Day 68 - Palm Beach & Hard Rock Cafe at the end

01/19/17

Today is the day to say goodbye: goodbye ocean, goodbye Florida, goodbye Alfred...

Fortunately, we already packed last night, so we have time for a good breakfast. Then we load everything into Alfred and head towards Miami. But on the way, we want to go to the ocean again, so we stop in Palm Beach, specifically in Riviera Beach. It's a beautiful beach, although it is surrounded by a huge hotel complex.

In addition to sunbathing and swimming, there is one last beach volleyball battle. We have to leave the ball there, because it keeps losing air and is too heavy :-) Goodbye ocean!

We have to continue towards Miami at 3:00 PM. In Fort Lauderdale, we want to stop at the Hard Rock Cafe and have our final meal of the trip. Unfortunately, time is already running out, as there is heavy traffic in the Miami area and the navigation system does not always choose the fastest route... When we arrive at the Hard Rock Cafe, we have a burger and a beer. After that, we take a final evening picture from the top of the parking garage. The view is amazing, but unfortunately we don't have time to enjoy it.

We continue towards Miami International Airport. Once again, we encounter heavy traffic on the road with 3-6 lanes... After 7:00 PM, we finally make it and return our Nissan after 3 weeks. Goodbye Alfred!

Now we take the MIA Mover to the terminal and check in with American Airlines. We would like to check in our luggage for all three flights (LA, London, and Zurich) right away, but this is not possible with self check-in. So we wait in line at the counter. But it's not moving at all... After standing in line for about 45 minutes, we lose our patience and switch to self check-in, then we'll just have to pick up our luggage in LA... The self check-in process is quick and we can head to the gate after passing through security. Along the way, we stop at the Irish Pub and treat ourselves to a Corona beer. When we arrive at Gate 36, most of the passengers are already on the plane. Once again, we have a modern but smaller aircraft (A321, built in 2015).

Goodbye Florida! During the first hour, there are a lot of turbulences, so there is no service. After some time, the flight becomes calmer and we get something to drink. The onboard entertainment system is great, so we can watch some movies on our 6-hour flight.

Arriving in LA, we wait a while for our luggage. Once we have it, we call our hotel taxi and go to the Travelodge. A friendly driver receives us and makes us smile. So, the first of three home flights is done. Soon it's time for the next flight...

Photo of the day: bird-covered car...