In the city by the Bay.

Tampa Bay, that is.

Before our upcoming Disney debacle, we needed to spend a few days in Tampa for some work related activities for Brian. He's in sales and has a few customers that like to see his smiling face every once in a while, so, because he's a friendly guy, we had to leave the house at oh dark thirty on Thursday morning to catch our 6am flight out of MCI.

As usual, the Southwest flight was excellent, and everyone was very gracious and accommodating of this particular disabled flyer. I'm sure my "boarding gift" of a medical letter, thank you card and a box of chocolates for the flight crew don't hurt. I had another opportunity to see my favorite gate agent, Chris, on our way out of town. He's always been especially helpful in getting me where I need to go, and I have gotten to where I look for him every time I am dashing through MCI!

As a disabled pre-board with "invisible disabilities" I have been subjected to many, many dirty looks, snide comments and a few complaints to the flight attendants. Southwest has always had my back on these issues and to those snarky customers I say - "Wanna trade your boarding position B for my broken down, blood clot riddled body, I'll do it right. this. second."

So, we got in the air, on time, had a smooth flight into Tampa and deplaned easily - for what seemed to be an interminable wait at baggage claim. Based on my immediate and intense Mast Cell Activation attack I'd say they have a slight mold problem down there. Half the ceiling tiles were missing and they had air scrubbers mounted around the carousels - fair warning.

Our arrival at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay was smooth, and that hotel is gorgeous. This was our second time staying there, the first was 12 or so years ago, and I didn't remember it very well. Our stay was uneventful, and that's a great thing. They upgraded us to a water view and that was a lovely surprise as we were staying on Hyatt points and just booked the lowest king room they had.

Upon arrival to the room, after only about 4 hours sleep, Brian dropped me to rest and

headed out the door to do the job he's paid for. I got to enjoy watching the clouds come and go over the Bay, a short nap, and some trashy daytime TV. Ah, vacation. Friday was much of the same, also a good thing. It was some good, relaxing down time, that I truly enjoyed.

Hyatt offered us a late checkout on Saturday (yesterday), which we happily took advantage of - as it was my forty-something birthday. We slept in, went out to breakfast, came back to the hotel to pack and headed out for our beach hotel, in a monsoon, at about 1:30pm. Until next time, Tampa. Stay gorgeous!