Something Old, Something New, Nothing Borrowed, Something Blue

[dolphingirl47]

Day 25

We were awake at a quite reasonable hour again and headed up to the Windjammer for some breakfast. We both went to get some food. Graham went for his usual fruit course and I decided to go straight for the hot food. I got in line for an omelette. I went with sausage, mushrooms and cheese, which was very nice. I had some vegetable fried rice to go with it. When I came to the room where we were usually sitting for breakfast, I could not find Graham at first. He had ended up on a breakfast bar set up right by the window. This turned out to be a stroke of luck. I had not sat down for long when we had company. We were joined by a pod of spinner dolphins that performed for us. This was such a treat.

After breakfast we went our separate ways again briefly. There was another DreamWorks performance on the Royal Esplanade where I was heading. We arranged to meet up at the Two70. As I took the lift down, I bumped into one of the "stores" that we had taken on board earlier in the week. Very handsome he was, too.

Gloria from Madagascar came out first and did a little dance and was then joined by King Julien. Once he had done his thing, they were supposed to meet and greet people together. Everybody got in line, which was quite impressive that morning. When it was nearly my turn, I realised that only Gloria was there. I had my photo taken with her, but then decided to hang around for a bit. That paid off. King Julien came back a short while later and the line had gone down by then. So I got back in line and got another photo with both of them. Then I headed up to the Two70.







I quickly checked in with Graham and then I decided to see if I could find two of our table mates as I knew that they would be there for the progressive trivia. I did find them very quickly and they and their team mates invited me to join them. It was fun to officially being able to play. I was utterly useless at the music questions, but my general knowledge is pretty good. One area I was useful for was the logo round especially when one of the logos was for Emirates. I must have done OK as I was invited back for the next and final day. I was only too happy to accept that invitation.

After the trivia, I headed back to join Graham. There was something distinctly familiar in the distance. It turned out that we were very close to Muscat and what I had spotted was the Incense Burner on top of a mountain near the port. The captain made an announcement that we would slow down as we were waiting for a boat to pull alongside to allow the exchange of goods. We were sat there for quite a while until the boat arrived. This was pure agony. I had fallen head over heels in love with Muscat in December and it made me sat to be so close and not being able to visit. This was an absolutely amazing trip, but I could not help thinking that it would have been even more perfect if it included a stop at Muscat.

While all of this was going on, there was another DreamWorks performance at Two70. There were some technical issues with the lift, but eventually our buddy Laura went downstairs and came back up with Alex the lion. He did a little dance and then he posed for photos. A photographer was again present so I got some photos with Alex. I was a little torn as there was another DreamWorks performance at 13:00, but there was something else on at the same time. I did check with Laura if Puss would be out at that time and she told me that Puss would be on the Royal Esplanade the following afternoon. So I was all set.















The rest of the morning was spent reading and enjoying the view. The boat did eventually arrive and the "stores" left the ship. I did get something to drink for both of us from Cafe Two70 at one stage and while I was at it, I got myself another peanut butter cupcake.

At 13:00, Captain’s Corner started. This was hosted by our Captain and Cruise Director and was very interesting. Our Cruise Director introduced our Captain and then he told us a bit about himself before opening the floor to questions. There was a fair bit of banter going on between the Captain and the Cruise Director, which made this even more enjoyable. There were a good variety of questions. There were some questions about security on board and specifically about extra security personal being brought on board and the Captain was quite vague in his answers just saying that they had started to review security arrangements months in advance and that they were working with a number of authorities to ensure a smooth transit of the area. He most certainly was not going to admit to the presence of our “stores” on the ship. There were also some questions about a plane flying overhead a couple of days earlier. We had completely missed this, but it had freaked some people out and the Captain made an announcement at the time. He reiterated that the plane was German and part of the coalition forces that are patrolling this area. He also explained that they were in radio contact with the plane and were fully aware of every movement. The most interesting part was the technical questions about the ship. The answers to them were not that dissimilar to what I have heard on other ships regarding recycling, generation of electricity and production of drinking water. Some of you may remember that I posted before the cruise that at the 11th hour, they brought the Ovation back to dry dock to swap out the propulsion system and some questions were asked about this. Apparently Meyer Werft was not happy about the ship’s performance and the fuel efficiency gains so they decided to revert back to the same system that the two older sister ships have. What absolutely wowed me is that the Ovation is essentially a huge hovercraft. She has a flat bottom and travels on air bubbles. This makes her more fuel efficient and this is also why she is so quiet.

After Captain’s Corner, we went to Sorrento’s for some pizza and cake. We went with tried and tested and had some cheese pizza and some pepperoni pizza. I have some more of the flourless chocolate cake and Graham had a white chocolate and cranberry cookie. We then headed back to the Two70 were we chilled out for most of the afternoon. I managed to finish another book that afternoon. Shortly before 18:00 we went back to the cabin to drop off our stuff and then we headed up to the SeaPlex. There was a bumper car session from 18:00 to 20:30 that evening so we headed for this. Initially, it was pretty busy again, but we still managed to have a go every 3rd or 4th round and after the first hour, it calmed down. The ”sandwich filling” was around for a while, but we managed to avoid him. He soon enough left. I assume he had dinner to go to. We had a lot of fun again, but had enough at around 20:00.

We headed back to the cabin, got showered and changed and then headed to do the rounds of the photo opportunities one last time as they were not taking photos on the final evening. That was the main reason why I got changed as we were only heading to the Windjammer for dinner. It was nice to see all of our photographer buddies one last time. We had definitely bonded with them over the course of the cruise.



















Then it was time for dinner. We were still not much later than our regular dinner time. We both made a beeline for the area at the back of the buffet where they had all the meats that they were cooking to order. We both chose a steak. I went for some fries and added a bit of gravy. Graham had some salad with his steak. Although everything was really nice, I was struggling with eating it for some reason. I was off my food that night. I did however perk up when Graham came back with hot cherries and vanilla sauce. I do love Cherries Jubilee. I did comment that I wish they had ice cream and then headed off to get some Cherries Jubilee for myself. I did even found some vanilla ice cream so I was happy.

After dinner, we headed back to our cabin. We put the TV on for a bit and I had another go at videoing the Wash Your Hands video and then we got ready for bed.

 

[franandaj]

How nice another day at sea! Your character photos are great and the trivia sounded fun. Good thing you avoided the annoying kid!

I love that dress you are wearing. I had to go back and look as I thought I had something in the same pattern, but only slightly different. Great minds think alike!

 

[dolphingirl47]

How nice another day at sea!

We definitely were spoiled on that cruise. On our upcoming cruise we will have 8 sea days, but that is just practice for the April cruise when we will have 15 sea days.

I love that dress you are wearing. I had to go back and look as I thought I had something in the same pattern, but only slightly different. Great minds think alike!

I love your dress. This would be better suited for our climate than the version I have.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 26

This was our last full day of the cruise. I don’t know where the time had gone. I had set the alarm for 8:30. We got up and quickly went down to deck 4 for a cup of coffee. As we were heading back to the lift, there was no line at the Internet kiosk so I quickly went to ask if they did an online check in package. They had offered this on the Splendour on the last day where they had offered 30 minutes Internet access for a few Dollars. Unfortunately they did not do the same deal on Ovation, but the guy staffing the Internet desk said that he would log me in under his log in if I just wanted to do online check in. I appreciated this. I told him that I did not have the paperwork on me and I had somewhere to be and he said that this would be no problem and to come and see him later.

I then met up with Graham who had quickly gone to the bathroom. We headed up to the SeaPlex for the last session of bumper cars of the cruise. It was not as busy as I had feared. Evidently people were not easy risers. We initially got to ride every other turn and as more people joined, we had to sit out a couple of turns, which was fine. Our special friend had obviously recovered from his dented ego and was up to his old tricks again. This time round we got the improved version of the sandwich, a club sandwich. Graham and I homed in on home from opposite directions and somebody else had the same idea and approached from a 90-degree angle. We all arrived at the same time. His face was a picture when he was stuck between the three of us. We also had some other fun. I all the sessions, he always had only used one bumper car: a red car with the number 1. That became a bit of a challenge. I was determined to beat the little sunshine to it. I was not the only person with that idea and he did not get to ride his favourite car very often in that session. Incidentally, this was the first time that I saw his mother joining in. Funnily enough, he never bumped her.

I left Graham to do another couple of laps about 15 minutes before the end of the session. I asked him to bring my iPad when he was coming to Two70. I went ahead to find my new teammates for progressive trivia. I had a lot of fun again. I did OK during the general knowledge and logo rounds. Where I really came into my own though was the final question, which was where one can find the islets of Langerhans. I think we were the only team who got this answer right. I had to laugh when this question was asked. My biology lessons paid off. Everybody seemed to think that this was a geographical location when it is actually an area of the pancreas where insulin is produced. My team was not too convinced either, but let me run with this. This paid off. On the whole, we had a successful day and ended up with the top score for the session. Unfortunately we did not make it in the top 10 overall.

There was something else amusing happening during the session. Apparently our Cruise Director had made a promise at the beginning of the cruise that we would see dolphins before the cruise was over. Of course, Graham and I had been lucky enough to see dolphins the day before. However, our Cruise Director decided to play safe and had added a couple of slides with dolphins in that morning’s trivia. He had asked the participants at some stage to tell him if they see dolphins. So everybody shouted dolphins and he played all innocent asking “Where?” He was one of the funniest Cruise Directors we ever had.

After the trivia was over, I said goodbye to our tablemates, told them that we would not be at dinner and then went to join Graham. We enjoyed the rest of the morning chilling out at the Two70 and then headed for lunch at the American Icon Grill as soon as they opened. On the way, we went to our cabin to get the paperwork that I needed for the online check in and went to the Internet kiosk. The person who was going to help me had gone to lunch. I had hoped to get some more Nasi Goreng and peanut butter chocolate pie, but it was a different menu that day. I was however delighted when I spotted tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on the starter section. None of the main courses particularly inspired me. I went with spaghetti carbonara. Graham went with the burger and fries.

Service that lunchtime was a little bit on the slow side. On the table next to us were a mother and daughter from Las Vegas and we ended up chatting to them. They were planning to stay in Dubai for a few days and I was able to help them out with a few tips. During conversion, it turned out that the daughter used to live in Southern California and had taken early retirement to move to Las Vegas. So I asked her where she used to live. She told me San Pedro and then tried to explain where this is. I told her that I know as we have cruised from there a number of times and that my best friend is working for the Port of Los Angeles. It turned out that this is where she worked before retiring as well and she knows Sue. We do live in a small world after all.

At some stage, lunch arrived. The tomato soup was amazing, but the grilled cheese sandwich seemed to be lacking an important ingredient - the cheese. The spaghetti carbonara was lovely and again featured a poached egg. Graham liked his burger, but was not too impressed with the fries. Once we had finished our food, we said goodbye to our table neighbours and headed out again. I had a look at some of the stalls on the Royal Esplanade that had promotions. I was interested in the Gold by the Inch jewellery, but I was completely ignored. I waited for a bit, but then gave up. This was there loss.





I then went back to the Internet desk. The person I had spoken to earlier was now back. He told me that he had just come back from the library, where the Internet computers are and that it was very busy. He gave me a business card with his extension number and told me to call him when I managed to get a computer. He was not kidding when it said it was busy. All the computers were taken and there was somebody else already waiting as well. She gave up at some stage, but I still had quite a wait. Eventually I did manage to snag a computer, found a phone and called on the number on the business card only to get a recorded message that it was out of office hours and that they would be back later in the afternoon. I was absolutely gutted.

I went and got my stuff from the computer. Somebody asked me if I was not going to use the computer. I answered that I would not and shared my story. One of the people that had been at a computer since I first arrived offered that I could do the online check in using her Internet. I gratefully accepted. I got a powerful reminded in the process why, apart from the cost, I don’t bother with Internet access on cruises. This seemed to take forever. Eventually I did manage to check in. I was quite shocked when we had priority 5 and 6. Due to my seniority, I am used to having priority 1 and 2 when we travel. Still, the loads looked fine so I was not worried about this. I thanked the person who had been so kind to me and headed back to join Graham.

He had found a seat near the window again, but this time round on the starboard side near the bar. I settled in with my book. A little while later, a guest talent show was happening at the Two70. We just looked at each other when it was announced. However, we were positively surprised. There were two parts to this. The first part was a competition between various solo singers and they were all very good. The second part was a showcase for the pop choir and the Thriller dance group. Both of them were made up of guests who had been rehearsing all cruise. I actually really enjoyed the whole thing.

After the talent show, the Two70 emptied out. We stayed for a bit longer to chill out. I finally got around to having a "drink of the day". The bartender had no idea what the drink of the day was supposed to be and passed me their signature menu and told me to choose any of the cocktails on there. That worked for me. I went with the Cotton Candytini, which I really enjoyed. The cocktail selections were all a bit on the sweet side so I got Graham a wheat beer, which he enjoyed. Once we finished our drinks, we decided it was time to say goodbye to Two70. I was quite sad about this as we spent a number of happy hours there.



We headed over to the photo area to check if all the photos were present and accounted for. I noticed that a few were missing and I managed to find most of them. Instead I had everybody’s photos from the Shrek set on my account. Ironically the ones of Fiona and me were missing as I realized when I sorted the photos for this trip report. One of the photographers helped me to get rid of the surplus photos. There were still a few photos that were missing and they had to locate them at the office. Once all the photos had been straightened out, I headed back to the cabin. Graham had wandered off at some stage. I met one of our other tablemates on the way and said goodbye.

I went back to the Royal Esplanade to see Puss in Boots one last time. The line was pretty long, but it turned out worth it. When it was my turn, I handed one of his escort's my iPad and I ended up with a whole photoshoot. Unfortunately Laura was not around. I would have loved to say goodbye to her. Then something dawned on me. Laura was never around at the same time as Puss. Yet she seemed to be well aware of our special "bond". I came to the conclusion that she must be a very special friend of Puss.





















When I got back to the cabin, I took some photos of our door. For some reason I had never got around to this during the cruise. Then I started to pack. This was pretty easy, as I had put the laundry in the suitcase on a daily basis so I only had to add the last odds and ends. When I was nearly done, Graham arrived and packed as well. Once we were both done, I added the luggage tags and we put the luggage outside for collection. Then we headed up to the Windjammer.



We had another lovely meal there. Graham had some meat from the carver with vegetables and potato. I had some mashed potato with Pork Stroganoff. Graham had some fruit crumble for dessert and I went with some ice cream. It was a nice relaxed meal.

After dinner, we headed back to the cabin. Graham put on Puss in Boots. I had to go and pick up our USB stick with the photos at some point. I much prefer doing this on the last evening rather than on the last morning. The place was absolutely heaving, but it did not take me long to get my photos. I watched the rest of Puss in Boots and I have since watched the whole movie on DVD. Once the movie was finished, we got ready for bed one last time.

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like you had a great last day, but that it also flew by pretty quickly! Evidently the stupid kid pissed off a number of people.
The tomato soup and grilled cheese sounds like a lovely meal. I even have that as a potential meal one night at WDW on our next trip.
Nice that they have also moved to the USB stick. The Wonder will have that capability when she comes out of Drydock.
Sorry the cruise is coming to an end, but then we can hear about all your other fun trips!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Sounds like you had a great last day, but that it also flew by pretty quickly!

It seemed to go so quickly. I am always a bit sad on the last day as well. The next cruise should be better as the last day is a port day and we have some fun stuff planned after the cruise.

Evidently the stupid kid pissed off a number of people.

He definitely did.

Nice that they have also moved to the USB stick.

I really liked this. I am hoping it will be the same on the Navigator

Sorry the cruise is coming to an end, but then we can hear about all your other fun trips!

I am already working on the Disneyland Paris one. Ideally I would love to have this all type up by the time I go again in just over a week, but that maybe a touch ambitious.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Last day already???

The last two days sounded lovely and relaxing. How wild that one of your lunch neighbors knows your friend Sue!

The Windjammer sounded like it had a huge selection of food.

Well done with trivia.

How kind of the other guest to share the internet.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Last day already???

Yes, indeed.

How wild that one of your lunch neighbors knows your friend Sue!

We really live in a small world. This was kind of cool.

The Windjammer sounded like it had a huge selection of food.

They did. I think the Windjammer beats the Disney buffets in both choice and quality.

How kind of the other guest to share the internet.

I really appreciated it.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 27

Suddenly the sad day of leaving had arrived. I could not believe that this amazing trip was about to come to an end. By last day of cruise standards, we had a leisurely morning. I had the alarm set for 8:15 as we did not need to vacate the cabin until 9:00 and we did not need to be at our meeting point until 9:30. We got up and got ready. We did one final check of the cabin and then headed out.







We went up to the Windjammer for breakfast and although it was well frequented that morning; we had no issues finding a table in the main part. Graham had some fruit and yoghurt followed by a cooked breakfast and I had a last helping of vegetable fried rice and sausage. Graham braved the coffee and I had one last cup of raspberry coke.

While we were enjoying our breakfast, there was an announcement that all debarkation groups had been called and that people could get off the ship. At that stage it was about 45 minutes before we were due at our meeting point. We finished our breakfast, I quickly washed out my souvenir cup and then we headed down to the gangway one last time.

We had a short wait for the lift and then we were off. People who were waiting on some of the stateroom decks were not quite so lucky as the lifts were full by the time they got there. There was no wait at all getting off the ship. I looked back once more and then we headed to the terminal building. I was very surprised that there was no passport control. The baggage hall was busy, but it was well organized and we found our luggage very quickly. It was even together, which I think was a first.

It was very busy near the exit and this time there was no staff from the port agent there to direct people. I asked one of the security guards where we needed to go and he pointed me in the right direction. We headed out towards the bus. There was a short wait after we got on the bus, but soon we were on our way. I managed to get a few more photos of the ship as we pulled out of the port.







I got a little confused by the route the bus driver was taking as he dropped south even though the airport is north of the port. This soon made sense though as this detour avoided most of the traffic and we got to the airport very quickly. We ended up by the bus station again, but this time we knew where we were and how to get to the terminal. When we got there, we headed to the staff travel check in. They weighed and tagged our luggage. I was relieved that both of our suitcases were within the weight allowance and we actually had some weight to spare. We were then directed to the staff travel lounge.



The staff travel lounge opened shortly after we flew back from Dubai the last time and this is a great addition. There is comfortable seating, a coffee machine, a water cooler and screens that show when you have been cleared for your flight. There is also a decent Wi-Fi connection so I was able to catch up with my emails and on Facebook. Periodically I checked my staff check in receipt and once this had changed to a boarding pass, we headed back to the staff check in. We had been allocated two middle seats and I was not too thrilled about this, but as we were flying for next to nothing, I could live with this. When we got to the check in, the person assisting us commented that we did not have very good seats and she was going to change them. We ended up with a window seat and an aisle seat by the emergency exit. We thanked her and headed through security.

Once we were through security, I suddenly had a horrible realization: we had no entry stamps in our passport. In Dubai, you get an entry stamp when you arrive and an exit stamp when you leave. When it was our turn on the immigration desk, I explained what had happened to the official and he asked us to follow us to a small office area. Graham was not too happy with me as he felt I just should have kept quiet. However, at the beginning of my career, I dealt with Dubai visas for just over a year and I can still remember how much trouble a discrepancy with the stamps can cause. The immigration official that assisted us made a phone call and then handed us back our passport without any stamps at all and wished us a good flight. When we got back, I got proof that honesty is the best policy. A number of people on our cruise meet thread who did not know that they should have an entry stamp did have issues when trying to go through immigration at the airport.

Once we had our passports back, we had a short wait for the train over to concourse A. I had only ever flown out of concourse A once shortly after it opened and on that occasion they made us made until the last possible minute before they checked us in so I never had a chance to have a proper look around. I made up for this that day. At some stage we found a Starbucks and decided to have a second breakfast, as it would be a while until we would get lunch with a 14:30 departure. Graham had some carrot cake and a white mocha Frappuccino. I had tiramisu cake and had originally ordered an iced mint tea lemonade. However, when I got to where you collect the drinks from, I spotted that they offered green tea Frappuccinos. This is my all time favourite Starbucks drink. Fortunately they let me change my order. I was very happy indeed.





Once we had finished our second breakfast, we went to explore the second half of concourse A. There was not much that took my fancy, but I got myself some L’Occitane rose and Oudh shower gel. At the time this was exclusive to Dubai Duty Free, but this has just turned up as a website exclusive in the UK, which makes me very happy indeed. After I had done my shopping, I went to find Graham, who had found a seat near our gate. I carried on catching up online until it was time to head downstairs.

The flight was nice and smooth. Once we were at cruising altitude, they came round with drinks. I had a gin and tonic. I started off the flight reading and once lunch was server, I watched a movie about a girl learning to play chess. This was really enjoyable. I was less than impressed with the choices for lunch. In the end I went with the lamb with rosemary sauce with wild rice and stir- fried vegetables, which was washed down with some Chardonnay. I gave Graham my Nicoise salad and he had chicken in creamy pepper sauce with mashed potato and celeriac. Dessert was blackcurrant cake with custard and I had some Cointreau with my coffee. Once the film was done, I read for a bit longer and then I put on Frozen and had a nap.

A couple of hours before we were due to land, they brought round afternoon team. I had some cucumber sandwiches and something with fish, which I passed to Graham. The scones with clotted cream and jam went down a treat though. The rest of the flight I spent reading and we arrived back in Manchester on time. When we got to the front of the plane, one of my favourite colleagues was there meeting the plane and I quickly said “hi”. Then we got in line for passport control. The lines for the desks and the egates were huge, but they moved reasonably quickly. When we got back to the baggage hall, we still had to wait a while for our luggage. Unfortunately one of the wheels on my suitcase had snapped in half, which made pulling it a challenge. The plan had been to get a new suitcase on my next trip to the USA as it had seen better days anyway, but now I have to get a new one before our next trip.

Fortunately when we got to the train station, we did not have to wait long for a train and when we got to the city centre, we caught the tram home. I was glad to be home, but also sad that a wonderful, magical trip had come to an end.

 

[Pinkocto]

What an amazing trip. So much beauty and art and history as well as fabulous relaxing on the ship.

Glad you caught the passport stamp issue before it became a problem.

How kind of the person to switch your seats.

Thank you for sharing this trip with us, I loved reading about it

 

[dolphingirl47]

What an amazing trip.

It really was and it was a lot of fun to relieve it all.

So much beauty and art and history as well as fabulous relaxing on the ship.

It was just the perfect mix of everything.

How kind of the person to switch your seats.

I really appreciated it.

Thank you for sharing this trip with us, I loved reading about it

Thanks for reading along.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm so far behind that I'm just going to jump back in!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I'm so far behind that I'm just going to jump back in!

Welcome back. In the meantime, I have wrapped this one up. I will do two mini reports for two trips to Disneyland Paris and once they have been done, I will be offline for a while for our next big trip.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

I have now started my mini trip report for my most recent trip to Disneyland Paris:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...ding-trip-report.3476282/page-4#post-56594531

This week there will only be this update as I will be at Disneyland Paris for most of the week.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

Safe travels, and have a fun trip!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Safe travels, and have a fun trip!!!

Thanks. I am about to go and have my nails done and then I am off to work for a late shift. Tomorrow I have to pack and then I head for the airport.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

Sorry to see it all come to an end, but you got to see some amazing and beautiful historical locations. I think I found Petra to be the most engaging. I had no idea when you were planning the trip why you were so excited with this stop. I had no idea what it was. I've put it on my list, if I can ever figure out how to get there.

 

[tiggrbaby]

What a fabulous trip! Thank you for taking the time to share it with us!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Sorry to see it all come to an end, but you got to see some amazing and beautiful historical locations.

It really was an amazing trip and it will take a lot to beat this.

I think I found Petra to be the most engaging.

This was definitely the highlight for me.

Thank you for taking the time to share it with us!

Thanks for reading along.

Corinna

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Missed the last few updates my alerts did not alert me grrr! Can't believe I missed out. Lucky I checked manually.

Day 25 sounded good. Any day that starts with an omlette can't be bad!

Cool photos of Gloria lovely dress of yours. That was cool to catch Alex the lion.

The Captains corner sounds interesting. Oh wow re Ovation being a large hoovercraft. Go figure.

Your evening photos are beautiful of you both. Another amazing outfit both of you.

I love cherries jubliee also. But agreed where is my ice cream!

Day 26 great to do bumper cars. Dolphins yeah! How funny. Puss in boots is cute and well done checking on missing photos. Always easier whilst there.

Day 27 last day already! Sounds like the flight went ok. I love L'Octaine products also. I love anyhthing orange. In basin they have a shampoo soap bar that is tangerine. It is divine! Lasts ages. But then I have not much hair.

Great trip report I enjoyed it thank you.