Going Home

 Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Yep, I'm up before three, but everyone is up by four!  It's really cold out on the balcony but we can see New York and we pass under the Verrazano Bridge (I think?) and there's a full moon and we can see the Statue of Liberty.  It's still pretty dark and the ship is moving, of course, so the photo ops are limited.

Giggles and grins!

Tommy the Tugboat!  and the refueling barge

This is the same airport that had the forest in each bathroom stall!

We can have breakfast at 5:30, our last "free" meal, and we take advantage of that.  And we run into Christine!  A lovely surprise!

We are finally allowed to disembark with the first group of passengers, other than the "self-assists" and we  again meet up with Christine as we are searching for our luggage.  All present and accounted for!  We move through customs with no difficulty and go looking for out shuttle to the Newark Airport.  A quick question to one of the guys in yellow and we are directed right to our bus.

It's really a short bus ride and goes through the Lincoln Tunnel.  Christine tells me they have a Kennedy Tunnel is Canada!

We get lucky and the lady at the Delta desk is willing to let us check in and give her our luggage, even though our flight isn't for another seven or eight hours!! And my suitcase weights about forty-six and a half pounds!!  Whew!  Glad I moved some of the heavy stuff into my backpack!

Now to security with TSA pre-check.  Should be smooth buy my tray gets pulled.  Turns out they just didn't get an image and when it's put through again it's cleared.  There's a ton of time to kill - shopping, computing, eating...we'll use the time somehow!!  At any rate, I've gotten this close to finishing the blog and I'm pretty happy!  Now it's off to find Ginger and Nick for lunch.  Or not!!

Oh! Lunch is a crispy chicken sandwich and I’d quite good! But I can’t bring myself to spend $4.50 for a bottle of water!

Nick and Ginger are thinking of taking an earlier flight! I’m hesitant because of needing my connecting flight; but I give in. Getting to Atlanta should be easy but I won’t know about Tampa until I get to the gate agent in Atlanta. And we’ll see what happens to the luggage! At least it’s tagged to Tampa! Gulp! It would sure be great to get home earlier!!

So…we got on the earlier flight and it had a maintenance issue! We returned to the gate for repairs and finally took off an hour and a half late. But it’s nice to know the plane was repaired!!

In Atlanta Ginger and Nick go with me to the Delta Hello desk where a great young man made short work of putting me on standby for a 8:10 flight and thinks my bag will make it, too! I’ve been tracking its curious adventures on and off various planes as we change our plans! It has just moved to Concourse A which is where I am!!

We all ride the plane train and say goodbye in the car!!  I’m waiting to see if I make it on the plane. Nine-thirty sure beats midnight!! The other good news is that Stu has turned on the heat at home and Tiara has brought Floofen inside, out of the cold. Life is good!

Well,  that didn’t work and I’ve trudged to Concourse E for my original flight. At least I know I’ll get home tonight, unlike a couple of other people who will be standby on some other flight - or maybe even on mine!

“Find my luggage” says my bag is moving to Concourse E, so I think it might actually make it home with me! Bless that little AirTag!! It’s better than Delta’s app at tracking my bag. Right now I just want to cuddle the cats and sleep for a week.

Finally back in Tampa! Betsy’s smiling face meet me in the terminal and we were able to locate my westward suitcase with little trouble. I got to sleep in my own bed with a cat on either side of me. Travel is great! Home is better!!

See you next time!!

Last Sea day before New York (with photos)

 Monday, November 27, 2023

Always up before time should really count!  But there's a great moon and no competition for the internet. Today we'll have to have everything packed and our suitcases out in the hall before we leave for dinner.  We have another 8:45 reservation but tonight it is at Le Bistro.  In the meantime, we have one more day to pretend that the real world doesn't exist!!

At night you see the ocean in black and white.

There’s no particular reason to rush to breakfast, but we head to O’Sheehans anyway and settle in for the thirty minute wait.  When we are shown to our table is it for six, so we ask if two friends can join us.  It’s okay so we invite Fay and Warren, one of the Canadian couples we’ve made friends with.

The ship is running low on everything, so the hot chocolate was made with water.  Adding cream only makes it worse.  All the cold orders are served first, so it’s quite a while before those are finished and our hot meals can be served.  It’s a strange system.  They are also out of pastries, but they do have mini croissants, so Nick and I get something, at least, to munch on. I think everyone is ready to go home.

There’s nothing that needs to be done, or appeals, until one o’clock when Nick and Christine finish up their trivial competition. We go back up to the room to finish packing and I think I need some ginger ale after that. Also there is a sale at noon, so we check that out.  There’s nothing there of interest except a lovely gold and opal bracelet.  And it’s only about forty-five hundred dollars!! 

Ginger and I go looking for a bar and a place to sit. We do a lot of wandering and final find a table near the atrium where the competition will take place.  And there’s a nice barman who gives me my drink and doesn’t even ask for my card!

Just before one we spot Christine and a few minutes later we see Nick across the atrium.  And our third member shows up, too.  We’ve long ago lost the fourth person and Ginger and I have been acting as fill-ins, sort of!  Today’s topic is Sports and Christine spent the entire morning studying trivia sites!  There are twenty questions in each round and after exchanging answer sheets with another team we have 18 correct! 

It’s the last day of the competition and the scores are tallied right away.  We come in fourth out of at least twenty teams!  The best of the losers, as Christine says. Nick is hungry so we go back to O’Sheehans since they are the only 24 hour restaurant. Nick tries to get Caesars but the close bar is out of Clamato juice.  We keep the beeper and he goes in search of a better-provisioned bar. Meanwhile the beeper goes off and we are shown to a table.

Nick comes back with our drinks, mine is a virgin Caesar, and has trouble finding us.  But he does and we order.  I get the chicken-salad sandwich again.  We know the menu by heart and it’s the least likely to upset my tummy.  There’s a soccer game on the TVs and Nick stays to finish the game while Ginger and I go back upstairs.

There's a movie trivia game going on;  but the audience has to name the movie
title from performances that appear to have been prepared in about ten minutes with
limited props and costumes.  Hilarious!!!

Pan-seared bay scallops with cauliflower velouté and truffle oil

Mushroom soup.  The mushrooms were in the bowl and the soup was poured over them!

Goat cheese croquettes, beets, Granny Smith apples, arugula, and rosemary infused honey (Ginger's)

Sautéed Dover sole with lemon-butter sauce, croutons, chateau potatoes

Envice salad with roquefort cheese and toasted walnuts (Nick's)

And all the silver domes were raised at once to reveal our entrees!

Chestnut Bavarian cream with citrus filling and sablés crunch (Christine's)

Strawberries with diplomat cream and pistachio-almond sponge cake (Ginger's)

And my Marquise au Chocolat - 70% dark chocolate, rice crunch, and Chambered raspberry sauce!

I climb into bed and catch another nap until about 5:30.  We are to meet Christine at 8:15 for a drink before out 8:45 reservations at Le Bistro. We spend the time on our devices and discussing the plan for disembarking in the morning.  I think we’re supposed to get off the ship at 7:15!! Oh joy!  But we’re scheduled to pass the Statue of Liberty at 4:20, so I guess I’ll be up anyway!!