End of the Adventure

We started the day very early, arriving at the airport around five am. We were surprised at how long it took to jump all of the hoops. We were barely at the gate when they began to board.
I was worried that I would begin to cough before take off and they would make us get off. Fortunately that did not happen.
The time in Denver went smoothly and before long we were on the plane for the last leg and home. Once the plane left the ground I knew we were safe. Even if the coughing began again they were not going to turn the plane around. Anyway we made it safe and sound and Len and Ellenor were waiting for us.
We all went out to dinner at the ABC in Abbotsford and then they took us home. It was too late to get to a clinic, so I just went to bed.I had a speaking engagement scheduled for Wednesday but knowing there was no way I could manage that I called and cancelled. They understood and we will make a new date as soon as I am back to my gabby self.

I got very little sleep and as soon as the near by Walk in Clinic was open we were there. The doctor says I have a lung infection and he has prescribed an antibiotic so I will no doubt be fine and off and running in a few days.
It was a great trip but it is also good to be home.

All in all it was a fabulous adventure and I will be busy doing the book for the next month. We saw and did so much it will be difficult to condense it into 100 pages.
We are indeed blessed.

The next little adventure will be an RV trip the end of June and then more cruising in August and September.
Till Then

Saturday,March15/2014

Well I have gotten e-mail wanting to know where I am so I guess I had better let people know that it really wasn't a death rattle and I am fine.
When we arrived here I was impressed with how nice it is and I really just tried to get feeling better. Here are a few pictures of our digs.

We went out and got groceries and tissue and cough drops and cough medicine .
Outside of the Westgate Palace

We relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful views and like everyone else we were glued to our TV wanting to know what was happening with flight 390.
We discovered much to our surprise that our suitcases were overweight. Too many sauces and spices I suspect. Anyway we went to the post office and got a box and filled it with heavy things. The box weighed 13 pounds 6.8 ounces, so hopefully we are fine now. Doing that juggling took up some of our time to say the least.

On Thursday Nancy and cliff drove over from Cocoa and we had a great visit. We went to the longhorn for a mid day meal and it was great. We were so glad to see them.

Then yesterday we went to view Westgate Lakes, took our box to the post office and sent it on its way.
The big event for the day was a visit to Sunny and diane Banks. They winter about an hour and a half from here in a community called Avon. When we arrived I laid down and had a nap because I was really feeling terrible. Ken visited with Diane and then went to the car race sight where sunny volunteers. He really enjoyed it which made me feel better. Basically Ken has had no time for fun because he would not leave me in the unit alone. Again I must say how thankful I am that this monster cold did not happen at the beginning of the cruise.
Diane is a retired nurse and when I told her about this and how it developed. How it  was just a sore throat for days and then became this terrible cold she figures that I had a viral infection during the first 5 days and when my resistance was down a bacterial infection got me. She figures a doctor will give me an antibiotic when we get back to Abbotsford.
Diane was a pet and she prepared a wonderful meal for us , a meal that included fresh from the oven rolls. I ate and it felt good for the first time in day.
We left there around 7:30 and Ken had no trouble getting us back here even in the dark.
I got some sleep through the night and I feel a little better this morning. I just got out of a nice shower . 

Today we are in a holding pattern basically. Our plane leaves at 6:54am tomorrow. We have closed the suitcases and both are around 47 pounds so we should be just fine. I am hoping the coughing will subside today. I can only  imagine how upset passengers will be if I am coughing constantly while in the air.

In the mean time all is well and we are relaxing and looking forward to being home soon.
I will post one more time before I close off this adventure of 49 days. 

Monster Cold!!!

I have concluded that this is the  cold from hell. I cough and cough and cough. It sounds like whooping cough. I can't sleep and I can't eat and I am going through enough meds and tissue to cure 6 colds. There have been times when I am sure I heard the death rattle my grandmother used to talk about. But I did get a little rest last night so perhaps that is a good sign. I am so glad I got this at the end of the cruise and not the beginning!!!!

We are settle in at the Westgate Palace resort, on the 14th floor, looking out over a lot of stuff including the resort pool. We are looking at the attraction called Wet and Wild. It is an amazing waterpark. I am pretty sure Universal is out there as well. At night there are fireworks which should mean Disney World but I have been too sick to pay much attention. I only know there are lots and lots of colored lights as far as the eye can see.

Yesterday, we went down by the pool for the owners continental breakfast. Then I laid around and coughed for a few hours, then we went out to Walmart and got some groceries. We sure can't go out to eat when I have this horrible cough. Anyway the condo is a 2 bedroom with capabilities to sleep 6. There are 2 full baths, one with a shower for 2 and the other has a soaker tub and a shower. There are 3 flat screen tv's a living room dining room kitchen combination room. The kitchen is fully equipped and I do mean fully. The only thing that is missing so far is napkins. No food at all, not even coffee.

We rented a car and it is a Toyota corolla, and it is very nice. Ken is doing the driving of course and he has yet to figure out the cruise control but I have solved the AC. 

It is not really a surprise but our suitcases are overweight... imagine that... They weren't overweight when we left. Could it be that I shopped too much??

 Not me!! It has to be that snorkel mask that Ken picked up.:-)

So we went to the post office and picked up one of those boxes where you pay a flat fee to send anything anywhere in the US if it fits into the box. We will send things to our US mail box. We got the large size. It really isn't large but the box is free and it goes for 18.00 to ship and it should hold all of the heavy things. I bought hot sauces and other cooking things not even considering that they would weigh too much.  That is a much better solution than buying another suitcase and paying 35.00 to include it. We will send it on Friday. Sometime today we will see how much it will handle and see if it solves our weight problem.

We are supposed to be meeting our friends, Nancy and Cliff from Cocoa Florida on Thursday. We are meeting for dinner. They are coming to Orlando instead of us driving to Cocoa. Our rental has unlimited mileage so it would not matter; either way would have been fine.

We will check out some of the attractions and see what might interest us. I don't like rides because I get sick but I would like to go to Epcot. BUT it looks as if the tickets are 100.00 US per person. I am not impressed. We will see. There are a few different dinner theatre things that look interesting. We will see what we decide to do. The pool here is great and they have it nice and warm so I can see us spending time there.

We fly out at 7 am on Sunday morning. Len and Ellenor are coming into Richmound to pick us up. We get to Abby around two pm. Except for this dumb ass cold this adventure has been perfect.

Orlando Arrival

We had no trouble at all when it came to leaving the ship. It went so smoothly. Princess has this down to a science.
However.... there were 6 cruise ships in the harbour today and taxis were at a premium for sure. We had to stand in line for almost an hour to get a cab.
The porter took us and our luggage outside and he explained how the system worked. He parked me and the luggage at the beginning of the line, just opposite the spot where you would get into a cab , then he pointed Ken in the direction of the end of the line. The plan was I would watch the luggage and wait and then when Ken finally arrived I would join him with the luggage at the front of the line. Simple enough. I pulled out my sun hat and waited, Ken went WAY down to the end of the line.
Well a couple from somewhere in the southern US arrived with their porter and when all was explained to them they refused ton co-operate. The man insisted he was going to get into the first taxi he saw. Well the drivers know the rules and there is a sheriff there to make certain the rules are enforced. Well this guy would not let the porter unload the luggage and he kept darting ahead to try to get into a cab. Of course the cabbies would not take them. Finally the porter unloaded the luggage in the designated spot and  would you believe the client refused ton pay? This was a very busy morning and for the porters time is money. This poor man had spent 20 minutes with these yahoos and gained nothing and in the mean time he could have been earning. But the southern Gentleman??? insisted that because the porter had not gotten him a cab he would not be paid. I felt so sorry for the porter. Well the couple in question still refused to co-operate and they stood together with their luggage.They tried again without success to butt into line. So I called the sheriff over and told him what was going on and he went over and spoke to them about and explain again how the procedure worked.
They left and the last I saw them they were trying to break the rules and put themselves to the front of the shuttle line.

Ken finally appeared and we had the cab take us to the car rental office. Things went without a hitch there we picked up our car. It is a little 4 door white Toyota. Amazingly the trunk in this is bigger than the trunk in the cab , our 2 suitcases sat side by side.

Ken hooked up our GPS and away we went. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we had no problems at all. We stopped at a WalGreens to get me some cold meds. This cold will not let go and now my sinus are involved and I went through 2 full boxes of tissue yesterday. My nose is so sore and I am feeling quite miserable. But I got some soft tissue, aahhh!
Well my favorite place to eat when I am in southern US is Cracker Barrel. We found one( there were many) and had lunch there. We had not been thinking about the fact that it was sunday and the after church crowd would be there. We saw many older ladies in their "Sunday Go To Meeting" clothes. It was great to see the fine dresses and matching hats and shoes. Ken had meatloaf, I had chicken soup but I couldn't eat it all. I got a box and took it with me.

 NUVI brought us right to the door. Checking in was not a problem. The Westgate Palace is just that quite elegant to say the least.
It was not long before we had called it a night I was so worn out by this cold.
We are here until Sunday so I will tell you more about it in my next post..

Stop Cancelled

Well this amazing cruise is about to come to an end. This is the last sea day and tomorrow we are at Princess Cays and on Sunday we disembark.

If you have been following the blog you know how much of an adventure it has been. The only damper on the whole thing has been this humdinger of a cold that I caught a couple of days ago. I am happy to report that the prognosis is good and it appears as if I will survive. I have spent most of yesterday and today in bed, coughing and sneezing and blowing. I expect to be back to normal by the time we get to Orlando.

Today was  the complimentary wine tasting and we didn’t go. I have been trying not to spread germs and that is such a large gathering I figured it best to stay away. We have been to the previous three and the wines are usually the same.

Tomorrow is the final day and we have to have our packed suitcases out by the door by ten O’clock pm.

In the afternoon we picked up out folder of photos and went through them. We selected three that we wanted to buy and turned the rest in. It always amazes me when I see the number of pictures they have taken.

I went to dinner but I was only there long enough to take 2 bited of the appetizer. I could not eat , this cold is really doing a number on me.

I spent a very restless night, coughing. Now my chest is really sore. This cold is weird in that it is not in my sinus cavity, just in my throat and chest.

This morning it is quite windy and the captain has decided to abort the stop at Princess Cays.  I was trying to decide if I felt well enough to go to shore and now I don’t have to decide.

Port Everglades in the morning.

Sick

Yesterday morning I noticed that my throat was a bit sore and by last evening it was more uncomfortable and this morning it is a full blown sore throat. We had planned to go over to St.John with a CC group. We have never been there and that would have been nice but we this sore throat I decided to pass and Ken didn’t go either. I have spent most of the morning napping on and off and sucking on throat lozenges. This is the last formal night so I hope I feel up to going. Lobster, yumm.

We are currently docked in beautiful  St.Thomas and the day is bright and sunny.

The day was spent resting but I did get  to formal night and the comedian in Explorers last night.

But I spent a pretty rough night, coughing, sneezing and just generally being sick. This is now a very bad cold complete with a runny nose, a cough, a sore chest and a buzzy head, So quess what I will be doing today???… resting, blowing and napping. Thankfully it is a sea day and I have already done almost everything scheduled in the patter.

I will keep you updated.

Fear Conquered

Hey, I did it, I did it , I did it.

I organized a river tubing tour with Anton Tours in Dominica and for the past couple of months I wondered if I had made a big mistake.

I am such a chicken when it comes to anything involving water and Ken knew that and wondered and asked me if I was a bit nuts to take such an adventure. But this was going to be a test of my courage.

We were picked up at 9:30 and we were given a tour of the area including the botanical gardens and a special look off point. Then we were delivered to the spot on the river where the tour was to begin.

We were strapped into life jackets, then helmets and finally shown how to get onto the tube which would carry us down the river. I was nervous to say the least. There was a group of 4 young men there and I felt better when I realized they would be in the water with us the entire time. We were shown how to hang on tight and told not to reach for overhanging branches and the like. We were also instructed to try and lift up our butts when we come to big rocks.

Well soon we were on our way down the river. There were rapids and there were calm spots. Whenever we ended up not in the main stream and becalmed one of the young men would appear and get us going again. When they got to us they would push us out into the main flowing water and give our tube a spin as it went by. So we would go bobbing up and down and through the rapids spinning as we went. It was wonderful. The water was fast enough to be exciting but not so fast to be frightening. I was having a fantastic time. I was not afraid and it was exhilarating to be sure. In the calm spots I would lie back and look up at the clouds and the jungle trees. In the fast spots I would hang on for dear life, squealing with delight as I went. Ken was keeping an eye making certain I was fine and when I saw him I would let go of the handle just long enough to wave and assure him that I was fine.

 We were not turning all of the time but before long I knew I was going to be in trouble. In case you don’t know I get motion sick. It never occurred to me to take my Gravol before this adventure began.

Well you haven’t lived until you are lying on your back on a tube in a quickly flowing river and vomiting as you go. I could not get turned over because I certainly wasn’t letting go of the hand holds. I was in a mess to be sure but after less than a minute one of the young men came to my rescue. He got me over to the side and out of the water. After I washed off a little and was feeling steady he got me back on the tube and he held on to my tube from his tube and he got us through the next set of rapids and on to a sand bar. The driver and the bus met us there and I got out of the water and rode the rest of the way in the van. Actually there was only about 7 minutes left so I almost made it all of the way. The sad part was the fact that my stomach was so upset that I was not able to have one of the wonderful rum punch that they served at the landing. I had a little sip of Ken’s but I passed on having one of my own.

We were loaded up and taken back to the ship. We got back around one.

Would I do it again??

You Bet

Was it a highlight of this trip?

 It sure was.

Am I glad that I did it?

I certainly am.

Do I recommend it?.

Yes, yes, yes!

BUT if you are inclined to get motion sick be sure to take a tablet before you get into the van.

Thank you Anton Tours. It was a day to remember and one I won’t soon forget.