"Pay It Forward"

I recently returned from an abbreviated cruise in the Bahamas as the recent blizzard in the Northeast cancelled my original plane flight from Boston to Miami. I had to take a later plane flight and instead of meeting the cruise ship in Miami I ended up having to board the cruise in Nassau two days later. To meet the boat in Nassau I had to book an additional flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau and spend the night in the Ft. Lauderdale airport. I did find a leather couch in the airport to sleep on but for some reason I didn't get a real good night's sleep that night. I guess the constant announcements in the airport terminal about the TSA safety reminders about reporting suspicious behavior and keeping track of your luggage are not the most soothing lullaby music. Plus, I didn't want to fall into a "deep sleep" and risk the chance of someone walking away with my luggage and cameras. With an 8:00 am flight to Nassau I didn't think it was worth getting a room somewhere and I wasn't the only one spending the night in the airport so it was somewhat like "camping out".

On my flight from Philadelphia to Miami I was in the first class section and enjoyed a few Becks beers in addition to a "Comfy seat". I sat next to a young man named Brian who was lives in the Miami area. He goes to college and is studying medicine and also promotes "Hip Hop" artists in Miami area night clubs. Brian and his family had a family reunion in Austria over the Christmas season. Brian was telling me that he and his mom were stranded in Philadelphia for a night. His mom is a nurse and is affiliated with the US Army. Brian said that he and his mom were going to spend the night in a USO room at the airport but they met someone at the USO room who received a hotel room and offered to share the room with his mom and him.

As it turned out, Brian's mom's luggage was sent to Ft. Lauderdale and she was on a different flight to Miami. Brian had his girl friend meet him and his mom at the Miami airport and offered me a ride to the Ft. Lauderdale airport as they were going there to pick up his mom's luggage. So, I ended up with a ride to Ft. Lauderdale which was fortunate as I didn't have any previous plans on how I was going to get to that airport. I was the recipient of a "pay it forward "good deed with the airport ride from Brian and his mom who in turn received motel lodging from a stranger the night before.