Book your airline flights on one or two carriers throughout the year and you rack up all sort of frequent flier miles, free companion flights and priority upgrades to first class.
Stay in one hotel chain over 200 nights a year and gain platinum status which allows you to receive automatic upgrades to the best rooms and suites and an obscene amount of bonus points for free nights in any of their properties around the world. And when you book your many rental cars with the same agency and have a clean driving record, they give you free upgrades, lightening-speed check-in, and preferential treatment.
Therefore, it was no surprise when we stopped by the Hertz desk at the Tampa Airport last Wednesday, gave them our name, signed a piece of paper and were told that we had been given an upgrade. The whole process took less than 60 seconds. What did surprise us was when we located our car slot and found a brand new Cadillac DTS (the HUGE model). We burst out laughing and simultaneously said "Seinfeld"!!!
Anyone who has ever lived in Florida can tell you that the "unofficial" state car for the enormous retired population (mostly migrated there from the North) is the Cadillac.......the bigger model the better. Larry David even wrote several episodes of Seinfeld centered around Jerry buying his retired parents in Florida a new Cadillac.
We stood in the parking lot and had a discussion about whether or not to keep the absurdly large and opulent car, but once we opened the doors, we became enticed by the intoxicating new car smell and the luxurious leather seats that wrapped around us like a favorite blanket.
The back seat was the size of our sofa and a flat screen television would have not seemed out of place there. The trunk could outfit a condo-size kitchen, or someone's entire wardrobe. It was just too much to turn down, especially when we were only paying for a "normal" car.
So off we go down the interstate, counting how many similar cars we passed, giving up when the number passed 50. Dennis observed that most of the ladies sitting in the passenger seats all had the same gray or white helmet-style hairdo.
People driving these cars seem to belong to some secret club where the rules require that the members smile, nod or politely gesture to fellow Cadillac drivers. They are a very friendly bunch.
As we made our way down the 2 1/2 hour drive from Tampa to Ft. Meyers on a beautifully clear November afternoon, the bright blues of the sky and water glistening off the flawless silver Cadillac exterior, we felt warmly welcomed into Florida's oldest club.
