It's 8 a.m. on Saturday in Miami and the hotel lobby is quiet. Most people in Miami's South Breach wear very little, they start going out at 9:30 p.m. and they don't even see 8 a.m. the next day.
We arrived yesterday after a stressful end and beginning to our travels. Virgin lived up to its reputation in my eyes when they explained that the seats we'd reserved had been 'let go' so David and I were in separate seats. What they failed to tell us until the end was that these Economy seats were in fact Premium Economy! Not bad, but still not together. Due to the lack of staff at check in it was obvious from the start despite more than 2 hrs check in time, it wouldn't be enough. After 50 minutes waiting to check in we got moved to the emergency 'flight closing' line. More stress followed in the security live, once again we bypassed the line since our flight was due to board because Virgin didn't have enough staff to check us in, in the first place.
They advised us to go straight to the gate (no shopping for us!) and ask the gate attendants for help with our seats. As we approached a maze of chairs it was impossible to reach the gate staff. What we didn't appreciate was this was Virgin's way. They treat travelers with such disdain that they don't actually want you to approach the gate and ask a question. They'd used all the seats as barriers to cordon off the gate desks. Mmm...nice customer service. They asked us to board last and a "customer service representative" would board the plane with us and ask someone to swap seats. As we stood on the plane (on the second floor of a 747 - now that was quite cool!) we were asked if we wanted orange juice, water, or champagne. David said orange juice. I ran after the attendant to tell her 'hell no, we wanted champagne!'
After the morning we'd had champagne would only do!
Anyway, after an uneventful flight - I'm so getting used to long flights - we had to go through immigration at Miami at the same time as another four 747 flights. As a returning resident of the US I got through in no time. David on the other had had a further 1 hour long wait! I patiently waited in baggage claim beginning to wonder if they'd hauled him off for questioning! I mean a half Scottish, half Dutch, SF resident, currently working in London, landing in Miami on the way to Bolivia sounds a bit fishy, doesn't it!
So we arrived at the wonderful DoubleTree Miami South Breach a little after 5 p.m. and I put on my running gear. Running in 73 degree heat after a 9 hour flight was very tough. Jill - I only managed 55 minutes, but it's better than nothing. I'm desperately clinging to the hope of training for the marathon. I know it would be so much easy had the 3 of the 4 months prep been in SF...but I'm determined.
Work seems a distant memory - well I'm trying to not think about it!
Tonight we fly to La Paz, Bolivia. Another adventure awaits.
My friend Stephanie is due to move from SF to Chiswick, London with her English husband and gorgeous daughter Sabina. In fact I think they are flying today. So what can they expect? (Pork pies for one) 
