December 19 Flight from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

 We were up early after a good night sleep. The hotel's shuttle was scheduled for 6 am, and we were just across the road from the airport, so it was a short trip.

We used some assistance from the Viking help desk to get checked in to our flight. In the end we printed out boarding passes, paper is always good. At the airport, we had help from the staff to get our luggage tags printed, and sent the luggage through to hopefully arrive with us in Florida. We had TSA pre check, so it made the process much cleaner, but for some reason, even though I almost stripped down to nothing, I still set off alarms, so through the X-Ray scanner. Ugh, I guess this will be my life with a new knee.

When we got to the gate, we started meeting other couples who were going to join us on Viking Sky. We spent the time before flight getting to know each other. There is a couple from Sisters Oregon who will only do the first leg to Los Angeles. The other two couples are from Western Washington and they are also doing the full world cruise. We all are excited for the adventure to come.

We all ended up in first class. This was our first experience, and the food was good, and the service nice. This is just a prelude to the service we will receive once we are on board the Viking Sky.

We landed just before 5 pm in Fort Lauderdale. It was dark before we arrived to our Hotel. I know there is an ocean across from the Hotel, but we can't see it. We did enjoy the Christmas lights on the Palm trees.

Our bus let us off 150 feet from the hotel door, and we had to get our luggage up to the Hotel lobby on our own. It was not to hard for us, but some couples who had more luggage than they had hands were struggling, and a few just complained.  Whew we made it to our rooms.

We ate dinner in the Hotel with one of the couples we flew in with. Dottie and Ron made fun table mates. We both know each other better, and we are discovering other fun loving couples.

I have been following a site called Cruise Critic that is specific for our World cruise. The group was planning on gathering at the bar, so someone came up to the couple beside us and asked if they were part of the group. I broke in and let them know that our table was also part of the cruise critic group and on the Viking Sky. It is fun meeting people I only have seen via computer. The group had gathered by the time we left, but we were not up to joining.

Mike is starting to feel low with a cold and cough. Hopefully a good nights sleep will make him feel better.