9/24/09 3 Day Wonder - Cruise Meets, and FEs, and Goombays oh my!

[karentan]

yeah i'm back at home now really tired (not been sleeping too well as its been so darn hot at night), i know orlando is going to probably be as hot, but yesterday was 98 degrees in the shade.....
we got pizza on the way home and are just sat watching family guy. i wish i was back in spain, its back to the reality of trying to find a new job now.

but i bought back the rest of what i need for my FE gifts from spain (managed to find what i need over there, couldnt get it here!) so that'll probably keep my mind busy and take my mind off work (or lack thereof) for a while.

i'm going to go see harry potter at some point this week too.

 

[karentan]

not sure if this is of any interest to you guys doing the stingray thing on CC:
http://www.disunplugged.com/2009/07/13/dcl-castaway-rays-stingray-adventure-review/#more-3556

 

[jenny105]

It's been really hot here too lately. We have central air but it doesn't circulate too well upstairs so I wake up sweaty and uncomfortable in the middle of the night. Ick.

Good luck with job hunting. I'm sure you'll find something. Just try to enjoy the time off you have right now and keep yourself busy so you don't have time to stress over it too much. And remember our trip is right around the corner.

I read the stingray article. I'm not too worried about the snorkeling part because we booked it as part of the getaway package. We're going to be snorkeling all day so no big deal if a stingray doesn't come up to me while I'm doing that. I'm just interested in the feeding part.

I saw this stingray at an aquarium in Connecticut. It was like the size of coffee table. I didn't know they could get that big! They had to hand feed it because all the smaller stingrays were sucking up the food before the big one could get to it. It was crazy!

 

[m_kasch]

I fed the Stingrays at the Aquarium restaurant in Nashville, it was really cool! I read some of the responses to the story, and it seems to be hit or miss...either there are tons of stingrays around the snorkeling or not. But we'll be snorkeling during the rest of the day, and possibly at Atlantis the day before...so, no worries!!

Jen, Southwest doesn't fly out of Newark. They fly out of Long Island and La Guardia (or however you spell that). I love Southwest!!

The concert last night was really fun!! We had pretty good seats, they were on the field in the 20th row...pretty good!! I love Rascal Flatts concerts, they are always good times.

 

[disney honeymooners]

we are flying airtran i have flown to Orlando with airtran almost everytime and i havent had a problem they haven changed our flight times sofar on any flights we have had with them i have flown with delta 2 times to Orlando and will not do that again the flight was supposed to leave at about 7:45 we didnt leave til well after midnight and didnt get to the GF til about 2am bc the plane got to ATL around midnight but the pilots were over their max amount of flying hours so we had to wait on new ones(this was when i had the fly so by this point i just wanted some nyquil and a bed) and the other time we flew on delta we couldnt fly all at teh same time but we were using buddy passes and that i can understand bc you are considered standby. greg and i have an 8:45am flight out on the 20th and we are planning on upgrading to business class(airtrans first class) it will be about the same as having to pay to get our bags checked(since they dont charge business class guests for their first 2 bags this explains why the last time i flew with them i didnt have to pay to check my bags like everyone else)

greg isnt too happy about the fact that the airport requires you to get there 2 hours before the flight to check in which means getting up at 6am(luckily we are right next to the airport so it isnt earlier but it will take me at least 20min to WAKE HIM UP!!)
karen i hope you had a great time in Spain it does seem like you just left it seems like it was over realy soon.

 

[karentan]

our outbound flight is at 9am, as its an international flight we've gotta be there 3 hours early. we're staying at a hotel near the airport the night before, and there are buses, but i dont know what time they run, and at that time in the morning they only run every 45 minutes, so we've gotta be up at 4am on out flight day we're going to be like the walking dead when we get to orlando, its going to be a VERY long day!!

 

[jenny105]

Guess I'll be the only one driving unless airfare drops ridiculously low in the next two months. I flew out last year for $130 round trip. Now it's about double that price, plus baggage fees and then paying for the cruise transportation. Flying became more of a pain then ever.

I did just get my airfare for my Universal fam but I didn't have to pay for that!

 

[karentan]

you must be getting really excited now that you get to go to florida twice!!

i went into town to the jobcentre earlier and theres pretty much no good jobs out there. i'm going to the employment agencies tomorrow to see if i have more luck there, i think i'm going to have to get any job just for a bit of money, but i'm hoping i can get something even semi decent.

i've been looking at possibly going to a gig while we're out in orlando, but cant get over the ridiculous fees that ticketmaster charge!! the face value of the tickets are $36, ticketmaster add another $24 in fees to that!! neither me or gary have ever been to a concert/gig, so we're thinking it may be fun to go! we were looking at secondhand serenade at house of blues, but i've just found out that disney on ice is at amway arena the day after we get there. might be tempted by that instead!

 

[jenny105]

Good luck, Karen! I'm sure you'll find something, it may just take some time.

I hate Ticketmaster. Loathe it. Their service fees are INSANE. It tacks on so much extra money and for what I don't even know. If they aren't printing and shipping the tickets, what are they charging a fee for exactly??

 

[karentan]

yeah my point exactly. they add on convenience fees, admin fees, and i really dont see why i should have to pay them $2.50 for the (not very) convenience of having to pick up tickets at will call. why do i have to pay for something that theres no way of avoiding.

the job thing is really playing on my mind at the mo, i should get paid next wednesday, i'm not very hopeful that my ex boss will keep her word and pay me til the end of the month plus my holiday pay owed. if she does, there wont be a problem as that money will keep me going for a while. but i'm not counting on her doing that, i've figured out how much i'm legally owed (my outstanding holiday pay, and my pay up until i actually left). as long as she pays me that i wont have a problem, but i get the really strong idea that she wont pay me what i'm owed and i'll have to argue it.
i'm relying on my holiday pay to finish paying off the balance of the holiday so i need her to pay me properly. but i guess i'll find out next week.
i really need this holiday now, its one of the only things keeping me going at the mo

 

[jenny105]

I really hope you get paid what your owed Karen and that you don't have to fight them on it. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[m_kasch]

Good luck, Karen!! I hope you find a great new job where they treat you better than your old one, and that your old job pays you what they owe you!!

65 days to the cruise, yay!! I got a bunch of Disney gift cards for my Birthday, so i'm going to use those to pay for the Castaway Cay massage. I bought some mini DVDs for our camera last weekend, but then when I got home I realized that we still had a bunch of blank ones...so now I have 8 1/2 hours worth of DVDs for the trip. Hopefully, that will be enough, LOL!! Tim thinks i'm crazy.....

 

[karentan]

lol, guessing you'll be taping everything then!! lol

i've gotta drop gary off at work tomorrow because he's getting a company car, so he's gotta be able to get there to go pick it up. its about an hours drive away but i might go see harry potter on the way back! its £7.30 (for a cheap seat) at the cinema in town, but £5.30 in the one at the mall about 45 mins drive away. i'm not too far away from there when i drop gary off so might pop in for a look around on the way back

 

[m_kasch]

I just might be taping everything...better be on your best behavior, LOL!! Since i've never been on the cruise before, I'm sure I will be taping lots!!

I'm so tired this afternoon, and I have to go to Tim's parents after work for my birthday dinner. Minnie got dropped off there this morning when Tim was on his way to work, she gets sooooooooooooooo spoiled by my MIL when she is there!! It's her only grandchild, LOL!!

I just ordered some Safe Sea sunblock to use when we are snorkeling on the curise. It's supposed to keep you from getting stung by jellyfish, it gets good reviews. Hopefully, we won't really need it, but better safe than sorry!! It just makes me happy to buy stuff for the trip.....

 

[jenny105]

Oh no, Mary is going to blackmail us all! Lol, just promise you won't post anything on youtube!

I've never heard of SafeSea sunblock. I'll have to look into that. Is there a jellyfish problem on Castaway Cay?

 

[karentan]

yeah we'd better watch what we get up to, we dont want any dodgy videos hitting the net!

 

[m_kasch]

That's right, I need many Goombay Smashes or whatever that was called, or you will see yourself all over YouTube!! LOL!!

I don't think there is a Jellyfish problem on Castaway Cay. But there are probably some...especially snorkeling off the adult beach. I would rather be safe than sorry...and, truthfully, I just like to have an excuse to order things for vacation!! Haha!!

You can go to buysafesea.com to find the stuff.

 

[jenny105]

Thanks! I'll have to look into that. I've heard horror stories of some people coming out of the water there with rashes and bites.

 

[karentan]

i ended up with a slight rash on my arm after CC last time, nothing that cortisone cream couldnt clear though. best to be safe than sorry.

gary got his company car earlier and true to form, he's gone out to wash it because apparently the alloy wheels are filthy. i swear he's OCD about car cleaning!

 

[jenny105]

Guys are obsessed with cars! My friend Alex's car is immaculate and still has that new car smell. He's had it for more than a year.

I'll probably get a bottle of that sunblock and probably the sunburn spray they sell too. Joe tends not to wear any sunblock. I want to get at least SPF 30 and he says 15 is the limit. He's nuts.

I need sunblock for my face. I won't put the regular stuff on because it will make me break out. I have it built into my makeup but that's not good enough. I went to the beach this past week and now my face is peeling.