March 4 - 10

Our usual activities took up most of the days, water volley ball, crib tournies, Tuesdays bicycle to breakfast outing, Mex trains, shuffleboard, eating & listening to music. The weather is staying below normal & we did get some rain the other day.

We went to AAA about booking flights to Fort Lauderdale for Sheila's booked mini cruises & found out that they don't book flights only as a service but charge $35 per ticket/person because with all the internet booking sites the airlines will not pay agents anything for booking only flights anymore. So, reluctantly, I went on-line, got confused by the proliferation of sites as some seemed to be sites to pick sites to book. I went to Expedia which I had heard of and after a lot of rigamorole, confusion & major waiting for the computer to move from one screen to the other. I booked some flights. It then said check back in 24 hours to see if it is confirmed. That involved more waiting for information screens to open & then process my itinerary number. Maybe it is quicker on wired internet conections but on wireless it is s l o w. I also found out that what day of the week you fly is very relevant for the price. Tues, Wed, are the cheap days. Also Easter is early April so flying on April 1 or April 2, (good Friday), or even later, is not reasonable, (like over $100.00 more each). However what we have is as follows:

Fly out of Ontario airport, (ONT), in Riverside, (an hours drive away) on Mar 23 on US Airways flight 1552 at 12:40PM to Phoenix at 1:53PM where we change to US Airways flight 185 out at 3PM and finally arrive in Fort Lauderdale, (FLL), their time at 10:06PM. (Time zones add 3 hours to the time, it'll be about 8PM for us).

The return is on Mar 31 out of FLL at 6:00AM on Continental 1649 to Houston at 7:50AM then out on Continental 1723 at 9:45AM arriving ONT 11:25AM.
We could have gotten a 8:45 AM departure from FLL but that would have cost about $50.00 more per ticket. As it was the flights weren't too bad, $300.80 to fly east & $307.80 to fly west for both of us. To fly out of Palm Springs airport would have been a lot more money per ticket.

We also found out that airlines now charge per checked bag, $25-$35 each, they don't serve any meals, but you can buy food. One airline quoted drinks at $2 & snacks at $7 - note that they said snacks, not a meal for $7. I wonder what other fees etc. are out there we don't know about yet.

The cruise thing worked out OK in that we board ship on the 24th, then out to Bahamas & back, get off & an hour later get on again for a second mini cruise to a different part of the Bahamas. I think we are back on the 29th. The cruises go out of Port of Palm Beach, 47 miles north of Fort Lauderdale. However there is a West Coast Express type comuter train that runs all day with about an hour between trips & cost under $6.00 one way. The stops are located just a short cab ride from hotels & the ship dock.

We still need to find a hotel for the night of the 30th that has a shuttle to the airport for the 6AM departure for which we will have to be there by around 4AM or so, yuk!

So the plan is to drive out of the RV Park on the 23rd morning putting the RV in storage somewhere, drive the car to ONT, park in long term, which seems to be about $10.00 per day. Then when we return drive the car, get the RV & find somewhere for that night.

We spent this afternoon, (Wed), playing pegs & jokers with Sheila/Gerry & Sally/Fred & us. This evening there is a Horse Raceing evening in the ballroom. You are given play money to buy or bet on horses and the actual races are real races on a TV screen, (from a CD or tape). It's BYOB & finger food to share with your table, sounds like fun.

The forecast is for improving weather from now through the weekend into next week, I hope so. Everyone is saying this is the worst winter they have had here in years. It's still nicer than being at home but I would like a bit more hot sun.