Cold to Warm - ME to NH to FL - March 19, 2016

March 19, 2016 - Saturday Oh happy day! Tess and I are traveling to Ft. Lauderdale. Florida. Russia started his vacation early by staying at Willow Run. It also allowed me an opportunity to finish my shopping and packing as well as see most of my friends either at Easy Street or the Liberal Cup before leaving. Slates coffee and muffin before I hit the road for our next adventure. My car needed some petrol for the trip to Portsmouth. No issues and plenty of gas for the first leg. Tess was ready to go around noon. We were dancing the jig. Sunglasses required. Beautiful sunny with a slight chilly breeze. All is good. GPS securely working to guide us in the right direction. We know that we are headed south. We know where New Hampshire is located. We know where Portsmouth is located. However, neither one of us has been to the Portsmouth airport at Pease. I-295 bound on a nice leisurely drive. What more could you ask for? A few tolls to be paid along the way. It reminds me that I need to get an easy pass. Across the Maine border into the New Hampshire border and down familar streets to the rotary is all familiar. The GPS guided us the rest of the way to the airport. I usually drive with the GPS if in unfamiliar territory so I tend to miss or am unaware of street signs. It is not a good thing. We drove by the long-term parking lot and to the terminal. What's next? Food. Definitely. No chain restaurants. Where do you go? Downtown. Tess knows the way around Portsmouth. We make our way through the streets and drive pass the British Beer Company and until we found a parking garage. We walked across the street not in the crosswalk. Food and beverage on our mind as it was going to be a long trip. As we walk through the door. I automatically steer towards the bar. Seats were found near the end of the bar around the corner so we can see everything. People watching is fun. Do you have a red? Yes.bthey have a nice red on draft. Were you thinking wine? I do love red wines too. Cabernets or red Zinfindel or Tempernillo. No pinot noir for me. Anyway,I wanted avocado in a chicken sandwich but settled for a cobb salad with chicken, avocado and bacon and other unimportant things. Tess had a salad with yummy cranberries and other unimportant things. Around 3:16 p.m.,we received a text that the plane was delayed. We still finished and tabbed out to be there two hours ahead as recommended. We walked back to the car around 4:00 p.m. I had thought it was great that we had a parking space that was not far from the entrance/exit but realized it was not as convenient because traffic was backed up to pay and leave. If you have a credit card, then you are all set. If not, you had to pay cash down near the entrance. Quite a few people were paying with cash. Why not just pay with a debit or credit card? It really was not that long to get out. All set. Paid and ready to go. I am driving on a wing and prayer with Tess being a great passenger driver telling me which direction to turn. I seem to get more directionally dysfunctional as time moves forward. Anyway, all us good on this beautiful sunny day. What more can you ask for than free parking at an airport? This is another positive point to drive to Portsmouth besides an inexpensive flight. There is no garage to park in. All open air. We shall see if my car is covered with snow when we gwt back. We walked into the terminal. One place to check in that is in a small area. There was about 6 other people waiting to check in. Flight delayed because the plane had not departed yet because if the storm. At some point, a passenger came in and started giving the check-in agent a hard time because she had not received notification that the flight was delayed. It was totally unnecessary. Tess and I had already checked in on the night before and printed our boarding pass for this no-connection flight. If you paid for a carry on, then you can walk to security around the corner. Security was no problem. Nice and friendly people but serious about their job and our safety. No pre-TSA check for me at this airport. Short and sweet. Distraction from cute security guy. We met a woman who had taken the bus down from Machias. I thought that we drove a great distance. I was proven incorrect. A good people watching opportunity people with children to a person with a cat in a carrier to couples and father and daughter traveling together. All aboard! We are getting ready for an 8:00 p.m. depature. Tess is boarding in Zone 3 and I am boarding in Zone 6 even though we sit next to each other. All situated with luggage over head and backpack under the seat. A no-frills airline. Seats do not recline. No movie or radio. No free snacks. There were options to purchase snack packs and beverages. A good deL. I am all okay with this part. There were a few empty seats but were told not to change seats that would shift the balance. We kept ourselves entettained. The flight attendant looked familiar from a long time ago. How do we pass the time? How to devise a plan in an indurect way. Hilarious! Entertaining for us. Ha! The pilot would turn on the seat belt sign on numerous occasions but no turbulents were comin our way. We finallt landed around 11:30 p.m. Daniel had circled at least twice before picking us up outside the luggage area. It is amusing to get into the back of a two-door car but ut us even more amusing to get out of it once we landed at our home base for the next few days. We chatted and watched part of Tremors abd Dusk to Dawn on ScyFy channel until my head hit the pillow around 3:00 a.m.