mk-ultra

It just keeps getting prettier.  Did I mention how nice it is to be in shorts and sandals outdoors at 0700 without freezing your butt off?  Sigh.  I could spend my life watching sunrises like this one.

Definitely not a looker, but wow it was tasty.  Tortillas were deep fried (crispy like chilaquiles).  Salsa actually had some heat to it.  Queso fresco & fresh guac.  Not afraid of cilantro.  Burp.  Very nice.

It just keeps getting prettier.  Did I mention how nice it is to be in shorts and sandals outdoors at 0700 without freezing your butt off?  Sigh.  I could spend my life watching sunrises like this one.

You are correct.  W Hotel is Marriott / SPG / Bonvoy (whatever they're calling themselves this morning).  I totally agree that some of the W's are indeed too funky.  The ones in San Francisco and Honolulu give you a tiny (though nicely modern looking) room.  I'm not sure what category room I got upgraded to, but it's large, has power outlets and USB charging ports everywhere, and (OMG) a real tub you could conceivably drown in.  Most W's just have a shower.   Big balcony with a couch, chair, table and an ocean view.  Bed was so good I slept-in until 9AM Pacific time (yesterday's time zone).

It just keeps getting prettier.  Did I mention how nice it is to be in shorts and sandals outdoors at 0700 without freezing your butt off?  Sigh.  I could spend my life watching sunrises like this one.

As predicted, I'm up early.  Not nearly as early as I imagined though.  Slept in until 6AM local, which is 9AM by my CA body clock.  This place has a great bed.  The plus side of waking up early on the right coast is being able to catch a pretty sunrise.  ?

Tasted exactly as good as it looked.  The ciabatta roll itself was very nice.  Crusty, hot, fluffy inside.  Those grainy egg whites and whatever they'd mixed in with them were gag-worthy.  Fruit and yogurt made up for it.

Tasted exactly as good as it looked.  The ciabatta roll itself was very nice.  Crusty, hot, fluffy inside.  Those grainy egg whites and whatever they'd mixed in with them were gag-worthy.  Fruit and yogurt made up for it.

5:00 am - works for me!

Happy to report: completely uneventful flight.  Did the terminal E to terminal C hustle at IAH in about 15 minutes.  IAH-FLL flight was held at the gate briefly so a passenger on a late connecting flight could make it.  This is a recent United policy, and it's a good one.  Pilots were able to make up the time en route by shoveling a little more money into the engines.  Pilot Flying absolutely plastered it onto the runway on landing.  Much shrieking.  I thought it was funny; others not so much.  I'm easily entertained.  Lead flight attendant started his post-landing announcement with, "You may have noticed we've arrived in Fort Lauderdale..."  High-five to him.   Cockpit door remained shut during deplaning.  Yeah, door of shame.  Stand in the galley and take your ribbing, coward.
Taxi ride to the W Hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale was, um, interesting.  It was totally a breeze until we hit A1A for the last couple of miles.  Construction has necked-down a segment from 2 lanes to 1, so we spent the last mile watching pedestrians outpace us.  No skin off my nose.  I got a better chance to ogle what I may want to explore on foot tomorrow. 
Note if you're taking a taxi from FLL airport to anything close to it:  Flag drop at the airport is $13 minimum with an additional $3 fee for whatever.  So, $16 to move 100 yards if that's how far you want to go.  Once you've used $13 worth of mileage/time, the meter starts ticking up like normal.  FLL to the W was ~$25 for the 6.5 mile trip.
This particular W has a pretty stellar reputation for the property, service, rooms, location and food.  I'm digging it so far.  Super smooth check-in.  Met by their "Welcome Manager" Brian while I was being checked in.  Very nice comp room upgrade.  This is one of those places that does Amex "Fine Hotels & Resorts" bookings perfectly.  Late check-out.  Free breakfasts.  $100 credit to spend on-property (to which the W added a surprise additional $50).  Amex is also running a bonus right know that will knock another $100 off of my bill for spending 2 nights.  [I'm not trying to pimp Amex, but if you travel a lot -- that Plat card pays for itself many times over.]
Ate at El Vez tonight, the Mexican restaurant in the W.  Excellent service.  Great Margaritas.  The mahi mahi fish tacos though.  Erm.  No.  I saw tons of excellent looking food on other tables.  I think I just ordered a dud.  Prices are surprisingly non-extortionate for a hotel restaurant.
Plan for tomorrow: wake up at an ungodly hour and lament still being on West Coast time.  I wake up at 0530 in CA.  That's 0230 here.  It's gonna be a loooooong morning.  Once the sun is up it'll be a walk across the street to the beach, then a saunter south to the cool looking venues on A1A facing the beach in search of brekkies. 

You're on vacation It's 5 O-clock somewhere ??

Man I love early AM flights.  Quick 15 minute ride to SFO.  Security Pre-Check line was literally 30 seconds.  I'm now camped out at the Centurion Lounge in terminal 3 (opened at 0500) and there is a massive crowd of 3 whole people to contend with.   I see 'em cooking breakfast in the kitchen, so I'm 100% sure I'm not going to perish from hunger.  Too early for the bar?
Food's ready!  Their timing is impeccable.
Fruity selection:

Spinach & bell pepper scramble.  Chicken apple sausages.  Steel cut oatmeal.  Mushroom frittata.  French toast.  Vegetarian farro dish I eyed suspiciously, but it was actually really tasty:

I don’t know who at United concocted this awful egg white breakfast sandwich thingy, but I’d like to hunt them down and make them eat six of them.
If this wasn’t breakfast #2, I’d be feeling stabby.  ?
 

Flight is on time.  ? Won at gate roulette.  Gate changed from 90 (ass end of nowhere) to gate 61 (stumbling distance from a variety of places that serve alcohol).  Next up: IAH (Houston) layover.  If there's an airport I hate with a burning passion, it's IAH.  80% chance of it being a cluster-f*ck.  I'll be brave and wear my big boy pants.

Man I love early AM flights.  Quick 15 minute ride to SFO.  Security Pre-Check line was literally 30 seconds.  I'm now camped out at the Centurion Lounge in terminal 3 (opened at 0500) and there is a massive crowd of 3 whole people to contend with.   I see 'em cooking breakfast in the kitchen, so I'm 100% sure I'm not going to perish from hunger.  Too early for the bar?
Food's ready!  Their timing is impeccable.
Fruity selection:

Spinach & bell pepper scramble.  Chicken apple sausages.  Steel cut oatmeal.  Mushroom frittata.  French toast.  Vegetarian farro dish I eyed suspiciously, but it was actually really tasty:

Yawn.  It's 0330 and I didn't need my alarm to wake me up for my 0720 flight to Fort Lauderdale this morning.  I'm always gunning to go when a cruise is pending.  Might as well burn off some energy with my first stab at live-blogging a trip.  ?
Basics
Ship: Allure
Sailing: 9/29 7 night Eastern Caribbean
Cabin: L2 Crown Loft (1722)
View from the backyard.  That isn't a sunrise.  It's city lights.

Yawn.  It's 0330 and I didn't need my alarm to wake me up for my 0720 flight to Fort Lauderdale this morning.  I'm always gunning to go when a cruise is pending.  Might as well burn off some energy with my first stab at live-blogging a trip.  ?
Basics
Ship: Allure
Sailing: 9/29 7 night Eastern Caribbean
Cabin: L2 Crown Loft (1722)
View from the backyard.  That isn't a sunrise.  It's city lights.

Twist my arm then.

Timing feels really good on this trip.  It's always a crap shoot during hurricane season.  Hurricane Lorenzo took a nice early turn North, and Tropical Storm Karen has been meandering around like a drunk while dissipating the last two days.  Weather on my flight route today SFO-IAH-FLL all looks decent.  Yay!
If you're a weather nerd, or just like keeping tabs on the Atlantic before an upcoming cruise, you can burn a lot of hours while pretending to be busy at work at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TropicalWeather/
and
https://tropicaltidbits.com/

I never buy in-flight WiFi, but I’ve got some UAL credit to burn up, so here I am at FL350 trying it out.   Speeds are laughable, and the 700ms latency tells me it's geosynchronous sats.
I’m going to attempt to use my blazing .3Mb/s upload speed to post a photo.  Not to worry.  I’ve got 3.5 hours.

Flight is on time.  ? Won at gate roulette.  Gate changed from 90 (ass end of nowhere) to gate 61 (stumbling distance from a variety of places that serve alcohol).  Next up: IAH (Houston) layover.  If there's an airport I hate with a burning passion, it's IAH.  80% chance of it being a cluster-f*ck.  I'll be brave and wear my big boy pants.

I don’t know who at United concocted this awful egg white breakfast sandwich thingy, but I’d like to hunt them down and make them eat six of them.
If this wasn’t breakfast #2, I’d be feeling stabby.  ?
 

Yawn.  It's 0330 and I didn't need my alarm to wake me up for my 0720 flight to Fort Lauderdale this morning.  I'm always gunning to go when a cruise is pending.  Might as well burn off some energy with my first stab at live-blogging a trip.  ?
Basics
Ship: Allure
Sailing: 9/29 7 night Eastern Caribbean
Cabin: L2 Crown Loft (1722)
View from the backyard.  That isn't a sunrise.  It's city lights.

Say what ??  Oh.....you mean the ones that hang out 3” from the boarding lane believing that if they’re the first ones on that they will win the lottery ?

Oof. This flight has a bad gate lice infection.