Since my last post, I have spent a lot of time and thought about getting ready. I wanted to get some Euros, needed to make sure I had all of my bills covered, had to stop the paper, and other things you normally have to do before you take a vacation.
One of the big decisions for this trip was what clothes to take for such a long time with variable weather conditions and social events. The ship has two formal dinners a week. Since I will be gone four weeks, that means eight formal nights. And then there is swimming attire, sightseeing togs, shipboard outfits and so on. Bottom line…a lot of clothes.
I was worried that this big, over-stuffed bag would be overweight. When I checked in...it was. I not only had to pay the normal fee for one suit case, but also had to pay $50 more for being 7.5 pounds over the 50 pound limit.
I also packed a lot of my gadgets and toys, like my laptop, camera, Flip video camera,jumpdrive, card reader, Kindle, binoculars, etc., etc. Each one of these electronic things has its own electric thingy to charge its battery. All of this gear went into my carry-on and back-pack. Also crammed into the carry-on suitcase was a month’s supply of all of my medications which is quite a big package.
All I can say is I am certainly glad that once I get on the ship tomorrow I won’t have to pack/unpack again until the end of the trip. Another advantage of touring via ship versus by tour bus. :-)
After wrestling my luggage through check-in and security, I was glad to get to the gate and wait to board.
While waiting, I saw a sign that concerned me.
Whew! No problem. It fit.
After about four hours of getting ready, getting to airport, getting through all of the hoops, and waiting, it took only 40 minutes to fly to Miami!
Now, I am at the Sofitel Hotel. It is really a nice hotel, and I have a great corner room with a view of the Miami International airport.
The hotel lobby/bar overlooks the pool which overlooks Blue Lagoon.
This is the dining room where we will have breakfast before our briefing session tomorrow where I will meet the other members of our tour group. I understand that there are 73 of us.
We leave the hotel at 11 a.m. tomorrow to go to the ship.
By the way, I hoped you noticed the map on the right. You can enlarge it, and click on the blue markers to see where the day-to-day progress of the cruise. At the top of the enlarged map, you can see a link to view it on Google Earth, which will fly you to different stops, provide weather info and other information. If you don’t already have Google Earth, you get can get it free at Google Earth
Bon voyage!! Cynthia
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