Stupid spontaneity is the only way to describe this spring break trip from the beginning to end. Andrea and I became friends and coworkers only two weeks before we decided to take a trip to Fort Lauderdale during spring break. We booked our plane tickets a day later and prepared for our trip. Don’t be misled by the word prepared, that simply means packed our bags and printing our tickets. I should have guessed the course of the trip by the the spontaneous nature we both possessed, but in my defense we just met.
The morning of our flight Andrea was scheduled to pick me up at 4 a.m. so we could make our 6:20 flight. Well, she was on time, but I was still fast asleep. I woke up an hour later with her waiting in the parking lot. Andrea’s fast driving skills got us to the airport in just enough time to check our luggage, but not enough time to board the plane.
The next available flight out of Philadelphia was direct to Miami. We had no reservations in Fort Lauderdale so our end destination didn’t seem important. Hours later we boarded the plane and soon found ourselves in the warm air of the south. Arriving in Florida was such a relief after the morning that we had brought upon ourselves. While waiting for our luggage we joked about the stressful morning. We joked until we found we were the only people left at the baggage carousel. It turned out, our luggage made it to Fort Lauderdale and we were in Miami, without a car. So we rented a car, picked up our luggage and hoped we could now enjoy our trip.
Driving down A1A we soon realized that our lack of planning was about to throw us another curve ball, we didn’t rent a motel and the spring break crowd left no vacancies. After hours more wasted, we finally fell upon an old beat up motel. We were in luck, there was one vacancy and it was ours.
The actual break part of the trip was a blur up until it was time to go home, which is probably why we missed our return flight. Again, we thought this was hilarious until we made it back to the motel and found that our vacancy had already been filled. The beach was our only option for the night, so we slept with our eyes open in fear that we would miss another flight.
We were early for this flight hoping our punctuality would get us to work on time. Keep in mind, we slept in the sand, partied two nights before and have not showered in a couple of days. We smelled and looked like bums. Our delayed travel plans left us driving directly from the airport to work where we took the walk of shame. Our co-workers made sure that we never forgot the stench that we brought back from our spontaneous spring break that year.