May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 5

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

[/b]

Since John hates flying, we don't do it often....so I'm not the best person to answer this.....but, they say be there two hours in advance....most people get there one hour in advance. Then it depends on the amount of security and the climate at the time. I would imagine today it would take longer to get thru security than a month ago because of current events.

Maybe it depends on your airport, but I've had a couple of very close calls in Phoenix due to long lines at security and/or check-in. If I don't have to check bags and can go right to the gate I may cut it close to an hour, but if I have to check bags I give myself at least an hour and a half and feel better if I have a little more than that.

Last August when my brother passed away I flew to Michigan. I carried on my stuff and was going to check in at the kiosk BUT when I tried I couldn't and I had to check in at the desk with an agent AND go through the wanding and search of my bags at security. It took forever! I was already a wreck and by the time I got to the gate I was about to lose it from the stress. Later I wondered if the reason I was singled out was because I had bought my ticket just the day before...? Maybe that "flagged" me as suspicious? I'll never know, but that was one of my "very close calls."

I just give myself extra time now, no matter what. In fact, for my flight out to MCO I chose the flight to Denver that gave me 2+ hours between flights instead of the one that gave me 45 min. between flights.

Which reminds me--just last month, my flight from Honolulu to LAX was delayed over 2 hours which meant I missed my connecting flight to Phoenix. Luckily I didn't have to be home by a certain time and the airline gave all of us who were affected (many!) a hotel room in LA and flight out the next day BUT...another example of how things can go.

 

[LisaG520]

Hi I'm back from all my travels - was trying to catch up on all I missed but I think I still have like 30 pages to read so not sure if I'll get a chance.

I also missed Africam for the last 2 weeks.

Hope everyone is doing well and has a Happy 4th!!

 

[gouodux]

We are also back from our trip. Eden, Utah was actually beautiful. We are honestly thinking of buying a vacation home there now. Of course we have lots of photo's, way too tired to tackle right now. The weather was so very nice. Much cooler than Phoenix.

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on June 29th. Didn't do anything special, with being at a family reunion and all. But it was nice that almost all of them were at our wedding and remembered our special day. In September, we celebrate 18 years together - we are getting older as I type.

Hope everyone has a safe 4th of July tomorrow. For us in the Valley of the Sun, projected temperatures tomorrow are between 118 and 120 degrees!!! It is going to be a little warm. Imagine we will be in the pool most of the day. Can't stop thinking about 120 degrees though. We have lived here 10 years this September and I don't think it has ever reached 120. Could be wrong, the Sun and heat have baked our brains!

 

[EllaEnchanted]

We might have overlapped in Bethlehem! We moved in August 1994. Did not do Musikfest that year because of moving to Indiana. We lived near the shopping center with Giant, Wel-Mart and Home Depot as the end and middle stores, on Rt 191. Where did you live? Why the move north?

Jan

It's a small world Jan....we lived right off of Rt. 191 in the Spring Garden Townhouse Apts. for about 4 years until the rents went up past $1,000 a month. Then we moved to Elizabeth St right across from Moravian College and stayed there two years and paid $500 a month for a 3 BR apt. We saved for two years and bought the house that we're in now. We moved North because the housing was a lot less expensive and we have almost 3 acres.

We love Musikfest and try to get there every year. We definitely overlapped for a year.....we moved there in August 1993....it IS a small world!

 

[granmaz]

Happy 4th July to all my new found US friends.

How are the ones of you that are doing DL after the cruise getting there? How many of you will be dressing for all the formal nights?

We are going to DL for 3 or 4 nights. I have just booked the Candy Cane Inn. There is no way I would get John in a tux I'm afraid, but he does have a nice dark suit. I really don't know what I will wear as I don't 'do' dressy very well. I would have loved John to hire a tux, but it was part of the deal to get him on a cruise in the first place as all he could think of was being all dressed up every night!!!

DL after the cruise: possibly, but probably won't decide until the last minute

Dressing: Like Mrs. Mork, you'll probably see the same outfit more than once, and I don't have FORMAL formal evening wear, but I will dress nicer than casual on those nights.

I am sure I will be using the same clothes over and over!!! Mix and match skirts and tops. Thankfully we will be on upgraded flights accross the atlantic so I can bring more clothes!!! Some airlines only allow 1 bag 20Kilo!!!

Hi I'm back from all my travels - was trying to catch up on all I missed but I think I still have like 30 pages to read so not sure if I'll get a chance.

I also missed Africam for the last 2 weeks.

Hope everyone is doing well and has a Happy 4th!!

Welcome back. Let us know where you have been.

We are also back from our trip. Eden, Utah was actually beautiful. We are honestly thinking of buying a vacation home there now. Of course we have lots of photo's, way too tired to tackle right now. The weather was so very nice. Much cooler than Phoenix.

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on June 29th. Didn't do anything special, with being at a family reunion and all. But it was nice that almost all of them were at our wedding and remembered our special day. In September, we celebrate 18 years together - we are getting older as I type.

Hope everyone has a safe 4th of July tomorrow. For us in the Valley of the Sun, projected temperatures tomorrow are between 118 and 120 degrees!!! It is going to be a little warm. Imagine we will be in the pool most of the day. Can't stop thinking about 120 degrees though. We have lived here 10 years this September and I don't think it has ever reached 120. Could be wrong, the Sun and heat have baked our brains!

We have ben in Phoenix in 113 deg, but just can't imagine 120.

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Happy 4th of July....Happy Independence Day....Happy Birthday America!!!!!!!

No offense to our friends across the pond....it was a long time ago....

We have had beautiful weather for over a week, but today it looks like we'll be barbequing in the rain....it's a good thing our porch has a roof over it. Good thing we're not doing fireworks until Friday.

Hope everyone has a great, happy, fun and safe celebration today!

 

[pjpoohbear]

Happy 4th of July

These just made me feel like having a party, hope everyone has a great day!​

 

[ibouncetoo]

Poor Tyler must have seen the telltale signs of my migraine because although I tried my hardest not to let him see how miserable I was, he kept saying, "Lie down Mom, rest your head" and leaning over to kiss my forehead, giving me his stuffed animal, etc. Before we left for the fireworks he said, "Mom, you lie down for a few minutes and I'll get us packed to go" and he got 2 blankets, folded them, got 2 bottles of water and a bag of pretzels to take for a snack, etc. And to think I was wanting to strangle him just last week!

What a sweetie he is!

Hi I'm back from all my travels - was trying to catch up on all I missed but I think I still have like 30 pages to read so not sure if I'll get a chance.

Welcome home!

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on June 29th.

Hope everyone has a safe 4th of July tomorrow. For us in the Valley of the Sun, projected temperatures tomorrow are between 118 and 120 degrees!!! It is going to be a little warm. Imagine we will be in the pool most of the day. Can't stop thinking about 120 degrees though. We have lived here 10 years this September and I don't think it has ever reached 120. Could be wrong, the Sun and heat have baked our brains!

Welcome home and Happy Anniversary!

We made it to 126 degrees once! June 22, 1998. Funny thing,....if you add 6 (June), 22 and '98 it equals 126. Now I'm off to check my facts...in case was Jun 26 of '94 ...... just don't trust my memory when it comes to numbers.....


Hope my little sister wakes up soon....heading over there for a swim before it gets toooooooo hot!

.

 

[woody73]

Yes, we will be dressing for all the formal nights.....do you know how many of them there are? How many semi-formals?

On the Eastbound Panama Canal cruise in '05, we had two formal and two semi-formal nights.

Woody

 

[ibouncetoo]

Phoenix record temp was 122 degrees 6/26/90.

.....see told you I couldn't trust my memory. But the date adds up to the temp!


.

 

[lillygator]

good morning and Happy 4th everyone!

I am off today and John should be home around noon. Fun stuff!

 

[tigger137]

I am having quite a problem organising the flights for this vacation! Too complicated to go into, but we will eventually have to get it sorted and make some decisions.

Marilyn - Have you managed to sort your flights out yet? To answer your earlier question, we are flying out on Wed 7th. Will probably spend the 3 nights at Riverside and catch the DCL bus from there.

I've been reading the discussions about what time we may get off the ship and/or get to LAX. I did a search for info about previous West Coast cruises and couldn't find anything definitive - some people managed to be away early, others late. Which is one of the reasons why we decided to book the direct flight from LAX to Heathrow which doesn't leave until 1800ish. This means we're in no rush to get to the airport.

Flying back to Orlando and then to Manchester would have been much cheaper, even taking into account the cost of the LAX-MCO flights and an overnight at the Hyatt. But it would have cost us another day's leave. And there was so much potential for stress - getting to LAX, having to change planes somewhere because no direct flight that afternoon, arriving in Orlando late at night, then having to check-in again the next day, spend that day/night travelling again, etc etc, and not get home until some 40+ hours after we've left the ship.

I spent an evening working all the figures out and being determined we would do it that way to save the money (it's the Yorkshire in me!). Woke up the following morning and thought, why end what will hopefully be a long and relaxing cruise with the best part of 2 whole days of potentially stressful travelling?

That night we booked the MAN-MCO, LAX-LHR flights - before I could change my mind again!

 

[tigger137]

Sorry, I forgot -

Happy 4th July Everyone!!!

 

[HollyTyler]

Good morning all! Welcome back to everybody who was traveling!

I feel sorry for all of you with those temps way over 100! Yikes! CRIKEY! (We've been watching the Crocodile Hunter movie a bunch--Tyler's first exposure to Steve Irwin).

We had some rain come through overnight and after that my migraine went away. It's crazy, but after somebody at work pointed out to me that some people's migraines are linked to weather, I started keeping track of it and sure enough, when I get a whopper of one, a day or no more than 2 days later there's a change in weather. Crazy, huh?! People have told me the change in pressure in the air does that, sort of like how people with arthritis can tell you a day or 2 ahead of weather change. And my dad's dog used to act squirrelly the day before a storm and the vet said it was the same reason. Strange! But whatever the reason, my migraine is gone!

We slept until 9:30am!!!! Tyler tried waking me up at 6am, but I told him just lie down with me for a minute and fortunately he fell back asleep for 3 1/2 more hours. We never sleep this late!

I asked my doc for muscle relaxers and she told me no since I don't get migraines too often anymore with the stuff I take to prevent them. Bummer. She's never really accepting to anything I say. Usually barely talks to me. Quite often when the appointment is done, she just walks out and it takes me a couple minutes to realize, "Oh, I guess we're done."

Well, the parade starts in an hour, so we're headed out soon! Have a great day everybody!

 

[granmaz]

Marilyn - Have you managed to sort your flights out yet? To answer your earlier question, we are flying out on Wed 7th. Will probably spend the 3 nights at Riverside and catch the DCL bus from there.

I've been reading the discussions about what time we may get off the ship and/or get to LAX. I did a search for info about previous West Coast cruises and couldn't find anything definitive - some people managed to be away early, others late. Which is one of the reasons why we decided to book the direct flight from LAX to Heathrow which doesn't leave until 1800ish. This means we're in no rush to get to the airport.

Flying back to Orlando and then to Manchester would have been much cheaper, even taking into account the cost of the LAX-MCO flights and an overnight at the Hyatt. But it would have cost us another day's leave. And there was so much potential for stress - getting to LAX, having to change planes somewhere because no direct flight that afternoon, arriving in Orlando late at night, then having to check-in again the next day, spend that day/night travelling again, etc etc, and not get home until some 40+ hours after we've left the ship.

I spent an evening working all the figures out and being determined we would do it that way to save the money (it's the Yorkshire in me!). Woke up the following morning and thought, why end what will hopefully be a long and relaxing cruise with the best part of 2 whole days of potentially stressful travelling?

That night we booked the MAN-MCO, LAX-LHR flights - before I could change my mind again!

We had an evening talking about options, then I was awake in the night - I think it just gets my mind working and stressed!

We are spending 3/4 nights in LA, so don't have the same rush as you and a couple of days to play around with flights. I want to book with Virgin Hols so we only have the deposit to pay now but the LAX-LHR don't come out until 28th July!!! We may just do what you are doing and go back to LHR, and then work it so our sales person can see clients in Reading on our arrival day and than pick us up!!! A taxi from Heatrow back to Harrogate costs around £270!! Tempting though.

Otherwise the Delta flight is 10.40am to MCO Wed or Thurs, and we spend 1 or 2 nights in Orlando before flying back to Manchester.

Actually there isn't much in the pricing from what I can work out. John isn't too keen on flying into Heathrow because there are always problems of one sort or another.

I never thought it would be so complicated.

Oh, and we may stay at POFQ before the cruise, so might see you!

 

[tigger137]

Are we going to be the only ones going straight home?!

No you're not, we have to head straight home too. We won't get home until Monday and will take Tuesday to try and overcome the jet lag, back to work on Wednesday after a full 3 weeks off.

 

[tigger137]

I want to book with Virgin Hols so we only have the deposit to pay now but the LAX-LHR don't come out until 28th July!!!

Actually there isn't much in the pricing from what I can work out. John isn't too keen on flying into Heathrow because there are always problems of one sort or another.

I didn't realise you could book just flights with Virgin Holidays, I thought the minimum was a fly-drive. It would have been better for us too, with only the deposit to pay plus we would've got the 10% discount.

I'd been checking the Virgin Atlantic website for months trying to gauge what the price would be and when it eventually came available it was a little more than expected. But we decided it probably wouldn't come down again, in fact may well go up, so we took the plunge and booked.

For flight only, the difference in price between MAN-MCO-MAN, and MAN-MCO, LAX-LHR was considerable - about £550 each. If we had the time to spare then we would have done it, as the difference would have paid for our flights and a few nights in Orlando.

Having to go to work to fund our vacations really is a nuisance!

 

[granmaz]

I think you are supposed to have car hire or some accommodation, but I get the idea you can just not collect the car. I asked over on the UK forum and it seems many do this. I did phone up VH about accommodation. We only want the 3/4 nights in Disney prior to the cruise and their rule is a minimum of 5 nights! Silly as now I won't book with them so they lose some money.

At least you are booked and can settle down and plan, dream, relax!

If we went MAN - MCO - MAN I was tempted to wait till Christmas for a seat sale, but of course it is Spring Bank Holiday so seats may sell out before then!

 

[woody73]

Having to go to work to fund our vacations really is a nuisance!

I agree!

Woody

 

[milestogo]

Happy Fourth everyone - nice day here on the coastline in Southern CA, but very hot just a little bit inland - DL is about 15 min. away and it is 15 degrees hotter. have a great day.