Mark, I do recall your hassles getting to Montreal; now they want you to pay more for fewer choices?

To get good flights without excessive connections/stops and to avoid long layovers, we rent a car and willingly drive to any airport in south Florida that gets us good flights. Sarasota/Bradenton isn't one of Regent's gateways, so we have to get a ride or drive to Tampa or Ft. Myers anyway; each is a little over an hour from home. To get good flights, we're willing to drive further, to Orlando (MCO +1½ hrs.), Ft. Lauderdale (+2 hrs.) or Miami (+2½ hrs.) The rental car costs the same - $40-$65 for a one day, one way rental - so the only extra is the gas cost and the added time to get there. Don't know how far you are from Atlanta or Dallas/Ft. Worth, but you can certainly get a lot more flexibility in flights and connections originating from either of them, and save yourselves a big part of the $398 up-charge per trip to boot. Check it out.

Editing to add: I bought the same super-zoom camera you did, the Canon SX230. I was up in the air between the Nikon S9100 and the Canon, but on Black Friday Amazon made me an offer ($50 off) the already-on-sale $199 price I couldn't refuse, so I got it for a buck and a half. No tax and even got free shipping. A bit small for my paws, but it really takes great pictures. Now I have to learn how to use it before our Voyager cruise in March-April (where we fly to and from MCO going on Air France via Paris to Dubai and back from Istanbul on Delta to MCO via JFK - just one stop and short layover each way).