Blonde Voyage!

The adventure continues and it only gets better. Fortunately, all the worst is behind us. As the plane landed in Charlotte about 5:20 AM this morning we were in no hurry to get off the plane. I greeted the captain with a "10" as we finally got off the plane and that put a smile on his tired face that was still there when Shirley came by him.

It didn't seem like either of us slept much on the plane... but we can do that tonight. It seemed a little early for breakfast, so we went to sit down. Soon Shirley had her soft carryon bag on the bench and was curled up in a horizontal position with her head on it. There was enough room for me to lay on the same bench with my head on the calves of her legs, wrapping my arms around her legs to keep them on the bench. It felt so good to be horizontal for a while, but neither of us slept. After about 20 minutes there Shirley was restless and wanted to go scrounging for some breakfast.

She came back with a couple options, of which we ended up at the Great American Bagel. it seemed to be the popular choice... the line was pretty long. Their Asiago Omelette Bagel was a fabulous choice... and we shared a big apple, Navel orange and a mixed fruit yogurt with granola crumbs.

The sun was coming up as we finished breakfast and people were already lining up to board the plane to Ft. Lauderdale. It looked pretty cold outside... they said it was 36 F. when we landed. But I could see frost on the ground. When we got on the plane we both really wanted to sleep, but just as we were dozing off, along came the drink cart. I think we caught a few more winks. I was really suffering from TSA... “Tired Sore Ass.” What would it be like to fly to Australia and have to sit for 18 hours? Shirley said she felt like she had been “drug thru a knot hole backwards,” to quote a saying our mother’s used to say.

Once on the ground in Ft. Lauderdale, there was only one more piece to put into the puzzle, and that was to pick up our baggage. As we came down the escalator, the special handling baggage office was in plain sight... and there were two red suitcases that look distinctly like ours.

Equilibrium has been restored to this part of the planet again!

This airport is used to seeing cruise ship passengers and as we walked away with our baggage, there were ladies holding cards with all the cruise ships... and there was Princess. The lady said they leave at 11:30 with the first shuttle to the ship. And you can rest assured we will be on that shuttle.

I tried to post this from the airport in Ft. Lauderdale this morning, but the internet was too slow and it timed out... so I thought it would work better once we got onto the ship.

But even on the ship the internet has proven to be a major dissappointment. Not only does it cost an arm and a leg... like 30 cents a minute... but it is via sattelite, which is extremely slow. So my blogging and posting of photos may be pretty brief.

But at least we are here, and wanted to you know that life is going to be great!