"The thing that's so great about Miami, is that it's so close to the United States."

I prefer to fly out of the city I live in whenever possible, but sometimes the monetary savings makes it worthwhile to depart from somewhere nearby. In this case it was significantly less expensive to get direct flights out of Miami International (MIA), but it also tacked on a three hour drive to each end of the trip. On the surface, not a bad deal, but when you’re trying to get to the airport two hours early, in a city you’ve never been to, where signs are less than helpful, long-term parking is full, and a single street can have three names, the cost savings become less important as the volume with which I’m slinging profanities increases. We are the last two people to arrive, making check-in cutoff by minutes. Thankfully we fly through security, arriving at the gate at the same moment they announce our row for boarding. Perfect!

I fly Delta and their partners nearly everywhere, primarily because they fly out of Sarasota, and I prefer to dance with the devil I know. I expect lousy service, uncomfortable seats, no leg room, and to have to pay through the nose for every little thing. My coworker, friend, and new travel planner and companion, DJ, found a great deal from MIA to DXB (Dubai) with a 12 hour layover in LHR (London – Heathrow) on Virgin Atlantic, and through four legs of the trip, three of them were absolutely flawless. When I say flawless, I mean off-the-chart incredible, not compared to Delta, but if I were asked to create a mental image of my perfect experience, this would be it. I’ll cover the one bad time shortly, but it was situational. To start, they call for boarding from the back of the plane to the front. Genius and convenient! They have two bouncers at the gate that verify you have a ticket for the rows called, if not, they kick you back out to the waiting area. Such fun to watch! Then there are the ticket takers, and you board. The planes are clean; the people are truly friendly and very attractive, and everything you could want is included in the price. I didn’t pay a dime to watch new release movies on demand, get food and drinks, check a bag, and that would be enough to make it great. I also got a small kit with socks, a toothbrush and paste, earplugs, a blindfold, and other things to make the flight more comfortable. Fantastic!

Unfortunately I didn’t get much sleep due to some significant, high-level turbulence. I could’ve popped a Xanax and slept straight through it, but opted not to. I’m already getting excited about being back in London. In a few short hours, we’ll be meeting up with DJ and Stacey, getting a shower and fresh clothes, and grabbing a pint and a bite to eat at The Anchor. Then I will be spending the afternoon playing tour guide to three first timers in one of my favorite cities.