You may be wondering why my only pictures of my fabulous vacation to South Beach are of the Hertz Rental counter.
Well do I have a story for you....(hang in there friends, this is a long one.)
Chaos...is the word I'd use to describe the first 4 hours of our wonderful trip to SoBe. It's 4:55am on Friday and we are ready to leave for the airport. Suddenly I realize that my wallet is gone. My ID and debit card have zaporized into thin air. We have to leave in 5 minutes. In a slight panic, I grab my passport and say No Worries!! I'll use this! Yes! Let's go! So we're off.
We get to the airport one hour ahead of our scheduled departure time. Normally this is plenty of time. But since today is Everything That Could Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong Day there is a line of 250 people waiting to check their bags at the Spirit counter (and I'm not exaggerating.) Slightly discouraged, we wait for 30 minutes and move only 3 feet. Oh and the airline checker-in-ers don't care if your flight leaves in 30 minutes. I find a gate agent and inform them of our dilemma. They say "We'll book you on a new flight if you miss it." Umm....Emily and I have 72 hours to enjoy South Beach and we will NOT spend one extra minute of it in Smith Terminal at DTW. So I cut the line. (very 3rd grade, I know, but we were desperate.) Averting glares and questioning eyes, I go to the front of the line and check us in with an air of authority that no one really questioned (out loud anyway). YES! Let's go! Ooops...wait a minute. Your bag weighs 56 pounds. You need to pay an extra $25 or take out 6 pounds worth of stuff. $25 in SoBe is a couple drinks so we start unloading shoes. We get it down to 50.5. Good enough! We run to security with 5.5 pounds of shoes in Emily's beach bag.
I'm punished for cutting the check-in line as karma catches up to us at the security line. Emily is stopped for a "special screening". Our flight leaves in 5 mintues. After she is cleared in security we literally have to sprint to our plane. (It looks like a scene from a movie!) We skip on to the plane as they are shutting the door. YES! Let's go!
We land and get our luggage. This in itself is a victory, because I was worried it wasn't going to make it. We do a victory dance and grab our enormous bag (that weighs 50.5 pounds!) We skip to the rental car garage. Get in the car and start to depart on our last leg of the journey...South Beach here we come! We're just about to exit the garage when the gate attendant asks for my ID. I hand him my passport.
"Where's your ID?" Asks the gate attendant.
"I forgot it. But here's my passport." I smile sweetly.
"Back up and step out of the car ma'am." growls the gate attendant.
They tell us to grab our luggage and get out. Apparently, you can't rent a car with a passport. We are escorted out of the garage and thrown into a taxi. No worries! Slight set back! This is vacation! YES! Let's go!
We make it to the hotel in South Beach and are feeling on top of the world. Suddenly, I can't breathe. My luggage load is somewhat lighter than before. *GASP* Where's my camera??? I LEFT CAMMIE CAM (Nikon D40) IN THE BACK SEAT OF THE RENTAL CAR THAT WE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO DRIVE!!!! BACK IN FORT LAUDERDALE!!
Panic. I absolutely panic. In the middle of the humiliating walk of shame off the Hertz garage floor, I left my Cammie in the back seat of our rental car. I immediately call Hertz and the people in Fort Lauderdale remember the girls who tried to rent a car with their passport. They put me on hold after saying "I hope we didn't re-rent that car." Dread fills my head as I wait on hold for 14 minutes. They come back on the line with the triumphant news that they have Miss Cammie. But they won't deliver it. It's locked safely in a safe until Sunday.
Slightly sad that I won't take any pictures of our trip in South Beach, but overwhelmingly relieved that they found my camera so quickly, I order a celebratory Mojito and toast the fine folks at Hertz.
So, my friends and family, that is why my first and last official photo of South Beach is at the Hertz counter taken after I retrieved the camera and swore to her that I'd never lose her again.
Oh yes, my wallet is still AWAL.
Kerry, aka
KerBear I hope you have better photos than me. :)
