SImple, but not easy

This has been one of the most convoluted travel days I've ever had, especially considering that all we were doing was flying nonstop from Philadelphia to Miami. It started as we approached the airport. The northbound direction of I-95 comes right up alongside the airport, yet for some reason the exit swings out and all the way across the expressway and back southbound to join the exit from southbound to the airport. Probably 2 miles of driving. Then we checked the bag and went to park. Somehow, this took us out of the airport and back all the way around again, finally leaving us at the parking area for our terminal.

There we were met by one of the Parking Authority employees who used to work in the cashier lanes before they realized that people with credit cards (i.e., everyone who flies) don't need a cashier to pay for parking. So they loiter by the entrances to the lots, helping people push the button to get a ticket. This time, he tells us that lots A, B, C, and D are all full and we'd have to park in the E/F. Lot. This is not ideal for a flight from terminal A.

But we manage to park the car and head into the terminal, only to get herded into the massive Terminal E security line. Once through there, we needed only to walk the entire length of the airport to get to the gate. It's only about a half a mile, but that's a long way to walk indoors. All told, it took almost an hour from our original arrival at the airport.

Made the plane though and the flight was fine. And then we go to Miami airport.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise; Miami airport, at least in its current incarnation, is an absolute disaster from a traveler's perspective. The walk from the gate to baggage claim took at least 15 minutes- so long that I was sure we'd gone around in a big circle. But no, it was just a big, curvy terminal. Terminal D in Miami has 60 gates. That's as many as Philadelphia Airport terminal B, C, D and E combined, to give you a sense of the scale, and there's lots of room for shops padded in there.

Baggage claim itself was routine, but then the real journey began, as we sought out the rental car. I had made sure to rent from an "in-terminal" company so I wouldn't have to endure a 10 minute shuttle bus ride like I did last time we were here. So we search for and eventually find the signs pointing to rental cars. These signs look nothing like the other airport signs. They're not overhead and official-looking, they're purple with yellow type and look like something advertising Chili's.

I don't even remember what we did next. Took an escalator up, I think, which brought us to sign point to the left for MIA Mover to rental cars. This leads us to a moving sidewalk, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then a left turn and over a bridge, then another moving sidewalk and another. Since we've been on moving things the whole time, we assumed we were doing the MIA Mover. But no. This 15 minute walk took us to a train. We then waited and took a train to the rental car building, which is huge and cavernous and contains about a dozen car rental companies.

But where were the cars? Finally we saw a sign pointing to Rental Car Pickup. Actually, there were 2 signs, pointing in opposite directions. Whew, that was just one pointing to an elevator and one toward an escalator. We get to the car, finally, over an hour since our plane landed. And keep in mind that nothing has gone wrong in any way. We followed the plan the designers had in mind.

But is this really the right way to set things up? Is that what they had in mind when they designed this almost shockingly dumb and downright unfriendly way of arranging things? Isn't someone in charge of making sure the initial experience in Miami is a positive one? If that was your job, sir or madam, you have failed.

It also seemed like an ordeal getting to the hotel, though that again was a reasonably short ride. Pouring rain and traffic and lots of route changes will give you that feeling, I guess. Finally we got here, and of course our room is all the way at the end of the hallway. Actually the end of a corridor off the end of the hallway. The room is very nice. From landing to in the room, including a 20 minute drive, two hours and five minutes. Maybe we'll keep it simple tomorrow.