So the sad day has arrived. The day when the poor schlubs tramp off of the ship passing the lucky ducks who are getting onto the ship. I have to say I much prefer the embarkation to debarkation.
Add to this I'm starting to stress out about our upcoming date when we have to be out of the house (which is the following Tuesday), and we aren't even supposed to get home until Saturday afternoon!
Oh, today is Friday, July 15th. Dw didn't sleep much overnight...her headache never really let up. I don't recall having that issue...and as she didn't write it in her journal I wouldn't know...so we will go with the thought that clearly I slept like a rock. ha!
We chose to not have breakfast with our servers as we would have to get up and eat at 6:45am. Yikes! Instead we set our alarm for 7:15. I know, I know 30 minutes ain't much....but in my world it's a lot! I'm a sleeper!
We packed up the few remaining things and headed up to Cabanas for our last supper...er I mean Breakfast. Sad. Very sad. Even more sad was the fact that I couldn't have Eggs Benedict like I had been eating all week (along with my bacon dipped in syrup. yum!
We were told by our servers that apparently they don't do eggs benedict because US regulations require a certain temperature of the hollandaise sauce...which apparently is difficult at best to do with the number or servings they do on the ship. thanks government! messing with my breakfast. I ate it all week and didn't get sick...but I'm sure when the ship is in port suddenly I'm going to get sick when it's prepared and served in exactly the same way. Sheesh...and we wonder why none of the ships register in the USA! Crazy. But I digress.
Connor gets one last breakfast
So does Nick.
After Breakfast we did our traditional hang on to the memories walk around the ship. We like to take pictures at this point, as no one is around but you can still go most anywhere.
it's weird..."mine, mine, mine" comes to mind when I see this picture even though it was not the pelican that was saying it!
Then they both wanted a shot by themselves
and again...
brings that beach feeling to it doesn't it?
One last drink..
A shot down at deck 4. This is a cool spot to stand as long as you are not afraid of heights. DW didn't enjoy it...but she did stand there at least once!
And the eateries
Then alas it was time to go. As we didn't have anything other than our carryons it was right off the ship...
*sigh*
Bye Mickey!
We blew through customs in no time and were at the curb waiting for the Budget bus by 8:40. Nice! The budget bus took about 15 minutes...we grabbed our car (a huge black SUV. We felt like the Secret Service). And headed toward Orlando. Our plan was to stay overnight near the airport (Residence Inn, free breakfast buffet! nice!).
Bye Ship!
However, as I mentioned I was starting to get stressed out by the amount of time we had left to load our last container. The people buying our house were not flexible at all...so we had not wiggle room. We talked about it and decided to try to get an earlier flight back for me. Paying one change fee was worth it we figured. So I started calling and got on a flight around noon.
Dw dropped me off a little before 10, I ran through, hopped on my plane and gained about a full day to help pack. Boy did we need it, but more on that later.
DW and the boys went and tried to check in. Their room was not available, though, so they headed to Downtown Disney. DW in one of her driving glory days missed the toll...and went through the Sunpass lane. As all of you whiners (and you know who you are) know, it's been quite a long time since the cruise...we have yet to get the bill for that toll. I kinda wonder if Florida just writes those off figuring the tourists are just going to have that happen sometimes. Thanks Florida!
They headed for World of Disney and the kids marched around doing pin trading. Always good. Connor stumbled upon a hat that he really wanted...it was $23. Ouch. but Nick in his deal searching fashion found the same hat for $9.95. Not sure why or how...but he is good at that.
While cruising Downtown Disney Connor decided he wanted to make a shirt so they went into "The Art of Disney". He did his thing and an hour later it was done. Pretty cool stuff. Not cheap...but as I like to say...once you cross under the sign that says "Walt Disney World" a vacuum attaches to your wallet anyway...not much you can do about that!
They decided to go gourmet for lunch...at Mcdonalds. OK, I admit we are a pretty boring family sometimes. We like McDonalds. Not all the time...but sometimes it's just good!
The room should be ready so they headed back to the hotel. DW managed to hit all the tolls correctly and they checked in. Time to just be lazy for a while as the boys didn't want to swim...until a little while later when Kaboom! A big thunder and lightning storm. Uh, no pool
The lobby had happy hour so they went down to get some cheese and drinks. Who says the eating stops when you get off the boat??
They took the car to fill it up with gas, grabbed milkshakes and mcflurries (yup, McDonalds again, see what happens when I'm gone???), drop the car and catch the shuttle to the hotel. Quick showers...pop some popcorn (Connor's favorite thing), and into bed. for 6am...she comes early!
Meanwhile, back in New Hampshire I'm loading our second container like a madman. Eyeballing all the things left to load into the container and shaking my head. Not looking good. Not looking good at all. Saturday I went and picked everyone up...back to the house for more loading. And more loading.
The pile of stuff to load doesn't seem to shrink. Kind of weird. By now we have a pretty decent pile of stuff that needs to go to the dump. By now we are looking at each other shaking our heads. We need to figure out what to do. We can get another POD...but probably not enough time and every expensive.
Then we talk about the only real option open to us...rent a trailer and drive across the country. Yikes! Our cars were due to be picked up Monday. If we cancelled one of the cars and rented a trailer we would likely break even on that. My head is throbbing at this point...the thought of driving all the way doesn't excite me all that much. (DW, by the way, never offered to drive. Can you believe that????
).
So the decision is made. We contact the UHaul place where we had gotten many of our packing supplies and I went to get the trailer. I think the first one was 5X8. Nick went with me. While driving Nick says "hey Dad, why don't I go with you?". Aw...shucks. Who would figure he would offer that.
I arrived at home...we eyeballed the 5X8 trailer...yeah...that just isn't going to do it. Called the UHaul place. They had a 6X12...the guy even said he would give it to me at the same price. Nice! Drove back down and picked it up...got it home...yup, much better.
Dw and I discussed Nick going with me. I told him it would be really boring...tons of driving, but he was onboard. I also started thinking about all that driving...yuck. All I have is regular radio too. So we go to Best Buy and buy one of those cords that allows you to play our ipod through a radio station.
But then another idea dawns on me. I *do* have XM radio on my truck...I just don't have it activated. I'm thinking I can pay for one month so we can have it for the drive. I call up...and a bit of pixie dust comes my way! I'm talking to the XM guy...and he puts me on hold. He comes back and says "that radio was never activated...so you get a 3 month free trial!" No way! that stuff doesn't happen to me. How cool is that!!
We mapped out our trek...the plan was to drive to Buffalo on Tuesday (leaving after we close), friends will get DW to the airport to fly (yeah...fly). Then we would get up, drive to Niagara Falls (I figure we might as well see at least something while we are driving across the country), and then drive to my Sister's house.
Then we head to Nebraska (I believe it was North Platte), then Salt Lake City, and then home. So it was quite the trek. A lot of driving on Interstate 80. Pretty funny when you have your GPS going and it says 2,000 miles to go.
Nick and I at Niagra Falls
there is the truck and the trailer.
Note that we even had stuff in the back of the truck. So we had to buy a bunch of bicycle locks to lock everything in the truck...we didn't have anywhere to put it.
Oh, and we delivered a piece of furniture to my sister that we had been storing for years. So we accomplished a lot.
Nick and I both got to love Blue Collar Radio. The jokes are not appropriate for someone Nick's age...but what it did allow for was a really good discussion about the birds and the bees. We covered alot of territory...literally and figuratively! The worst part of the trip was coming into California where I could only go 55MPH. Across most of the country I was going about 80. At one point I did the math on that. If I had gone 55 the whole way across it would have been something like 2 more days.
Only two really scary times...the first was the first night as we didn't get to Buffalo until around 2am. I was quite tired and afraid I would fall asleep. Luckily I didn't. Oh, but our stay there sucked...the room was so humid that it was like sleeping in soup. The Marriott gave me a nice bunch of Marriott Rewards points for that one!
The Second scary time was outside Salt Lake City when a truck came flying by the side of me and pushed us over with the wind. That was the only time I thought I might lose control...I didn't (as you can see I'm still here), but it was pretty freaky.
The great Salt Lake was cool...especially the areas along the road which actually looked like snow. There were lots of tire tracks so apparently others thought it would be cool to go 4 wheel driving in it!
And thus ends the trip of a lifetime. It was a great trip...but I know never to take a trip and move at the same time. next time I'll cancel as I definitely didn't get as much enjoyment out of it as I would have liked. The drive across the country was fun but I never want to do it again. Some people are made for long haul driving....I'm not one of them. And I have nothing but respect for the truckers that do it every day. Holy cow.
We hope to go on a cruise again soon, not sure when that will be however. Let me know if you have any more questions for me...otherwise this is me signing off! thanks for being a good audience and for your patience!
Until next time...
DZ
I accidently
clicked on the TR link for the trip prior to this one. It wouldn't have been so bad had I been home and able to read through on the computer, but I was on the train using my phone. Of course I had to read the whole thing straight through.
Now I can't see without seeing in triplicate.
In additition I may be going to the bone doctor to have my fingers looked at from punching those microscopic page numbers on the phone...I have BIG hands and fingers so it took multiple attempts. Don't be surprised if that bill follows.
I was so ready to move our reservation esp since this last trip bumped us up to Gold status, but no go. Now I'll be waiting for them to release Fall 2013 to see if anything gets better.
Just kidding....I really enjoyed your TR.
Maybe he'll even do a comparing TR...the possibilities are endless!
Do they know you write? It must be odd being in a family of folks who's native language is different. I realize you speak some...but still that must be odd at times. But how cool to be completely immersed in a different culture like you are. I'll be there are a ton of things you miss about being in the states all the time...but if you move back there will be a ton you miss about Tokyo!
