What A Trip!

I just returned from a cruise to Hawaii.  I went with my husband, parents, mother-in-law, and aunt.  We were celebrating my parents and mother-in-law turning 80.  My aunt also had a birthday while we were on the cruise.

We had to get up about 3:30 am on a Saturday to fly to Los Angeles, where my daughter and her boyfriend picked us up and dropped us at the ship.  Needless to say that by the time we got on the ship, we were all pretty tired.  However, we did manage to make it to the buffet before we crashed for the evening.

There were lots of events that I planned to do the first day at sea, but we were on the heels of a tropical storm, and the ocean was very rough, so I spent that first day in my room seasick.  My dad had feared this might happen, and he was right. 

Once the waters cleared, we were at sea for several days.  One memorable thing I did was take a line dance class.  I thought it was going to be something like the Texas two-step, but instead it was more of an aerobic workout with a teacher who didn’t explain the steps very well, so I was lost for the most part, but I had fun anyway.  (I really like to dance.)

On the cruise, the food was so-so, as was the entertainment.  The finale performance was pretty good with a polished singing and dancing performance highlighted by a really good light show.  A couple of meals in the fancy restaurants and some of the meals at the buffet were good as well.  But by the time the trip was over, I was tired of eating.

On our way to the islands, we heard about the Maui wildfire, so we weren’t able to go there as planned.  Instead, we visited Kona on the big island.  The first day we got off the boat in Hilo, we heard about a missing passenger.  We later learned that the cameras had shown that about 4 am, he had fallen off the boat.  Given the extensive rail system, I’m not sure how that would be possible, so we all pretty much came to the conclusion that he jumped.

The excursions to the various islands were fun.  I enjoyed seeing the islands and hearing about their history.  I especially loved the waterfalls and rivers.  Also, the Polynesian cultural center was interesting; it reminded me of my time in New Zealand.  It was fun seeing these places with my family.

What was also fun was playing dominoes on the ship with my family and getting caught up on my sleep.  I even had some time to read a novel.  The cooler temperatures were great as well.  I’d much rather be in 70 degree weather than the 100 + degree weather in Texas this time of year.  On one of the stops, I managed to stick my feet in the ocean, which was nice, but the lava rocks I was sitting on were pretty hot, so I didn’t stay long.

On the way back from Hawaii, we found out about the first hurricane to hit the US west coast in almost a century.  So we ended up racing the hurricane back.  We go to Ensenada the day before it hit but didn’t get off the ship.  We got back to Los Angeles a day early, and they made all of us spend half a day getting off and then back on the ship, so that we could clear customs, but they never checked our IDs or anything, so I’m not really sure what the purpose of that was.

I told my daughter not to pick us up in Los Angeles because I was worried about her trying to drive in the flooding, but that never came to pass.  So I was in Los Angeles two whole days and didn’t get to see her, which made me sad.  Instead of her and her boyfriend driving us from the ship’s port to the airport, we took the bus shuttle.  The ship had us all get off before schedule, which made the order of who should get on the shuttles first a real problem, and lots of people were very angry, especially those who ended up missing their flights.

We got to the airport too early to even check in and were there for many hours.  We passed the time by playing dominoes, and I attended a virtual teacher meeting.  We had a hilarious flight attendant on our way home (better than any comedian on the ship).  By the time we arrived after 11 pm, it was too late to get a rental car, so we had to take a cab home.  It was good to be back.  Sometimes you forget how good you have it!

Joke:  Travel broadens the mind and lightens the wallet.

Quote:  There’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away. – Sarah Kay

Advice:  There’s nothing quite as humbling as realizing how small you are in comparison to the ocean.