I was worried about taking such a long and detailed trip without someone holding my hand and guiding me through it. Oh sure, travel used to be a routine thing for me. In my work I would hop on a plane to go just about anywhere without a second thought. I've been retired for a while now and travel hasn't been my top priority. We've been on a couple of cruises but never by ourselves. Mike and Nancy, seasoned travelers, guided us through the Alaskan Cruise with experience and confidence. Cody guided us through the Caribbean cruise without any problem. This last cruise was all up to me to follow instructions, get us on the right flight, then on to the right ship without getting lost or arrested. I worried about the trip from the time we received the gift until the moment I got back home and able to sleep in my own bed.
Our trip was a very generous gift from our kids, Jamie and Jennifer, Cody and Cayce. It was planned to be a gift for our 50th anniversary but the boys got nervous we wouldn't live that long. I hope we do and on that anniversary date we will look back on this gift with love and appreciation for the wonderful blessing we have in our children. Now, let me tell you the hidden story, apart from all Debbie's beautiful pictures posted on Facebook.
We left town before the sun came up on a muggy Saturday morning. Cody drove us to the airport because we were to cheap to pay Uber. As we drove toward DFW Airport, Debbie gasped, "Oh no! I forgot my passport!" Cody slowed down and made a u-turn as she said, "Well, wait a minute. Maybe I have it here someplace." He pulled to the side of the road rather than make another u-turn while she gave herself the first of many pat-downs. She eventually found the passport and we were back on our way. This was just a glimmer of what was to be an eventful day.
I'm a 'stand back and watch' kind of guy and although I remembered how to get a boarding pass and hand over the luggage I let Debbie tell me each little detail in sequence as we moved along. In fairness to her, I do move rather slowly and my actions sometimes reflect an ignorance of what's going on around me. Her prompting was appreciated despite the irritation it caused. I got a chuckle though when we got to security. I sailed right through security while hearing Debbie call out to me to "Wait! My boarding pass won't scan....WAIT!!" Unfortunately, having passed through the metal detector, I was not allowed to go back to help her. I watched as she was led back to the ticket counter to get another boarding pass. Then I watched her wait as TSA opened each of her carry-on's, dumping everything out on a table, while searching for illegal whatevers. THEN I watched as they made her spread 'em for a full body pat down. She didn't look like a terrorist but these days you just don't know. She finally cleared security after fifteen minutes of stress on her part. Actually I was nervous too as I watched. I didn't know how I was going to enjoy the cruise without her.
We found out at the last minute that our boys had also paid for first class seating on the flights. It was wonderful! I've flown first class many times when traveling for work but this was a first for Debbie. She was ecstatic and let everyone know this was our first time....as if there was any doubt. As we began the final approach at Logan Airport in Boston Debbie panicked because she couldn't find her phone. I told her we would find it after we landed but she wasn't consoled. She told the flight attendant who did not care at all. She asked the guy in the seat behind us to check the floor. She unbuckled her seatbelt (on final approach) and crawled around on the floor searching. She removed her seat cushion and couldn't figure out how to get it back together....did you know we did not see a life preserver under there as promised!! She finally gave up and buckled up just before we landed. She found her phone in her pocket.
It was late afternoon when we got to our hotel in Boston. We wanted to see some sights but we didn't have a lot of time. We took the subway to the downtown area and as we entered the subway system Deb said she would get the tickets from the kiosk. We both had dozens of $5 bills to cover the $4.50 cost but for some reason she decided to stab a $20 in the machine....it sounded like she had won the big prize on the slot machine when the change of $15.50 started spewing out.....all quarters and dollar coins. Quite a load to carry around. It was exciting to say the least. I paid the tip at Cheers pub with coins. The waitress didn't seem to mind.
At the hotel that night Debbie, ever prepared for anything, started to set her clothes out for the next day's boarding the ship. All of a sudden she let out her classic and copyrighted "Cuuuurappp!" as she discovered she had left her new tennis shoes at home....the very expensive ones she bought specifically for this trip. I didn't forget my new tennis shoes because I didn't buy any for the trip.
When we arrived at the hotel we were instructed to be in the lobby the next morning at 11:15 sharp to board the shuttle for an 11:30 departure to the ship. Debbie insisted we go down early. I was a bit irritated because it was much more comfortable sitting in our room. I'm glad she insisted though because shortly after we arrived in the lobby two large black shuttles pulled up. We stared at them for the longest time wondering who they were taking and why they hadn't left yet. After a while I decided to check with the doorman about our own shuttle. He informed me my shuttle was waiting out front. Debbie and I charged for the front black bus and climbed aboard. Had we waited until we were told to arrive we would have missed our ride. Strike one up for Deb!! The bus we jumped on and the bus right behind us left the hotel at 11:00 a.m. Someone on board asked if there would be another bus arriving at the hotel at 11:30 as planned. The driver answered "no, this is the only one". We felt sorry for those at the hotel who followed the instructions and missed the bus. There were only six of us on board at the time.
One more short story and I won't bore you with the whole trip. On the first day of sailing we slept in because we had partied the night before until way past 9:00 o'clock. We met our table partners at dinner the night before and I was worried we wouldn't be classy enough for them. All I can say is, "Der, nope. Nope we was gooder than gold....no problem at all y'all". I won't say their names or be tacky. I just realized that Debbie and I can come across as very elegant in the right setting. When we went to our cabin that night Debbie started looking for her extra insulin. She tore through her bags in a frantic search and insisted I do the same with my bags. We found no extra insulin. Hopefully she would have enough. Before bed she repeated over and over "I can't believe I left that extra insulin and my new shoes at home". I was sympathetic but I did get tired of her mantra. The next day she opened our room safe to put something away. She yelled, "Would you look at this! How did this get in here?" It was her extra insulin.
I will tell you later about the high seas, hurricane force winds, and seasickness. It was a wonderful adventure. The ports were beautiful and the autumn colors were amazing. I had a chance to enjoy Maine lobster and clam chowder. We will never forget this trip I hope. Surely we can remember it until our 50th anniversary three years from now!
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