July 28, 2007 - "Rome-ancing the Mouse Cruisers" -11 days! Part 2

[bellelinus]

The planning has not gotten out of hand. At this point we can just about take the cruise by proxy. We have menus, Navigators, photos on trip reports, we can just ask Sallie to paste us in. It would save a lot of time.
Anyway, I think we'll wait until the ship to have some surprises. But thanks for posting these.

We're going to the Med
Sorry but that's what I'm doing in my kitchen right now. It's getting so real and so close. One week from today we leave for Barcelona.

See you soon,
Sandra

I know Sandra -- this time next week will be in in JFK . . . unbelievable that it is almost here.

 

[caven553]

I am getting a file corruption error on the Guide that was posted on page one. Not sure if it is just my computer or the actual file.

 

[bellelinus]

25 hours...

I was going to wait until I could post 24 - but too excited. I guess I should probably pack tonight

Congrats! You do win the award for first to make it to Barcelona! Packing is probably a good idea in the near future, though . . .

 

[JustJus]

25 hours...

I was going to wait until I could post 24 - but too excited. I guess I should probably pack tonight

What time's your flight?
I think it's fair to say that when you set off we are all (un)officially on holiday!

 

[AnnaS]

Hi everyone,

I am finding it harder and harder to be on-line and keep up with the 10 pages when I sign on.

I literally flew through them.

I think I read that Lisa (disneylover5) is coming. Glad you are still with us.

Sallie, I am so sorry to read about your aunt.

Pipe busting in Manhattan yesterday. Actually saw it on the 10:00 pm news last night - - never a dull moment.

Congratulations to Sandra on the major pirate

T-shirts have arrived. They look great - I don't know about the sizes. I am afraid to try mine on. Looks a bit small. My dh and one of my son's looks huge. My other son's and my dd look good. We shall see. Saturday and Sailway party is the plan to wear them.

Spoke to my aunt in Italy today and advised her that we will be arriving in Palermo on Monday, July 30th. She told me how extremely hot/humid the weather has been lately - suffocating type of weather. As long as we are in an a/c bus and in an a/c restaurant for lunch, it should be okay.

Hopefully will be back on later.

Enjoy!

 

[kidcoos3]

Found this on another thread:

We felt safe everywhere except the Barcelona airport. Both my DH and I had people try to pick pocket us in the revolving doors at the airport. As we walked towards the transfers from baggage, a huge group of people looked to be waiting on arrivals. I took a picture of the mass of people and the Disney transfer people (I later noticed that the woman that tried to get in my bag was in the picture). We waited about an hour at the airport for our transfer before they had us head outside. While we were at the revolving doors, a woman pushed me so hard I nearly lost my footing. I realized she tried to open my camera bag outside pocket (with only autographs books inside). I turned to glare at her and realized her partner in crime had his bag zipped open and tried to get in my dh's backpack which had an empty outside pocket. My husband felt him and quickly pulled the bag off. The transfer lady asked if we'd just been robbed like it was nothing. She said it happens all the time. DS6 loudly asked dh if he had his gun in his pocket (he's a police officer) and would arrest him. I'm sure they went right back inside the airport. On the way home, dh kept his back pack in front of him. I didn't have anything in the outside pocket but autograph books again, but I was pushed again by someone cutting through the line and the zip tie I had on the outside zippers was taken off while I waited in the VAT return line. No wonder so many people there were paying to have their bags saran wrapped! We were telling our stateroom host the story and she said her friend that was also a stateroom host had her purse stolen with her passport, visa and money on her arrival and had to fly back to Thailand to get new ones issued. Mike at DVC said he saw someone's camera get stolen as she took a picture in Rome and his memory card and battery for his camera were stolen on a crammed bus. Please be careful with your valuables. We saw a couple of shady people get rather too close to tourists while on tours, especially the areas a lot of people look up to glance at like churches. Most of these shady people seemed to either talk or pretend to talk on cell phones and had open bags on their side. The only other thing I saw I was dismayed at was a man at the Trevi Fountain had a magnetic expandable baton he was reaching in to grab out Euros. I told him he was stealing wishes but he didn't even flinch and kept doing it. I had my boys throw their coins as far as they could. He must have had 200 in his pocket and none of the nearby police did anything.

Hi everyone,

T-shirts have arrived. They look great - I don't know about the sizes. I am afraid to try mine on. Looks a bit small. My dh and one of my son's looks huge. My other son's and my dd look good. We shall see. Saturday and Sailway party is the plan to wear them.

Spoke to my aunt in Italy today and advised her that we will be arriving in Palermo on Monday, July 30th. She told me how extremely hot/humid the weather has been lately - suffocating type of weather. As long as we are in an a/c bus and in an a/c restaurant for lunch, it should be okay.

Hopefully will be back on later.

Enjoy!

Yuck on the weather - I melt in high temps with humidity (she's melting . . . - Wizard of Oz)

We have late dinner - not sure when to put on the shirts - sailaway party is that night? May bring them with us and put on over our clothes? Any other ideas??

 

[eeyorelvr10]

Hey everybody - just popped in to say

I haven't done ketchup so haven't read anything - but did notice that we went over 1000 pages

We are so TOTALLY COOL!

Anyway, doesn't look like I'll be on for long - DD wants to hit Payless - they had this bag she wants to use for her "bag" - I think she's just finding any excuse not to pack.

Congrats to Caven or whomever is leaving - please check in if you can once in Barcelona to let us know how the flight was. Customs....you know - your turn to be the hottest ticket in town.



Starting to get and at the mere thought of leaving - so much to do and so little time! I can't believe it - it seemed like time was moving at a 's pace and now- its upon us! Don't know whether to or

 

[JustJus]

(closest I could find..)

Who's doing the segway tour in Barcelona?

 

[bellelinus]

Found this on another thread:

We felt safe everywhere except the Barcelona airport. Both my DH and I had people try to pick pocket us in the revolving doors at the airport. As we walked towards the transfers from baggage, a huge group of people looked to be waiting on arrivals. I took a picture of the mass of people and the Disney transfer people (I later noticed that the woman that tried to get in my bag was in the picture). We waited about an hour at the airport for our transfer before they had us head outside. While we were at the revolving doors, a woman pushed me so hard I nearly lost my footing. I realized she tried to open my camera bag outside pocket (with only autographs books inside). I turned to glare at her and realized her partner in crime had his bag zipped open and tried to get in my dh's backpack which had an empty outside pocket. My husband felt him and quickly pulled the bag off. The transfer lady asked if we'd just been robbed like it was nothing. She said it happens all the time. DS6 loudly asked dh if he had his gun in his pocket (he's a police officer) and would arrest him. I'm sure they went right back inside the airport. On the way home, dh kept his back pack in front of him. I didn't have anything in the outside pocket but autograph books again, but I was pushed again by someone cutting through the line and the zip tie I had on the outside zippers was taken off while I waited in the VAT return line. No wonder so many people there were paying to have their bags saran wrapped! We were telling our stateroom host the story and she said her friend that was also a stateroom host had her purse stolen with her passport, visa and money on her arrival and had to fly back to Thailand to get new ones issued. Mike at DVC said he saw someone's camera get stolen as she took a picture in Rome and his memory card and battery for his camera were stolen on a crammed bus. Please be careful with your valuables. We saw a couple of shady people get rather too close to tourists while on tours, especially the areas a lot of people look up to glance at like churches. Most of these shady people seemed to either talk or pretend to talk on cell phones and had open bags on their side. The only other thing I saw I was dismayed at was a man at the Trevi Fountain had a magnetic expandable baton he was reaching in to grab out Euros. I told him he was stealing wishes but he didn't even flinch and kept doing it. I had my boys throw their coins as far as they could. He must have had 200 in his pocket and none of the nearby police did anything.

That's really too bad . . . but forewarned really is forearmed . . .

 

[jlawall]

The old joke I HAVE A POLICE RECORD!

but they let me off with a caution

HAHAHAHAHAHA........

 

[bellelinus]

(closest I could find..)

Who's doing the segway tour in Barcelona?

I'm not, but I did one in Epcot and the Segways are really awesome . . . so much fun.

 

[jlawall]

Could not agree with you more... even if I have starbucks product at home it just isn't the same.

You need to go in for the experience.

My mom and I had Fat Free Lemon Angel Foodcake cupcakes at Starbucks in the Trump Tower in NYC and I think it changed my life.

A tall iced coffee with a splash of milk and 3 splendas has the power to put me in a good mood I blame myself for making my mother an addict as well. You all better hope we find a starbucks before we board the ship or there could be trouble.

Who's getting super excited!!!! It's the home stretch everyone!!!!

This is the blog creator......my DD22 (her Bday is tomorrow).........

 

[danfromca]

Hi everyone,

Jeanne has created the DIS Cruise guidebook for all of us to use on the cruise. (THANK YOU JEANNE! (KYLA) ).

Here is a link to it. It is in Publisher. I could not convert it to Adobe Acrobat, so if someone could do it please (Dan?) Just download it & send to me at maryjomw@yahoo.com, or upload & give us the link.

http://www.maryjomellado.com/DIS.pub

I also put it on the first page so when this post gets lost anyone can find it. Jeanne would like everyone's feedback, please, and let her know any corrections/changes you would like made.[/color]

I'll have to see if I have a copy of Publisher lying around somewhere - I also can't read it as is...

Julie,

I was just reading an article this AM in the NYT in the Business Section about the lousy exchange rate. One tourist in Paris paid 9.5 euros for a can of coke in a cafe and a glass of coke at the hotel bar for 4 euros!!!! All of a sudden, NYC prices don't look so bad!

Maryann

The problem isn't the exchange rate - it's price gouging. Shame on them for the absurd prices. Shame on the tourists for paying and thus allowing it to continue.

Someone suggested that we remember to download the software for our camera so we can download pictures. I have finally got DH to stop packing. He can't find the software disc with the download info on it. so that is his job. It's good we have loads of memory cards that hold thousands of pictures because we probably won't be able to download them until we get home. Of course that was one of the main reasons for buying the laptop in the first place.

Anyway, we can't wait to be away together.

Sandra

You can pick up card readers that plug into a USB port. Just remove the card from your camera and plus it into the reader and it looks like a disk drive. You can then copy the images to your hard drive directly (usually faster than it would be using the camera's cable).

 

[caven553]

What time's your flight?
I think it's fair to say that when you set off we are all (un)officially on holiday!

We head to the airport at 3:00 and the flight leaves at 5:00 (CST US).

We fly overnight to Paris where we spend the week so I think Andrew will actually be the first to Barcelona. We are spending time in Barcelona after the cruise.

NOW I can say 24 hours until I leave the house for Europe!!!

 

[danfromca]

That's too funny! Ritalin is a stimulant in adults but calms down kids with ADD so I suppose caffeine could do the same.

Doctor to parent:

"Yes, I know it will stunt his growth, but it's ok - due to the calming effect he just won't care...."

20 years from now, same conversation:

"No, we don't use caffeine any more - turns out it really does stunt your growth" said the 4'3" doctor. "Now we recommend you just start him out with a brownie laced with pot. That will keep him nice and mellow all day - here's a perscription."

20 years later, same conversation:

"Dude, they used to use pot to calm kids down. Noooo I'm not the doc, I'm the janitor - I just like wearing his clothes. He'll be in soon to do your kid's frontal lobotomy. Don't worry, that will calm him down for sure...."

 

[MrsG]

Jeanne,

The guide book is fantastic!!!

Thank you!!!

Maryann

 

[jlawall]

25 hours...

I was going to wait until I could post 24 - but too excited. I guess I should probably pack tonight

Lucky you, I think you are first to go.......

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Have you packed, Andrew? Didn't forget those Union Jack shorts, now, did you?

Note to others: subtext behind this can be found in a picture on the Aug. 2008 repo thread . . . if it is indeed Andrew and he does indeed wear the shorts, we are in for quite a treat! But personally my hopes are not up . . .

Union jack shorts are packed and we are mostly packed, toning up the ABS now, might take a little time, got all my euros and docs ready to go, so why do I have to work tomorrow

 

[jlawall]

I bought a few more toiletries and medications............I found some rolled Charmin so I guess I won't be stealing it from the stateroom after all!

I'll try to take a picture of it and put it on our blog later.......we're off to the Police concert............happy packing to all!!

 

[bellelinus]

Union jack shorts are packed and we are mostly packed, toning up the ABS now, might take a little time, got all my euros and docs ready to go, so why do I have to work tomorrow

No use bringing the shorts if you don't work on the abs, you know . . .

Come on, you can take ANYTHING for one day!!!!