Day 1 (8/19/2011)
Today was going to be a fun day. I had scheduled us on a 9:30am flight out of JFK as it was the cheapest airfare I could find. This would mean a very early wakeup as the limo to the airport was scheduled to come at 5:45. I was set to wake up at 4:30 after excitement finally let me dose off at around 1:45am. However, Mother Nature had a different opinion and unleashed her fury with a pounding thunderstorm at 3:45 that woke us all up bright and early. I was extremely worried that our 9:30 flight would be delayed or cancelled. Luckily we were still on time after the storm had passed as our plane was parked at JFK overnight. The limo came around 5 minutes late so we loaded up quickly and hit the road. We were able to stay just ahead of the morning rush and were treated to a decent sunrise as we crossed the Verrazano Bridge into Brooklyn. We got to the airport where we discovered a mess at the terminal. There were lines everywhere but this was all planned for as we got to the airport about 2.5 hours ahead of our departure time. After around an hour and a half to go through security and check our luggage it was off to get a quick sit-down breakfast. A quick check of the board showed why there were crazy lines. Most flights were running on delays due to the early morning thunderstorms. The 8am flight to Orlando was set to depart at the same time as our flight! We made it back to the gate about a minute before boarding. I immediately tried to take out the 30D for some plane pictures but had no chance to shoot anything. I was approached by the gate clerk and questioned if I would like to move up to the exit row with more legroom. Being the family guy I am, I said it would have to be my whole family or bust. They had the space so were moved up on the plane
JFK air traffic was a nightmare. We had about a 30-minute wait for takeoff as they were still trying to recover from the storm. The flight was pretty boring, which is a great thing. The time passed extremely slowly as I kept working on the schedule ahead for baggage claim time, rental car, and check-in. I knew we were fine for dinner, which would be at O’hana, but I didn’t want to waste so much time. It worked out that our flight made it in about 5 minutes early to Orlando, so I was very happy. Arriving into MCO is one of my favorite moments on a vacation as it really just screams out you have arrived! The only issue I have with MCO is the baggage. It is always a long wait to get bags, and this trip was no exception. We finally got our bags and ran over to the Alamo counter. Luckily I had set everything up perfectly so there was no issue with car class or price. Now we just had to go out to the garage and pick our car. We go out to the aisle and of course Murphy’s Law takes over. There were no Standard SUVs, just mid-size SUVs that would never fit our bags. After a brief discussion with the garage manager they brought us up a 2011 Ford Explorer. I packed the trunk in what must have been less than a minute and we scurried off to our second home.
Part 2 of day 1 coming soon...
