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Published: April 19th 2017
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After taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport, we checked in for our second Norwegian flight. This time we are flying to Fort Lauderdale on the Florida coast North of Miami.
Our plane today has a tail fin dedicated to Victor Borge. It is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with about 300 people on board.
Some statistics for the Dreamliner: - 291 seats, 2 pilots and 8 or so cabin crew. It is powered by 2 x Rolls Royce Trent 100 engines that generate 67,000 Ibs thrust per engine allowing a maximum cruise speed of 912 kilometres per hour. It is 57 metres long and 17 metres high. The flexed wing span is 60.17 metres across.
We have booked a Low Fare+ ticket which included a seat booking, meals and a 20kg bag in the hold each.
The boarding of the plane went very smoothly and we left about on time.
Within about an hour, we were served our first meal. This consisted of a very tasty pasta dish to start and a piece of chocolate cake to finish. Then we could choose either fish or chicken and we had one of each and both were
very tasty. We could also choose any drink, so we had two rosé wine so Theresa could have a drink. There was also endless tea and coffee for those that ordered a meal.
About an hour before we landed we were each given a wholesome snack bag containing a sandwich, a cookie and an apple drink. We also had the choice of tea or coffee to go with it.
Must say, we were impressed by the food we had whilst on board.
On board this flight, Norwegian had an ingenious laptop computer system in each seat. It had the normal films and games, (no music) but then had a snack shop ordering system and duty free ordering. This meant that the hostesses were not constantly walking up and down the aisles. This is the first time we have flown with a facility where you can order from your seat at ease.
This flight is later than any other transatlantic flight we have ever taken and did not get into Fort Lauderdale until about 9pm local time. As you get older, a long flight is an ultimate test for you. This was 9 hours and 40 minutes.
Upon arrival at Fort Lauderdale, we cleared USA customs and immigration very fast easily within an hour. This to us was really amazing as you can actually wait for over three hours. The processes and paperwork have changed for the better it seems.
We had originally booked to stay at Days Inn near the port of Fort Lauderdale for tonight, but had not been able to get any contact from them with regards to their airport shuttle. As we arriving at the airport late following a long transatlantic flight, we have made the decision to take the hire car a day early and drive ourselves away from the airport.
We have booked a car with Alamo Car Hire. Several years ago we were involved in a mass court action with them and the conclusion was we were awarded two free days car rental. We have already checked with them via email to ensure that we can use these vouchers for this booking. It was a good job we had done this.
On arrival at the Alamo counter, the assistant tried to tell us that we could not use the vouchers as our booking was an International
one. We challenged this as they were sent to us in Spain and any booking we make will be an International one. Eventually they agreed and added a manual discount adjustment to the booking. All this meant that we were actually at the counter for over an hour. It was about 11.30pm by the time we actually left the airport. This is really 3.30am UK time as Eastern USA is four hours behind UK time at the moment.
Luckily we know where our hotel in Pompano Beach is as we have been there before and by midnight we had arrived.
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ailsa mcgibney
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suprised
surprised the food good on the flight , not usually and a good idea re ordering duty free , its irritating sometimes constanty being pushed past and asked if you want items duty free , Re the car hire , well at least they sorted it out ,