Fort Lauderdale has since the early 1960s been a popular resort for the annual US college Spring Break. Here university students take a “well-earned” holiday to enjoy some friendly drinking, games on the beach and “wet T-shirt” competitions. It therefore seemed the ideal destination for Sylvia and I to join with our friends Win & Jim for a few days of relaxation before taking a Caribbean cruise.
We had decided that as we didn’t like the hassle and hold-ups with flying that we would travel Business Class as that way at least the waiting would be comfortable. We arrived at Heathrow early for our 13.50 flight and spent most of the morning in the airport lounge. This was very pleasant but I was a little disappointed with the food on offer. Beakfast consisted of cereal, toast and a selection of pastries but no hot option. When lunch arrived it gave a slightly better selection of curry, chilli and various salads. If however you wanted a drink before your flight then the choice was vitually endless, a selection of whiskies, various vodkas, brandys and gins together with beers of the world and a nice wine choice. Champagne needed to be requested. It indicates the type of market that the lounges cater for.
The flight was called at 12.50 and we made our way over to the gate to face the first delay of the day. Boarding couldn’t commence due to a glitch in the computer system apparently affecting the whole of Terminal 3. I was going to suggest they switch it off and back on again but Sylvia advised me that it was not a good idea. Eventually boarding comenced at around 14.15 but in a slow manner with the staff phoning through the passenger details through to Terminal 5 where the system was up and running. The benefit of Business is we boarded first and were sat on the plane enjoying a drink as the other passengers slowly made their way on board. Eventually the flight departed at 15.30 about one and a half hours late.
The flight itself was uneventful, I watched the new Bond film which I enjoyed immensely and the pilot made up some time as we arrived in Miami at 19.15 just 40 minutes late. All we had to do is to circumnavigate the good old US immigration system and we would be on the way to the hotel.
We were pleasantly surprised to see that the immigration process had been automated since the last time we landed here, with check-in machines similar to those at Asda checkouts. After ascertaining which language you wanted to use (No Welsh option!!), scanning your passports and answering a few simple questions, the machine took your photo and fingerprints and gave you a receipt. Similar to the machines in Asda this gave us a warning not this time “An unexpected article in bagging area” but a big cross over our receipts. this meant that we now had to line up and get our passports stamped in the time honoured manual way. The queues weren’t too long and after a 20-25 minute wait we made our way to a rather nice officer who apologised for the wait and explained that this quite often happens the first time you use these machines. He took my photo, my fingerprints and duely stamped my passport. Sylvia was not so lucky the photo was okay but despite trying both hands several times the fingerprints wouldn’t register. “Don’t worry” said the officer “somebody will be over in a minute ot two and sort you out”.
The “minute or two” turned out to be 15-20 but in the scheme of things was not too long, the new officer ushered Sylvia and myself back down th corridor, through a security door into an airless back room with 150-200 hopeful immigrants waiting for further assistance. Several times over the next hour and a half I attempted to ascertain the progress of our case only to be told it would take as long as it takes. During this time I couldn’t make any calls to check where our baggage was or if the booked limo to take us to the hotel was waiting.
Eventually Sylvia’s name was called an officer gave back her passport and we left the airport with no explanation as to how the situation had been resolved. What upset Sylvia the most was not the delay but being informed that this can happen to fingerprints as you get old!! On a more positive note a new career as a Master Criminal now awaits her.
It was now 21.40 and after a 45 minute car journey we arrived at our hotel. It had been a long day. First impressions of the hotel and Fort Lauderdale are good - more to follow tomorrow.
