Homeward Bound (Plus update)

 Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Travel day.

It was pitch black outside when I woke up and peeked out of the curtains. I thought perhaps I had looked at my clock wrong, but no...we were already docked in Ft. Lauderdale and it was 6:30 am. I could barely see over the lifeboat blocking our window (because I am so short) but there were the lights of the city.

We had said our good-byes to Jon & Michelle last night but just as we were ready to go to breakfast I got a text from Michelle saying they were at the buffet. Our usual table was taken, but they had found another close by next to a window. While eating we were treated to a beautiful sunrise and a pod of dolphins swimming by! It was fun to see Jon & Michelle one last time, but it also meant a second "good-bye"...this time with a few tears.

Bob and I lingered a little longer in the crowded buffet finishing up our breakfast before we headed back down to our room. From there we could listen to the announcements being made as the luggage tag colors were called for disembarkation. I checked my watch when we heard "PURPLE #2" and it took us just 10 minutes to get an elevator, get checked off the ship one last time, find our luggage and walk out of the cruise terminal #26. 

The wait for an Uber was 15 minutes but judging from the line up for taxis that wouldn't have been any quicker. Our Uber driver, Doug, loaded our luggage in his trunk and we headed to the airport. Normally we would have booked a flight on Delta, but this time we flew on Sun Country Airlines. The one-way tickets seemed cheap at $79 but by the time we each paid for a checked bag AND a carry-on, the price jumped to $143...a little more than what we could have booked on Delta with the free luggage perk from my Delta credit card.  

The reason we decided to fly Sun Country was the 12:30 pm departure time. The Delta flight didn't leave until mid-afternoon and I detest the waiting in the airport after a cruise. Also it worked out to be a more convenient time for our son to pick us up once we got back to Minneapolis.

Being a smaller airline, getting through security was a breeze. Bob was the only one in the TSA pre-check line and I only had four people ahead of me in the regular line. But the flight came with some negatives as well. The leg room was miniscule...Bob's knees were pushing into the seat in front of him. Also there were no seatback video screens and the selection of movies offered on the airline app was very small and did not work on Bob's phone at all. Lastly...no snacks! Luckily I had a few things to eat in my backpack. I mean...after a three week cruise how were we to survive with no food for four hours!!

Goodbye Florida.

Hello Minnesota.
Frozen lakes and some signs of lingering snow greeted us.

Minneapolis skyline.

Our son's timing was perfect when he pulled up to the door at MSP just as our bags came out on the luggage carousel. We jumped in the car and headed out into the rush hour traffic. Still, we were back at our son's house within an hour.

Spending the night was considered, but Bob was anxious to get home. We did stay long enough to have a sandwich, visit with the grandkids and also see the new office set-up our son was putting together for his new "remote working" position. With daylight savings time it was light for much of our drive home.

The sunset on our drive home was just as beautiful as the sunrise was in Ft. Lauderdale.

What a difference from the sub-zero weather we had when we left three weeks earlier. The temps were forecast to be in the low 70's for the next couple of days but then...blizzard conditions by the weekend. Such is a Minnesota spring!

Even so...it was good to be home. I worried a bit about whether our "pet" squirrel, Rocky, would still be around, but the next day he was at our door begging for his nuts! 

Rocky didn't forget us!

I had mentioned at the beginning of the trip about the Mardis Gras King Cake that the squirrels got into last year while we were gone. When we went next door to retrieve our plants that the neighbor had kept for us she told us she had seen Fedex drop off a package at our house and it was another King Cake! She rescued the box before Rocky and his friends found it! We had told her in advance to enjoy the cake if it came so she had shared it with her pickleball friends but froze a small portion so we could sample it when we got home.

And that wraps up this 2025 Winter Getaway Trip. At this point, there are no future travel plans in place. Jon keeps hinting strongly that he would like us to go with them to Europe for an extended vacation but with my limited walking ability I just don't think that would be a good choice. So for now I will end this blog by saying "we will see". 

Thanks to all who have read and followed along on our journey!

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APRIL UPDATE:

Although the daily posts are actually being published about a month after the cruise, I wanted to take time to give a couple of updates in real time.

The week after we returned home I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon who decided it was time for me to have total knee replacement surgery. The surgery is scheduled for April 21 and I can say I am very nervous. I've heard that knee surgery is one of the toughest to recover from and not everyone gets good results. However, at this point my mobility is so limited that I have to give it a try. My summer plans for riding my new e-bike will be delayed for some time now. 

And the other update is a sad one. I mentioned that Rocky (our friendly squirrel) was here when we returned and was back to his old routine of coming to the door multiple times a day wanting nuts. One day we had VERY strong winds (like over 50 mph all day long) and we didn't see him. That wasn't uncommon when the weather was bad, but then the next day he didn't come again. It has been over two weeks now and no Rocky. Chances are we will never know what happened to him, but I know we will miss him. 😢🐿️

Travel Day to San Diego

 Friday, April 19, 2024

Compared to flying from the Sioux Falls regional airport which is much closer to our home, flying out of Minneapolis-St. Paul is almost always cheaper and more direct for us. But…it does involve a three hour drive from our house. That certainly isn't a hardship when we know that we will get to see our grandkids at the end of that three hour trip! So as usual, our actual travel began the night before when we left our home and spent the night at son #2's house.

Whatever respiratory virus I had been fighting was getting a bit better but the lingering cough hadn't improved much. I made sure to keep a pocketful of cough drops handy because once I started coughing I just couldn't stop. My knee (that I injured at the beginning of the previous cruise in late January) was really no better either. Wearing a knee brace made it feel a little more stable, but it was still painful to walk. My doctor had given me a cortisone injection a couple of weeks before our trip but it did very little, if anything, to relieve the pain. What a way to start a vacation!

Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until almost noon so we had a leisurely morning. We were able to spend time with the grandkids before they left for school and then son #3 and his wife stopped by briefly after dropping off our other grandkids at school. (All five of our grandkids go to the same school.) 

It was snowing lightly when our son drove us to the airport. (Seems like most of our trips begin in the snow!!) There was no wait to drop off our bags but getting through security took some time. I always hold my breath when I put my bag on the scale, but no worries today...it was "only" 48 pounds. Bob's luggage was 37 pounds and that included my heavy toiletry bag that he had graciously agreed to pack for me.

I was worried about my cough and was hoping no one would be in the middle seat between Bob and I...but there was. I think the guy must have also had a cold so we might have just traded germs. I went through many cough drops on the flight trying to tame the tickle.

The flight did go smoothly though. I was thankful for my noise cancelling headphones when the small child in front of us screamed for much of the flight. 

We landed on time at 2 pm (Pacific Time) and our luggage was already on the carousel by the time we got to baggage pickup. As Bob grabbed the suitcases, I was on the phone with the Wyndham San Diego Bayside hotel inquiriting about their shuttle. I was given directions where to meet the van and was told it would be 2:30 before it arrived. We had just gotten to the meeting spot and the shuttle was pulling in at 2:20. Only one other couple was with us.

We barely had time for our selfie before the hotel shuttle arrived!

I had booked a city view room, but we got lucky and were upgraded to a bay view room on the 14th floor. Wow! When we got to the 14th floor we realized we had been so excited about the upgrade that neither of us had heard what room we were in! Bob had to go all the way back to the lobby to find out! Once in the room, Bob grabbed his binoculars and we sat on the balcony for a long time just enjoying all of the activity along the waterfront. 

A great view from our 14th floor room! And to think it had been snowing when we left Minnesota!

The Maritime Museum was across the street from the hotel.
We had visited the museum prior to our Panama Canal cruise last year.

The cough medicine I had taken was making me quite sleepy so Bob went for a walk while I napped. His mission was to scout out someplace nearby where we could get some dinner.

USS Midway aircraft carrier has been converted into a floating museum.

The 25-foot "Unconditional Surrender" sculpture near USS Midway.
The statue is copied from the famous 1945 photo in Life magazine.

Bob walked past the USS Midway which is now a museum and returned with photos of several different menus from restaurants along the way. We decided on the Hazelwood Deli which was the closest of all of the restaurants (it was actually part of the Wyndham Hotel) and had a decent menu. We both ordered burgers (which were huge and delicious!) and sat outside and enjoyed people watching as we ate.

This photo taken from our table at the deli shows just how close the cruise ship pier is to our hotel!

After dinner we returned to our balcony and sat outside until after sunset when the chill chased us back into the room. Throughout the evening we kept in touch with our friends and travel companions, Jon and Michelle. They had flown to Tucson and spent a few days with Jon's brother and then rented a car to drive to San Diego. They didn't get in until later and spent the night at a Hilton Garden Inn about 12 miles away. 

Our day ended with warm showers and some TV time. The two hour time difference had us in bed fairly early but anxious to start our next journey!

Traveling Home

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The last day...the cruise is over. Jon and Michelle were driving back to Georgia and wanted to get on the road as quick as possible. Our flight wasn't leaving until 3:30 pm so we had requested the latest possible time to disembark. Sleeping late would have been nice, but we also wanted to have one last breakfast with J & M so had set an alarm.

But...no alarm was needed. The strong vibration of the ship as it docked at Port Everglades was more than enough to jostle me awake. I dressed in the dark and slipped out onto the promenade deck in the predawn light. I was anxious to get checked in for our flight since I wasn't able to before we left Half Moon Cay the previous afternoon.

As I was concentrating on the Delta app on my phone, Michelle snuck up behind me and scared me to death!! She had come out on deck to see the sunrise, something she had wanted to do all during the cruise and had never managed to do.

By the time I checked in for our flight, the only seats remaining were middle seats in the back of the plane...no where near each other. That is the price you pay for booking basic economy tickets.

The morning was cool (in the upper 50's) and I was barefoot, but stayed out with Michelle looking at all of the cruise ships in port. Six I believe. A Royal Caribbean ship came sailing into the channel just as the sun began to rise.

Caribbean Princess

The four of us met for breakfast at the buffet. I finally got around to trying a crepe and was sorry I had waited until the last day. Yum. When the cruise director announced that the ship had been cleared around 7:30, we said our goodbyes and J & M began their journey home.

Bob and I packed the last few things in our carry-on bags and then walked around the outside deck watching all of the activity around the port. Our color group was called about 8:45, earlier than what had been estimated.

Once in the terminal, our luggage was easy to find. I was happy to see that my damaged bag was still intact. When we got outside, we called a Lyft and our driver arrived in about 5 minutes. She had a smaller car and the trunk was full of her "stuff" that had to all be moved and rearranged in order to fit our luggage. (Wouldn't you think an Uber or Lyft driver picking up passengers at the port would anticipate the need to have room for luggage?)

The driver dropped us off at the Delta gates at FLL and when we entered, the queues were full and the line extended through much of the terminal. It was too early for us to check our bags so we found a place to sit and wait. A Canadian couple who had just gotten off the Caribbean Princess was sitting next to us and we had a nice chat. Bob read his book and I caught up on emails and Facebook. (Yay for fast and strong cell service!)

The lines to check in were L-O-N-G!!!

When we were finally able to check our bags at 11:30, the lines were totally gone and we walked directly up to the desk. My bag was a pound over the limit and we were ready to shuffle things around, but the agent said it was fine. There was no charge for our checked bags since we have a Delta Skymiles credit card.

When we got to our gate, the place was packed. This part of the airport was undergoing renovations and there was barely anyplace to sit and very few places to get something to eat. It is always such a rude awakening to leave the multitude of free food options on the ship and then have to pay for overpriced, mediocre food at the airport. We opted for personal-sized pizzas for about $10 each. They weren't too bad, but smaller than the ones we could order for free on the ship.

So hard to eat airport food right after a cruise!

I checked with the gate agent on the outside chance they might need volunteers to be bumped, but was informed that our flight was not quite full. I mentioned that I was very concerned about missing the next leg of our flight since we had such a short layover at JFK in New York. (Not the most direct route from Florida to Minnesota, but again...it is what you get with the cheap seats.)

A direct flight to Minneapolis was actually boarding at the next gate and she said she would have moved us to that flight but it was overbooked already. Instead she offered to change our seats and moved us to the front row of the economy section so we could get off the plane quicker. And the seats were even together!! Thank you, Delta!

The plane took off a few minutes early. By the time I watched the movie "Holiday in the Wild" that I had downloaded onto my iPad from Netflix, the flight was over.

We arrived at Terminal 1 at JFK and our next flight was leaving from Terminal 4. We hit the ground running. We climbed on a Delta shuttle just as it was getting ready to leave and were driven to Terminal 4. But...we were dropped off a long way from our gate. We had the option to wait another 8 minutes for the next shuttle to take us closer to our gate or walk for 10 minutes. We walked...and fast. Boarding was just beginning which gave us time to quickly use the rest room, but nothing else.

I had checked the Delta app off and on while we had waited in Ft. Lauderdale and managed to finally get two seats together for this flight to Minneapolis. I watched another cute movie..."Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" and before I knew it, we were landing at MSP at 9:40 pm...a few minutes ahead of schedule.

The shuttle to the Doubletree Hotel (where our car was parked) leaves the airport at the top of each hour. I figured it was hopeless to try and get on the 10 pm shuttle, but with luck, we got our luggage (and mine was still intact!) and RAN to the ground transportation area. We walked out the door just as the shuttle driver was starting to pull away. We got his attention and he pulled back in and loaded up our luggage.

It had been a long and somewhat stressful travel day, but in the end everything went smoothly and so much better than I had anticipated. The shuttle driver dropped us off right at our car and we drove to our son's house to spend the night...about 45 minutes from the airport. After a quick visit with the grandkids the next morning, we were on the road and home by noon.

Looking back...

This cruise was booked as a cheap replacement for the 28-day South Pacific cruise in February 2020 that we cancelled.  My only goal was to have a warm get away before the long, cold winter arrived in Minnesota. In retrospect, I got what I wanted, but so much more. Having our friends, Jon & Michelle join us, turned the two weeks into such a fun time. And just like the name of this blog...the souvenirs we returned with are the best possible kind...souvenir memories!

The Airline Paid Us to Fly

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

My alarm was set for 3:45 am, but I needn't have bothered setting it. After a fitful night of sleep, I was awake before the alarm even went off. While Bob took our overnight bags to stash in the car, I checked out of the hotel. The shuttle left from the lobby precisely at 4:30 am for the airport.

Our shuttle driver was obsessed with planes and airports. When he found out we were going to the Caribbean, he told us all about the airport in St. Marten where approaching planes fly over the nearby Maho Beach at a very low altitude...visiting this airport was on his bucket list. Even after we mentioned that we had already been there he continued to rattle off all sorts of facts and trivia about the airport.

As we were getting close to MSP, the driver started pointing up in the sky to planes getting ready to land. He was able to identify each one (in the dark mind you!) and from there gave a long string of details about Fedex and their flights. If anyone needs an aviation expert for a trivia team, he’s your man.

I am fortunate to be married to a man that doesn't say "I told you so" because we breezed through security and then had a long wait until our flight boarded. Waiting another hour to take the 5:30 am shuttle would have gotten us to the airport in plenty of time. Yes...it would have been nice to have an extra hour in bed, even with poor sleep.

Well before dawn with a Caribou coffee to start the day.

Our airfare had been a great deal using very few points, but to get such cheap tickets meant booking basic economy fare. No seat assignments until 24 hours before the flight and at that point only middle seats were left. At least we were in consecutive rows.

The flight went smoothly and we landed a few minutes ahead of schedule for our layover in Atlanta. While waiting for the second leg of the trip to Ft. Lauderdale, the gate agent announced that the flight was overbooked and they needed volunteers to give up their seats. I didn't wait for her to repeat the request. Once I was sure they could get us on a flight the same day we agreed to be bumped. Our compensation? We each were to receive $400 which would be applied to a gift card of our choosing. 

Our layover became a little longer than planned, but well worth it!

We were confirmed on a flight for 3:58 (less than 4 hours later than our original flight) but then asked to be put on standby for an earlier flight at 2:30 pm. It didn't look promising since that flight was also fully booked but luck was on our side and we got the last two seats! We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale just two hours later than our original flight...and $800 richer!

Once in FLL, we had to retrieve our checked bags which had arrived earlier on our original flight. It was a relief to see them safely inside the baggage office, but a letdown when we saw that my luggage had been severely damaged. It looked like an elephant had sat on the bag. There was a gaping hole where the side had popped loose. Luckily the lining was still intact which kept the contents from spilling out.

Knowing the bag still had to make it through the cruise and then another flight to get home, I was not sure what to do. The lady working at the baggage office said "oh, it isn't so bad". What?!?! I had visions of it on the bottom of one of the huge bins of luggage being loaded onto the ship with my unmentionables being strewn all across the dock.

She and Bob worked to get the side pushed back somewhat into place and then she scrounged around in a back room and came out with a dirty luggage strap to help hold things together. The strap had an ID card from someone from Tokyo so I know it was a lost & found item. I filled out a damage report and they assured me that Delta would compensate me in some form for the damage. 

Fingers crossed that the strap holds things together!

Having flown into FLL for previous cruises, we knew where to go to catch the shuttle to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Avenue. It was the first time we had been at the HI-Express although we have stayed at the Hyatt Place and Embassy Suites nearby. The regular hotel entrance was blocked off for construction and there was only a temporary lobby, but our room was fine. It looked like it had been newly renovated with modern furniture and a very large screen TV. One indication that the room had just been redone were the many USB outlets available. The bathroom had a nice glass shower and a sliding door between the bedroom and entry/bathroom area made it possible for one person to get ready in the morning without the light or noise bothering someone else trying to sleep later.

Our room looked out over the pool.

View from window.

For dinner we walked across the street and had gyro platters at a little spot in a strip mall. Nothing to get excited about but it was incredibly nice to sit outside soaking in the warm evening air.

The long travel day caught up with us so after showering we crawled into bed. Bob enjoyed watching some sports on TV while I updated my blog notes. As I was working on my iPad a weather alert came through. There was a winter weather advisory for our county back in Minnesota! 

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM Wednesday. Snow. Additional snow accumulations of 1 to 3 inches. Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the evening and Wednesday morning commute.

So...please disregard the statement I made at the beginning of yesterday's blog saying there were no weather issues! Honestly...it didn't affect us, but it is just the idea that EVERY SINGLE TIME we travel it seems a big weather system comes through at home or where we are headed.

Heading Home

Sunday, February 24

It was still dark when we got up and went to the hotel lobby to wait for our ride to the airport at 6 am. Coffee was available which was much appreciated but we were too early for the breakfast that was included in our stay. When the four of us booked the package deal for Iguazu Falls I had expected that all of our transfers would be together in a van. But no. Again two drivers in two cars showed up. Seems like putting us together in a larger vehicle would have been a cheaper alternative. I know that is what I would have preferred.

Kent and Laurel were traveling with 3 large suitcases, a carry on bag and two backpacks...almost more than the small car could handle. It took some creative maneuvering by the driver, but they made it.

On our way to the airport we went past the obelisk. Very pretty in the predawn light.