Changing Latitudes

Well, I'm back from the Florida Keys. Eight days, 400 snapshots, nine companions; it's going to take a while to cover it all... For now I'll just regale you with yesterday's journey back to Toronto.

The most practical and economical way to get back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport turned out to be "returning" a rental car from the Marathon airport (in the middle Keys). We picked up the car the afternoon before and left Big Pine Key at 6:20 AM. It was a three hour drive up to Ft. Lauderdale, but we got to enjoy a glorious sunrise along the way and drink in the tropical beauty one last time. Hunting around for a gas station when we reached our destination we passed an Orange County Choppers location that was in the middle of filming an episode of American Chopper. There was a huge crowd spilling out onto the highway, police directing traffic, stage lighting, etc. An odd thing to run across at 9:00 on a Saturday morning!

Although we were going to spend the whole day traveling north things started to go south as soon as we reached the airport. AVIS charged me twice as much as promised and it took forty minutes to correct the problem. This left us less than an hour to check in and get through security. Every queue we joined looked impossibly long, but they all moved briskly and we made it to the plane with several minutes to spare (three...). However the stress brought on a headache that got progressively worse as we traveled.

Our journey had a two hour stopover in Boston and as my headache worsened and my stomach began to churn I began to wonder if I'd make it through the first three hour flight without "trouble". In the end I managed to get off the plane, find our next departure gate and settle Chris before racing off to the washroom for the first of two sessions of projectile vomiting. Chris rose to the occasion and did a great job of supporting me and looking after himself. As we boarded our second flight, to Buffalo, I warned the flight attendant about my fragile condition and she thoughtfully provided me with a large plastic bag. In the end my symptoms slowly subsided without a public display and by the time we reached Buffalo I was healthy enough to contemplate the two hour drive home.

We arrived home at about 9:30 PM and relaxed together for a little while, happy to be back home. Then we sought the bliss of sleeping in our own beds. This morning I fired up the Mac to find 900 spam e-mails, 50 job site/technology e-mails, and five personal e-mails. Same old same old. Over the next few days I'll post about the rest of our trip and upload my photos on Flickr. Short version: we had a great time...

Listening to: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths from The Queen Is Dead.