NMAmy
Can speak food in German
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2000
- Messages
- 15,229
Arrival Day 2/27
Cast:
Alex-DH and stepfather to:
Caitlin-DD, 13
and me, Amy, official trip planner
We were leaving on Friday and of course, I woke up Thursday morning with a terrible earache in both ears and a sore throat. I went to work, then called my doctor. Bless her heartI called over thinking thered be no way she could get me in and the office assistant simply asked, How soon can you get here? I made it in 15 minutes flat, waited about 5 minutes, then I was in her office. Ten minutes later, I was out the doorthe proud owner of a prescription for the Z-Pack. Woo hoo! I LOVE my doctor! I made it back to the office less than an hour after I left in mid-morning traffic, no less. And lo and behold, I got my same parking space. Believe me, this is equivalent to winning the lottery!
Friday morning, I was still feeling pretty badly so I went home at 9:30 a.m. when one of my staff arrived. Alex, the smart one, had thought Id told him to take the whole day off (our flight didnt leave till 5:00 p.m.) and had the laundry all finished up when I got there. Thank God he doesn't listen to me all that closely. We finished packing, made it to the airport, and had an uneventful tripexcept for the fact that I was whining about my ears the entire flight. Wow, those changes in air pressure hurt! I took a pill for my back (it really hurts when I have to sit still for long periods of time) and relaxed enough to stop bugging Alex.
Now there is one thing I want to say about the Cincinnati airport. Ive flown through this airport several times recently and this airport seems to have the biggest population of annoying people Ive ever seen! If youre riding on the moving walkway and you dont want to actually WALK, please move the heck to the side. Dont gather all your children and luggage into a big pile in the middle of the walkway and just camp out there so no one can go around you. I got stuck behind a man who was dawdling along, talking on his cell phone with his suitcase taking up all the space and teasing me by walking about one step every 30 seconds. Alex got between us as he could tell I was seriously ready to just knock this guy out of my way and he didnt want me to start my vacation in a Cincinnati jail. Hes kind to me that way.
We were meeting Caitlin at the Orlando airport. I wrote a pre-trip report a week or so ago and explained that shes been staying with her dad since Christmas and it's been very traumatic for all of us. I got to baggage claim and pretty much ignored our Tiffany Town Car driver while I looked for her. I called her cell phone and told them where we were. It was so exciting when she came through that door. Wow, Ive missed my baby -- She and I were just all huggy and lovey the whole way to the hotel. Thats saying something with a 13 year old! Half the time, she wont let me kiss her when shes in her bedroom with the curtains closed, much less in a crowded airport. Finally got our luggage around and dragged all our stuff and Caitlins out to our shiny Town Car. The driver was very nice, but I dont recall his name. It was colder in Orlando then when wed left Michigan! Sheesh. The driver kept apologizing for the weather although I really didnt hold him personally responsible. People in Florida seem to feel that they are obligated to provide tourists with lovely weather. We got a lot of apologies over the next day! People are so nice at Disney World.
We made it to the Dolphin and were very efficiently checked in. I had requested a smoking room for Alex with two double beds. We were assigned 9075 East. We found the correct elevator bankthe Dolphin has a very impressive lobby with a lot of elevators. Weve always stayed at All Star Movies and I had a heck of a time convincing Caitlin that we should try somewhere new. Lets just say she was very favorably impressed with this place. She leaned over and whispered to me, Were staying HERE? The ninth floor has not been renovated yetbut our room was just fine. Caitlin loved the hallways with the murals on the walls, the room doors that look like cabanas, and the beach towels and beach balls on the carpeting. She and Alex devised a game for the duration of our staythe rules grew more convoluted every time they went into the hallway so I stopped playing. You could only walk on the beach towels, not the beach balls. Only one step on each towel. Then it became something with walking backwards every other towel and not stepping on the fringe and I gave upI was on vacation, for goodness sake!
I opened the curtains to see the view and whoa---there was a balcony out there! We had a great view of the Boardwalk. We arrived around 10:30 p.m. so it wasnt till the next morning that I realized something else about our view. Caitlin went out on the balcony while I was dressing and I heard her say, I see France. I checked to make sure my underwear wasnt showing, then said Umm do you see London, too? She said, No, come look. And, hey, you could see the Eiffel Tower from here. And at night we could sit on the balcony or lie in bed (we got lazier as time went on) and watch the fireworks from Illuminations. Well worth the investment in my little SPG card. We had the government rate of $129 per night and only a few points, but they took good care of us. I got a balcony without requesting it.
We were all pretty excited but went to sleep so we could do EE (excuse me, EMH) at MGM tomorrow morning and we met someone famous while we were there.
Cast:
Alex-DH and stepfather to:
Caitlin-DD, 13
and me, Amy, official trip planner
We were leaving on Friday and of course, I woke up Thursday morning with a terrible earache in both ears and a sore throat. I went to work, then called my doctor. Bless her heartI called over thinking thered be no way she could get me in and the office assistant simply asked, How soon can you get here? I made it in 15 minutes flat, waited about 5 minutes, then I was in her office. Ten minutes later, I was out the doorthe proud owner of a prescription for the Z-Pack. Woo hoo! I LOVE my doctor! I made it back to the office less than an hour after I left in mid-morning traffic, no less. And lo and behold, I got my same parking space. Believe me, this is equivalent to winning the lottery!
Friday morning, I was still feeling pretty badly so I went home at 9:30 a.m. when one of my staff arrived. Alex, the smart one, had thought Id told him to take the whole day off (our flight didnt leave till 5:00 p.m.) and had the laundry all finished up when I got there. Thank God he doesn't listen to me all that closely. We finished packing, made it to the airport, and had an uneventful tripexcept for the fact that I was whining about my ears the entire flight. Wow, those changes in air pressure hurt! I took a pill for my back (it really hurts when I have to sit still for long periods of time) and relaxed enough to stop bugging Alex.
Now there is one thing I want to say about the Cincinnati airport. Ive flown through this airport several times recently and this airport seems to have the biggest population of annoying people Ive ever seen! If youre riding on the moving walkway and you dont want to actually WALK, please move the heck to the side. Dont gather all your children and luggage into a big pile in the middle of the walkway and just camp out there so no one can go around you. I got stuck behind a man who was dawdling along, talking on his cell phone with his suitcase taking up all the space and teasing me by walking about one step every 30 seconds. Alex got between us as he could tell I was seriously ready to just knock this guy out of my way and he didnt want me to start my vacation in a Cincinnati jail. Hes kind to me that way.
We were meeting Caitlin at the Orlando airport. I wrote a pre-trip report a week or so ago and explained that shes been staying with her dad since Christmas and it's been very traumatic for all of us. I got to baggage claim and pretty much ignored our Tiffany Town Car driver while I looked for her. I called her cell phone and told them where we were. It was so exciting when she came through that door. Wow, Ive missed my baby -- She and I were just all huggy and lovey the whole way to the hotel. Thats saying something with a 13 year old! Half the time, she wont let me kiss her when shes in her bedroom with the curtains closed, much less in a crowded airport. Finally got our luggage around and dragged all our stuff and Caitlins out to our shiny Town Car. The driver was very nice, but I dont recall his name. It was colder in Orlando then when wed left Michigan! Sheesh. The driver kept apologizing for the weather although I really didnt hold him personally responsible. People in Florida seem to feel that they are obligated to provide tourists with lovely weather. We got a lot of apologies over the next day! People are so nice at Disney World.
We made it to the Dolphin and were very efficiently checked in. I had requested a smoking room for Alex with two double beds. We were assigned 9075 East. We found the correct elevator bankthe Dolphin has a very impressive lobby with a lot of elevators. Weve always stayed at All Star Movies and I had a heck of a time convincing Caitlin that we should try somewhere new. Lets just say she was very favorably impressed with this place. She leaned over and whispered to me, Were staying HERE? The ninth floor has not been renovated yetbut our room was just fine. Caitlin loved the hallways with the murals on the walls, the room doors that look like cabanas, and the beach towels and beach balls on the carpeting. She and Alex devised a game for the duration of our staythe rules grew more convoluted every time they went into the hallway so I stopped playing. You could only walk on the beach towels, not the beach balls. Only one step on each towel. Then it became something with walking backwards every other towel and not stepping on the fringe and I gave upI was on vacation, for goodness sake!
I opened the curtains to see the view and whoa---there was a balcony out there! We had a great view of the Boardwalk. We arrived around 10:30 p.m. so it wasnt till the next morning that I realized something else about our view. Caitlin went out on the balcony while I was dressing and I heard her say, I see France. I checked to make sure my underwear wasnt showing, then said Umm do you see London, too? She said, No, come look. And, hey, you could see the Eiffel Tower from here. And at night we could sit on the balcony or lie in bed (we got lazier as time went on) and watch the fireworks from Illuminations. Well worth the investment in my little SPG card. We had the government rate of $129 per night and only a few points, but they took good care of us. I got a balcony without requesting it.
We were all pretty excited but went to sleep so we could do EE (excuse me, EMH) at MGM tomorrow morning and we met someone famous while we were there.
