The Last Eighteen Hours in Florida

So what happened after I finished my third day of diving? I had to rush out of the water by 3pm because I had to fly back home at 9am the following morning. Divers have to rest 18 hours before we could fly or go on an altitude abruptly, otherwise we're increasing our risk of decompression sickness. So I finished my fifth and last dive of Intro to Cave at around 2:30pm. We then headed back to the dive shop and got our paper work done. By the time I finished taking my shower and packing my stuff and was ready to go, it was close to 5:30pm. I started my drive back to Orlando. When I was about half an hour away, I realized that I forgot to pack my dive booties. Oh well. Half an hour was a long way from the dive shop. I probably subconsciously wanted to get a new pair of booties.

The 3.5hr drive back was uneventful. There was obviously more traffic this way this time (Hallowe'en Friday) than a few days ago when I headed north on Tuesday night. I was so glad I got a bag full of chocolates and candies for Hallowe'en from my Citrix conference earlier. Those treats kept me satisfied and full during my stay in Luraville and my two 3.5hr drives.

Since I went way over my budget during my stay in Florida, I decided not to stay in a hotel on this final night. When I arrived in Orlando at around 9pm, I drove over to the outlet mall because it closed at 11pm, probably the latest time anything anywhere closed at. I walked around a bit, hoping to buy some stuff for friends and family, but I couldn't find anything. By then I was already feeling dizzy and disoriented. I had only around three hours of sleep the previous night and I had a long day that day. I wandered till 11pm when all shops were closed. I went back to the car and started packing my wet stuff into the suitcase -- that's the beauty of renting a car. Who cares if you get the backseats all wet and the floor all full of sand. :) It was 11:30pm. Gosh, time was passing too slowly. I took a nap in the car because I became too tired. I slept till around 12:30am, when the parking lot was almost empty. I didn't want people to see this car with someone sleeping inside. I didn't want people to think I was dead or something. :)

So I decided to drive to the airport. I'd just grab my bags and sleep in the airport until the check-in counters opened. Well, when I got to the rental car return, there was no one to collect the car. I found that area to be a well-lit and well-ventilated area. So I thought to myself, why don't I sleep in the car with all my bags secure instead of sitting on the floor while trying to look after my suitcases in the airport? So I lowered the car seat and slept. I slept well! When I woke up again I was waken by other people returning their cars. By then it was 5am. Not bad! The evening had almost passed. I was supposed to return the car at 6am. So I returned it an hour early and went inside the terminal. I checked in my bags and went to Starbucks. I took out my $10 Starbucks card that I got from the conference and had breakfast. Despite having spent a lot of money on car rental and on my diving courses, I actually went under budget on gas and food. Gas only cost me US$33.15 and food... Ha! I brought three cup noodles with me from HK and one pack of instant pasta. Then there were all the chocolates and candies from the conference. I managed to spend only less than $10 on food. It turned out to be a good idea to have brought instant noodles with me (I swear I've never done this ever before when I travelled!) because the dive shop was literally in the middle of nowhere. There was only one country store which served hot dogs and sandwiches. But to get to the next decent food vendor would be at a 15-minute drive to the nearest town, Mayo. So my instant food saved me money, gas, and time in particular.

That was yet another experience for me. :)

Oh, and while I was in transit in Chicago, I had a bit over an hour to chill. I made sure I checked the local time and I actually had over an hour to kill ;-). So I first went to my gate. I saw that they were boarding another flight. So I guess I was too early and I walked around the terminal. I really wanted to get something for my dive buddies so I kept walking back and forth, looking at the gate every once in a while. Eventually I bought a caramel apple. It's something I used to love eating as a kid but have long grown out of. But since it's something you can't find in HK I thought I'd get it. When I was done shopping, I looked at my watch, and damn, it was past the boarding time and was almost the departure time. I walked hurriedly back to the gate and... something wasn't quite right! I saw a few people sitting on the chairs and they didn't look like they were about to board anytime soon. I checked the gate display... Why wasn't there a flight number posted?! I tried to recall.... DAMN!! I was supposed to go to gate C16, and I was at B16!!

Oh shoot... I ran and ran... I saw a United gate on my way but there was nobody there. I would've asked them to hold gate C16 for me but I couldn't afford wasting time looking for people. I kept running, with my 10-pound laptop on my back. I could feel my lack of breath and lack of strength in my legs... The consequences for not staying in shape! I was lucky I didn't have to take the train to get to the other terminal. "Excuse me!" "Sorry, this is an emergency!" I kept screaming while pushing people out of my way.

At last, I got to gate C16. They've been waiting for me, and I was the last person to board. Well, at least it still took them another 10 minutes before they closed the door...