I don’t know what I was thinking, but I booked a flight into Ft. Lauderdale on 3/17, landing at 9 pm. Every hotel room around the airport is either booked, or way out of my price range. I’m just looking for a clean, quiet place to sleep, maybe a complimentary airport shuttle, but I don’t want to spend $250 for a sleep.
I’d normally rent a car and go to a cheaper area, but I don’t know the area at all and I’m getting picked up the next day (to go to the Keys) and I’d like to avoid the hassle of renting a car.
At this point I’m considering staying at the airport (is that even allowed?) for the night; this is stressing me out way more than necessary.
Any creative ideas? Are there nice hotels (reasonable - ~$100 or so; taxi ride is OK if it is <$40) near the Interstate or any nearby nicer areas?
I don’t know your comfort level with strangers, but there are a few sites online for renting a couch in a family home.
I have never used that type of service myself. Last time I moved I contacted a person on craigslist that was seeking a roommate, and paid to sleep on the floor in an empty room for 3 days untill I found a studio I could afford.
You’ve got a pretty long drive in the morning to get to Key West, you ccould stay up most of the night at the airport (walking around, eating, drinking, nodding off, surfing etc. go outside and marvel at the humidity and greeness) Just sleep on the way down. What time is your ride picking you up?
Look west along 595…your ride is almost certainly going to head out to 75 South and take the FL Turnpike extension to the Keys, so it’s a quick hop off/on 595 to pick you up.
A cursory glance on Google maps shows two La Quinta hotels - one in Plantation and one in Sunrise for ~$100. Both within 15 min of the airport without traffic, so the cab shouldn’t hurt too bad either.
There’s no reason to stay near the airport. There isn’t that much around there.
You either want to go towards the beach, which will be expensive during Spring Break, or out west as **Mixolydian **suggests. If you find something in Plantation or Davie, you’re close to I-595, which is the same highway the airport is on. And Plantation and Davie are mostly nice areas.
You could go south on I-95 towards Hollywood, or north on I-95 towards the rest of Fort Lauderdale.
I’d say do a search for hotels within 15 miles or so. Then PM me with what you find. I’ll tell you if it’s in a decent area. Depending on where it is, I might even be able to do a drive by for you.
We have taxis…and a half-way decent bus system…in case you end up with something that doesn’t have a shuttle.
I don’t think you’d get away with staying at the airport. FLL mostly shuts down at night. Then again, I’ve never tried.
-D/a
SubaRhubarb -Thanks for the suggestion. I’m a bit weirded out by staying with strangers - I don’t even like staying with people I know!
SmellMyWort - I had considered both those places, but after reading some of the reviews on those particular hotels, I decided to pass. I’m no princess (some of the places I’ve stayed at for work are dodgy), but for a woman traveling alone, getting into a place after dark is scary enough without staying in seedy places.
chela -I’m leaning towards hanging at the airport, if they’ll let me. I found a site www.sleepinginairports.net/ and it looks do-able.
Thank you also, Mixolydian and Digital is the new Analog. I will lokk around some of those areas and see if I like anything. I’m leaning a little bit towards staying at the airport now, because I have a very short time (33 minutes) between connecting flights and I am thinking now that making reservations are not a good idea since there is a fairly high chance of me being late.
Yeah, I read that and I’m a freeze baby anyway. I probably won’t actually ‘sleep’, as I cannot sleep sitting up and going down on the floor sounds oogie. I’ll have my Kindle and will probably spend the night reading.
I’ve looked at some of the hotels in the Plantation/Davie area (as mentioned above) and might book something there, but staying in the airport sounds like fun.
The floor at FLL is carpet…but not thick.
Will you have luggage with you? You need to think about how to secure it. Not that I expect anything bad to happen at the airport…but it’s something to consider if you decide to try to sleep.
-D/a
FLL is not a fun airport to hang out in, even if they will let you stay there. I have family in the area, so I’ve been down there about half a billion times. I’d go more toward Hollywood myself; it’s quieter and likely cheaper. We stayed at the Hollywood Beach Golf Resort, which, although it’s in the middle of a golf course, isn’t really so resort-y; there are only about 20 rooms in the hotel, and not really a full-time front desk (though there is a restaurant), so you’re not paying for half a billion amenities that you won’t use. It’s not far from the airport, and it’s not crazy-expensive; it’s without reach of your combined hotel + taxi budget. Plus you will wake up to a quiet golf course with birds. Not fancy, but clean and very civilized.
I travel with only a acrry on. I read that the airport has storage lockers, so I could do that. I am really leaning towards staying at the airport, bu the Hollywood Beach Golf Resort looks good - thanks Eva Luna!
I can’t remember seeing a storage locker there. In fact, I assumed (but didn’t check, and could easily be wrong!) after 9/11 that providing a mechanism for leaving luggage unattended would be frowned upon. Maybe there is something still behind security, since all the bags have been screened at least. But that means you wouldn’t be able to get at it, if you have to be on the other side of security.
There may be a contact e-mail address or phone number for the airport…it might be worth double checking this piece, if it matters to you.
-D/a
The sleepinginairports.net page says “Luggage Storage is available in Terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4.” at Ft Lauderdale airport. I booked a room at the resort Eva Luna posted about above, but I might cancel. It is good to have a back-up.
That really surprises me. The top three hits on Google when I search for “fort lauderdale airport lockers” say there are no lockers…one of those is from cruisecritics, which tends to know the ins and outs of travelling.
I found this e-mail for the airport: ContactFLL@Broward.org. I’d want to get a definitive answer from them before counting on it.
I did poke around for hotels, and the ~$120 range is the best I could find for something halfway decent, with an airport shuttle. The place Eva Luna shows that as the price as well. It’s a good choice.
-D/a
Not fancy, but clean and very civilized.