Yes, we left yesterday, December 3o, 2016, for Peru and the flight was almost at midnight and yes I might have accidentally given us a 12 hour layover in Florida … my bad.

Summer and I flew with Spirit Airlines for this trip and the Denver to Fort Lauderdale flight was on time, but uncomfortable.  I’ve flown with them before and typically the flight is fine with the occasional crying baby that we all seem to be graced with when flying. . .

 Well, Spirit has found a way to lover their expenses and increase the number of customers per jet. All food and drinks cost above airport prices, credit card only (doesn’t everyone do that now). But, Spirit has removed the seat cushions and slid every seat closer together to add more rows to each flight. Side note, Spirit appears to be cheaper for many flights, but typically they are not in the end due to all the “Nicole and diming”. Initial ticket prices are for your ticket, but there is an added cost for every seat selection on the plane, each seat, each direction and I believe they range from $8 to $120 (most Spirit planes no longer have first class). Spirit also only gives you one free personal item that must fit under the seat in front of you. If you want to carry a bag on for the overhead bin, it adds a cost for each flight. Oh, and be sure it weighs under 30 pounds, not 50 like some of the other airlines. Overweight bags cost something like $30 above what you originally paid. . for each flight… each direction.  

Sorry, I digressed for a moment there. The seats… The hard plastic seats of Spirit are now so close, my knees touch the seat in front of me and I have no cushions to push on for more space.  I would have tried to reclined back,  but that feature was not available on the flight.  Evern the seat back trays were reduced to iPhone-6 sized trays.  Good thing we didn’t need (or wish to afford) a dinner on our midnight to 3am flight!

I am a slightly seasoned vet when it comes to traveling and the only other flight with this little of leg room was my flight with Jason and Sam from London to Cape Town.   I was mainly miserable from walking all (ish) of London and not stretching or moving more. My own fault there I suppose.

We landed are 5am local time, 3am MDT. No sleep, and only expensive airport food.  Fort Lauderdale airport was smaller than I expected and it didn’t quite have the art and appeal of Denver or Minneapolis airports. They still had the classic $6 glass of Coors light and the  $8 glass of Samuel Adam’s.  Sleep was tough here since every other announcement was sounded akin to a drill sargent over a megaphone.  

I am now writing this while flying over the Gulf of Mexico after literally the entire day at the airport. Some napping happened while there, but I am just glad to be almost in Peru. I paid extra for exit row seats and thankfully these recline! Life is good and Peru is next!