took a bit of time for the luggage to come out. Luckily, with the priority tag, our bag arrived after 5-6 bags.

Next, we walked past the carousel again and ordered an uber. We met the driver upstairs at gate 28. He drove pretty quickly to our hotel. The hotel was located in a new area with a mix of new condos, strip mall, Spirit airline office, and other hotels.

After settling down in our room, we went to check out the hotel M Lounge and then walked to the strip mall to have dinner. We ate at a mexican place that was more like a pub than a restaurant. We were seated outside and we ordered some zero proof drinks. For dinner, we ordered the mini taco combo, where we can choose up to four proteins and a one side. I got shrimp, carnatas, Al pastor and pulled pork along with a side of mexican rice.

After dinner walked around the strip mall. The strip mall had a few big stores like Tommy Bahama, Urban Outfitters, Sephora, Ulta, and little restaurants dotted here and there between the stores. We stopped by TJ Maxx and found so much Hello Kitty and corgi merchandise. I ended up buying a $3 corgi headband for face washing. There was also a night market on the artificial turf on one side of the mall. There was little stalls selling mostly jewlery and live music. As we continued to stroll along the strip mall, we went to Below Five - a five dollar shop - to get snacks. We were going to check out Haagen Das to see if they had any non dairy ice cream but the line was very long. We decided to go back to the hotel and called it a night.Read more