Ah! The Irony!

The trip was great. The trip home was SO NOT! I'm not going into details but it was the biggest comedy of errors I've ever experienced with a cruise line in my life. 4.5 hours standing in line at the airport waiting for Ticketing is unacceptable at the best of time but being pregnant made it even worse. Only 16 seats for over 300 people. UGH!

Anyway, the irony is that I thought I'd beaten the cold that was threatening before I left. Well, it hit me with a vengeance by the time I hit LAX on Saturday and now it's in full swing. I've got a terrible chesty cough. Luckily it's not in my lungs as yet. Fluids constantly.

I just hope I have my voice back in time for the Christmas concerts coming up soon.

Last Full Day Aboard Ship - Back Sunday

We're docked here in Huatulco MX and Rich is onshore doing Walk-about. I'm not feeling the greatest so I chose to stay aboard. Seen a lot of MX already myself. Huatulco is being groomed as the next Cancun.

Since I last blogged we've been through the canal which was amazing, been to a mangrove forest and macaw sanctuary in Costa Rica (highky recommend it to anyone), two relatively so-so tours (bus) in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

We got our second thanksgiving dinner last night. Couldn't avoid pumpkin if you tried. It was in every course. I mean absolutely every dish.

Tomorrow we disembark in Acapulco and do a tour around the city and to see the cliff divers then it's time to fly to LAX. Spend the night there and fly home Sunday afternoon. Just in time to get laundry done, play with the cat, sleep and the go to work the following day.

What a trip! Not soon forgotten. :)

Ola Panama!

We've just cleared the Pedro Miguel lock on the Pacific side of the canal. It is a 1 lock, 31 foot drop. In conjunction with the Miraflores locks (2 of them) we're dropping 26 metres back to sea level. We started the journey at about 6.30 this morning. It's now 3pm. It takes between 8-10 hours to traverse.

The humidity here is amazing. We have had condensation issues on camera lenses. Luckily though, it's been partially overcast most of the day. It's kept the temperature down.

Lots of pictures today. Rich actually said "I think this is more interesting and fun than tunnels!" And trust me, for Rich, that's saying something.

2nd stop was boring - Aruba

We were only in port for like 3hrs. All it was that we could tell was shopping. Found Del Sol of course. Otherwise, not impressed.

We'red berthed in Columbia today but we're staying onboard. Next destination - Panama Canal.

1st Stop - Curacao, Dutch Antilles

It's 3pm here but that's 4hrs ahead of pacific time.

We've been on a tour of Willemstad and them off to feed nurse sharks at the sea aquarium. Rich then went ti thew town on foot to search oit the local brew - Amstal Bright. Quite enjoyed it but apprently they don't export that one. Poor Rich.

Off to Aruba tonight. We're planning on just toiring on foot tomorrow as it's only a half a day. Maybe get a little shopping in.

Central America - Here We Come!!!

Today is the day we take flight for more Southern climes. We fly to LA, then Miami (red-eye_, and then on to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we catch our floating hotel. We set sail at 11pm that night (Tuesday) for Curacao, Aruba, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico (west coast for a change).

We're pretty excited. It's 8am right now and Rich is catching a bit more sleep. I retired WAY early last night while Rich played on the 'puter.

Packers knows something's up. My mom came over briefly yesterday (grandma) and the cat gave us "the look". Mom fed her some treats and then she wouldn't leave Mom's side. ;) Good thing they get along so well. Lately, we've been calling Packers the princess of the house and a bit of an old maid.

Now she gets a vacation from us (mainly me) and can just sit around and sleep. She does that best. We're gonna miss her so much. She's sitting right here beside me on the chair and looks so cute on her pillow. Yes. She likes her pillows. Yesterday she sat atop a body pillow folded in half AND a throw pillow. She just has to be "on top" of things. :)

Well, I gotta go and get the last minute packing finished. We did 90% last night. Now it's the "what did we forget" stuff and the stuff we needed for our last night at home.

This will be different for us leaving late in the day. Sure hope the wind-storm won't affect our flights. So far everything is on schedule. Will continue to check.

Perhaps will try to blog from the cruise. Have laptop/blackberry, will travel. At least while I still can. Keep in touch. Email me as well. I'll try to keep up.

In the immortal words of Tigger... TTFN

Counting Down the Days to our Last Big Trip for a While

In 10 days, Rich and I leave for the port of San Juan, PR USA.  It's the start of our last cruise for a bit since we're having a new bundle of joy joining us in March.

We're flying LA->Miami->San Juan and then off through the Southern Caribbean all the way down to Columbia and then through the Canal.  Up the Central American coast (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala) to Mexico.

We had booked this prior to our wonderful surprise made itself known.  After that, I'm playing the home-body for a while.  I'm feeling as big as a house these days as well.  It will only become more in the coming weeks of course.

Everything since the "issue" has been ok thankfully.  Thanks to everyone for your kind words and thoughts.  We both really appreciate all the love.  So does the "rascal".  

Packers is keeping our rascal nice and comfy these days.  She's magnetized to my tummy.  She keeps trying to knead at my tummy to make it softer.  A futile effort these days.  Then she sleeps right on my tummy and lap.  (Less lap and more tummy of late).  Rich calls her "Nurse Kitty".  She's been quite busy of late.

Well, this weekend is full of choir stuff.  Singing in the Reformation concert on sunday (www.roca.ca).

I hope everyone has a great weekend.