Well as the saying goes "All good things must end" .. time to put the cruise behind us and move on to our next adventure. Even though I'd got to bed quite late I woke before sun up and lying in bed was a little confused as orange lights kept flicking across the cabin, finally I had to look out the window to see land zipping past ( well us zipping past land really ), that means we're nearly back to the Port of Miami. I tried to go back to sleep but it just wasn't happening so we were up, last bits and pieces packed and ready to head out for breakfast by 7.30. The plan was to go back to the posh restaurant, Seven Seas aft on the 5th deck, for breakfast this morning but for some reason ( maybe because I was tired and a bit hungover perhaps? ) I took us to the Four Seasons, midship on the 5th deck, and then stood there a bit confused (again) because it was closed!! We ended up at the buffet which wasn't too bad but certainly not nearly as nice as the poshy place!

We had decided to carry our own bags off to make disembarkation a little faster and we had told Heather and Tim we'd meet them at 9 in the Atrium because we'd hired a car from downtown Miami to get about in for the day and then for the drive up to Fort Lauderdale Airport where we all had flights out of. Well we were ready to leave just before 8.30 so knocked on their door but Heather was still asleep so we decided we'd go by ourselves to get the car and drive back to pick them up. Getting off the ship and through customs was pretty fast and easy and we jumped straight in a cab and were at the Avis office by 9... for the next hour we waited patiently for our turn at the counter while a large French family complained about everything and were just being annoying customers .. OMG I don't have patience for this on a normal day but feeling like I did I was even less tolerant!! Finally it was our turn and we got an upgrade because I'd originally booked a small car and it wouldn't have been big enough for the 4 of us and our luggage, silly me! The car only cost us around $100 so still a lot cheaper than taxis or buses around Miami for the day and then the shuttle to Fort Lauderdale would have been $30pp. Anyway we got a big Dodge cruiser type thing which was almost new and pretty flash.. Rodd asked the guy where the key was but turns out it's a keyless start! It was only a quick drive back to pick the others up and they were sitting waiting so no problem finding them, I let Tim sit in the front and once again gave him my phone so he could play navigator. The mission today is to go over to Miami Beach and to Love Hate Tattoo (Miami Ink) for me to get the tattoo I've always wanted to get but have never been brave (or silly) enough to get.. mind you I still wouldn't have got it if not for Rodd being so supportive. We found the place easily enough and even managed to snag a car park in the next block but we were there by 10.30 and they open at 11am, we stood right at the front door for the next half an hour and staked our claim to first in first served! The minute the door opened I made sure I was first in and got all organised showing the receptionist a photo of the design and filling out all the disclaimer forms. Finally time to take the hot seat, they said only one or maybe two onlookers could come back to watch but Rodd, Heather and Tim ignored that cos they all wanted to be there watching me do this! I won't lie, I was a little nervous and feeling a little shall we say "delicate" but it wasn't really all that bad. Sure it hurt, but not so much I had to stop it or run screaming from the building, I flinched a few times but I'm a pretty strange bird and sort of revel in the pain... I can kind of absorb the pain and turn it into something else... anyway it didn't last too long, probably no more than half an hour and it was all done. I was well and truly ready for some food by the time I'd finished being marked for life so straight across the road to a little cafe for a really nice lunch.

Once again back in the car we head off and the original plan from here was to go check out those glitzy homes on some of the islands but Rodd just drove ahead and Tim was desperately trying to find out where we were and how to get there. We drove what seems like forever and I thought we were half way to Fort Lauderdale but Rodd and Tim were still saying they wanted to see these homes so somehow Tim managed to guide us back and we went cruising around ooing and ahhing over gorgeous waterfront homes surrounded in lush tropical gardens. Sightseeing done we head off to Fort Lauderdale with heaps of time, I was napping sporadically and the next thing I'm hearing Rodd and Tim talking about the airport turnoff.. I cracked my eyelids open the teeniest bit just as we sailed off on the Miami Airport turnoff.... hmmm .. really... hey guys... we're not going to Miami Airport we're flying out of Fort Lauderdale!! Round the block and back on track then "Jane" told us to take an exit but Heather and I in the back were saying "no I don't think so, the signs say the airport turnoff is in 1 mile" but who's going to argue with Jane? So we took the exit and once again ended up on the scenic route, we think this was the original highway and google maps hasn't been updated since the new freeway had been finished, oh well we did finally end up driving into the rental returns even though it was a real effort to get there, OMG the freeways around Fort Lauderdale airport are confusing, I think a lot of it is very new with work still happening and there's very few signs. As soon as we pulled up we realised we hadn't filled the car so asked the Avis attendant where we could do that.. "sure that's no problem, turn left out of here, go through 3 sets of lights and you'll see the gas station on the corner"........ yeah right ... turn left, well that's the only way you can go but no lights, we're on the freeway back to Miami!!! Heather and I are freaking out a little bit, Tim gave up on Jane and Rodd just kept driving... after a few minutes we all decided we'd just take the next exit and voila there was a service station.. now to just find our way back to the airport!! We all breathed a sigh of relief as we made our way back to the Avis drop off point, originally Heather and Tim were going to take the car as they had an extra 6 hours to wait for their plane but after the freeway fiasco and the fact that they wouldn't have Jane and google maps to help them they decided they'd rather hang around the airport. We said our goodbyes as they are heading off to LA to spend the week staying with Tims uncle and Rodd and I headed upstairs to check our bags through to St Louis. Back downstairs to get through security, Rodd as always got stopped when his hip set off the machine so when the bag Xray person pointed to Rodds' bag I said it was my partners.. "does he have a bottle of something in there?" .. "oh no" I said " that's an empty bottle from Vegas "oh no" she says "there's a full bottle of something in there" at which point I turned to Rodd, who was getting patted down and said in a very loud voice "tell me you didn't pack the Hazelnut Kahlua in your carry on"!!! Poor guy, he was devastated but the TSA agent looked happy you could see the "party at my place" expression as she took it out of the bag! Not sure if I mentioned this in my entry on St Thomas but we had bought the Kahlua at Mountain Top there because it looked so yummy, we've never seen Hazelnut Kahlua before, and it was only $18 for a huge bottle. I gave him a bad time about that as we walked away and said "ok enough I'm sure you feel bad" but as we approached the gate we saw Mary Kathryn, Kyle and their daughter Jenny (from the cruise) so yes I had to tell them the story and make him feel guilty just a little bit more!! We chatted to them until our flight was called and also Lou and Nancy ( that we'd done the Barbados tour with ) were there catching the same flight so we chatted to them as well for awhile.

Our plane was on time leaving Fort Lauderdale... next stop St Louis!