We left a cool London on the 15th December and arrived in an equally cool Newark for our overnight stay in the airport Marriott before our early Sunday am flight to Fort Lauderdale.
That said Sunday started with two minor shocks - $50 to check in our bags with Continental and then as we went through security I had to hand over the lovely Kiehls body lotion I had bought for £20+ in the duty free in London. I had just forgotten to transfer it to my checked luggage as it was over 100mls - a hard lesson but I hope I remember in future! It does drive you nuts though - surely there is a test they can do to prove its not an explosives precursor! After that it was plain sailing and we arrived in a warm Fort Lauderdale and settled into to our lovely sea view apartment at the Beachplace Marriott - home for the next 6 days before our trip to Costa Rica.
The focus of the days was to get fit and relax particularly after I had jumped on the scales before leaving and realised too little running and too much chocolate had taken its toll!
I started each day with a run along the beach promenade along with lots of other joggers and then after breakfast followed it with one of the fitness classes the resort ran; usually they were in the pool although one day had Pilates on the 19th floor - great views! John would then join me on the pool deck for a couple of hours in the sun. During the afternoon we would often walk to the mall or supermarket.
There was no overwhelming Christmas pressure but the tasteful blue and white decorations along the seafront were lovely and very tasteful.
Not an adventurous week but we left fitter, a few pounds and £ lighter - the fitness programme worked and the shopping mall provided an opportunity for some nice purchases!
We had great weather everyday but as we were leaving a cool down was happening - appropriate in the run up to Christmas.