Bahamas Vacation - Day 3

Worked out, showered.

View from our stateroom as we came into port.

We decided to have breakfast at the sit down restaurant – Crossings. Mainly because we hadn’t thought of it until now. Very nice. Much better that the trough. And there wasn’t wind blowing our food away!

Flat Stanley came with us. Mom brought him along for one of the Kindergarten classes.

Before leaving for shore, I placed a piece of paper in our stateroom window so we could figure out which room was ours from the dock.

Headed “aboard” as mom keeps saying (instead of “ashore”)

Stanley was coming with us too for a day of adventure.

In the welcome center, all sorts of options are available. I grabbed a few maps and books and stood in a corner trying to find an ad for a trolley. Nope.

We could hear a guy peddling bus tours, so mom said a bus was fine. I went over to investigate. 2-2.5 hrs for $25 each. Ok, sold.

We had to wait about 20 mins while he gathered up more people to fill the van.

At first it was just us, a couple from Philly and a mom and her 8 year old son from the UK.

It wasn’t until we got outside that we saw the extra family the driver “Hubert” had gathered. Oh dear lord, you can take the family out of the West Side, but you can’t take the West Side out of the family! Unbelievably stupid white trash.

Started out on our tour… “Hubert” said a few dumb jokes and the West Siders laughed and laughed like it was a comedy show. They were constantly making asinine comments throughout the day.

We stopped Queen’s Staircase and some fort for about 20 mins.

Yes, even though I said, “no forts or Mayan ruins”, I did climb the fort – great view from up there.

Mom and I were separated in the van, so we couldn’t look at each other while the idiots spoke. Good thing probably, cuz we would have had a giggle fest.

Next we stopped at a Rum Cake store/factory. The West Siders had no interest because they couldn’t get drunk off from it.

It was actually really really good! Even mom liked it.

We headed to Atlantis. It was on the ride there, that “Hubert” held a contest for the UK boy and Raymond – the 9 year old West Sider. I don’t remember the specifics of the contest – but it was revealed that Raymond has 4 pigs at home. Seemed about right.

Atlantis was nice, impressive, etc. But if you have been to Vegas, you’ve seen stuff like this before. We walked in to see the Golden Chair and walked back out. The West Siders took 30 minutes taking pictures of everything.

To occupy our time we posed Stanley and took photos. Got to look closely in some of the photos. Got to look closely in some of the photos.

Next we headed to look at houses in a nice neighborhood and then back to port. At some point in the last 30 minutes, Raymond started talking about his sore butthole.

We were so relieved to be away from those people!

Mom and I headed to the straw market… I made it about 10 minutes before I told mom we were done.

We stopped at Senor Frogs thinking we could get a “Sands” – a local beer. Nope – no local beers sold. So I got 2 Miller Lites - $7 each! It is by far the most I have ever spent! We could see the ship from the bar.

Walked along the pier and mom was able to get a new conch shell for $5; fresh off the boat.

Did some shopping in regular stores. Never found mom’s nightgown (aka: sleeping ‘frock’) or a toe ring for me.

We stopped at a small dive bar to get the local beer we had heard about.

On our way back to the boat, we saw this privately owned yacht and decided this is how we would like to spend Spring Break 2012!

Once back to our boat, we figured out which window was ours from the piece of paper I had left in the window. I stayed on the dock and mom went up and put Flat Stanley in the window and took photos.

We napped for a while.

Then went up to sunbathe the late afternoon away. Very nice and relaxing. Stanley kicked back in the sun too!

We stayed out there until 7.

Dinner at 8 at the Crossings. Good service. Ok food.

On our walk back to the room, we stopped at the casino. I showed mom how to use a slot machine on the 2 cent slots (that forced you to bet 25 cents each time) – she quickly was up by $3, so she cashed out.

I found a slot, put in $20 and explained the Dave theory of ‘you don’t win big, if you don’t max bet’… I was doing ok. It would be nothing, then win 6 (quarters), nothing, then 6. Mom thought it was her, so she left to go to the bathroom.

The very next spin, I hit something.

A crowd soon gathered as did a casino attendant. He said it was big and was trying to calculate it.

It just wouldn’t stop!

Mom came back and couldn’t believe it!

Eventually the machine stopped – easily over 5 minutes. The attendant had said it would be over $1,000 and I didn’t believe him till I had that ticket printed and in my hand.

$1,025.75 !! So I had won $1,005.75!

We ran to the cashier, cashed out and went to the room.

Mom read, I went to sleep.

Bahamas Vacation – Day 2

I woke up around 530 and turned on the TV. Didn’t go over well, so I had to turn it back off.

From 530 to 615, tie lines were crashing along the side of the boat, so we assumed we were docking.

Around 630, we could see that we were still out to sea. So they had to of stopped at some point in the night – there is no way we couldn’t go 50 miles in 12 hours!

From about 615 on, the seas are really rough. Even mom can feel it and there is stuff rolling around on our window sill. It’s thunder & lightning too!

Crap, we have no rain gear.

I also realized that I don’t have a little waterproof plastic pouch to put our IDs/money in while we snorkel (that I can attach to my vest). So hoping we can find one OR there are lockers at the beach.

Then again, considering the weather – snorkeling won’t be happening if it doesn’t improve.

I got coffee and took it back so mom could get out of bed.

We got dressed and headed down to deck 6 where there is a lap lane. 3.5 laps is a mile… we did 6. So we felt somewhat happy with that. We were docked – so my sea legs were fine – yah!

Back to the cabin for showers…. How this cabin fits 3 is beyond us!

We are literally crawling over each other! No lie, we have each ducked on several occasions so the other could step over and get to the bathroom or closet.





Mom has declared that the fat people on board can’t possibly be showering. She doesn’t even know how my fat ass fits in the shower. (thanks mom) It’s unlikely anyone on board has the ability to shave their legs without opening the curtain and putting their leg up on the toilet seat!

Anyway…. We headed up to the Outdoor Café which is on deck 11 aft. It’s a trough (that’s what our family calls a buffet) There was an omelet station – ya! We got our meals and headed to a nice table outside.

Oops! High winds… bad move. Food literally jumped off our plates!

Back to the room. Got on our sneakers and headed out to see what the port had to offer.

Not much. It’s basically a small group of buildings with several stations where you meet your pre-booked excursion company, a taxi or shop in the crappy shops with stupid souvenirs.

Since we had taken the “no plans” approach to this trip, we had no clue of where to even go if we got in a taxi. It was evident that this port was nowhere near downtown Freeport. That’s what happens when no one does research! And since neither of us had ambition or really cared…. We walked back onto the boat!

The sun had come out, so we decided to just sit on the sundeck and take it in.
Spent about 2 hours and it became blazing hot!

We had noticed the (pay) Italian place was free at lunch time, so we went there. Mistake! It was a pasta/pizza buffet and it sucked!

We have determined that it’s more the lack of customer service that is annoying us; more than the crappy food. The staff is just plain rude and not helpful at all. There is not any signage. We have spent a lot time figuring out where we are supposed to go and what to do – as opposed to it being all spelled out for us. (aka: Disney or other FL vacation spots)

After lunch, we came back to the room to cool down and take a nap. Neither of us napped that well, but we tried.

Around 4, we headed back up to sunbathe. It was quite pleasant.

The ship pushed back just after 5 and we were no longer in the sun, so we moved to the other side of the boat. Which was better since no one was smoking.

Another complaint - the no smoking areas are not at all enforced. There are designated smoking areas – but just like dress code; not enforced.

Around 6, I ventured over to the trough to bring a selection of snacks back to the Queen.

We sat out for another hour, reading, even though the sun had gone behind the clouds. Just nice and relaxing.

Once back in the room, we showered again and got ready for dinner. Since the Italian place sucked for lunch, we decided to head to the other dining room – Crossings. Same menu as Palace (Monday nite); but deck 5 aft.

It was definitely a nicer atmosphere. Less white trash. Dinner was better tonite. Neither of us were ga-ga over the meals; but the service alone was far better!

On the walk back, we had to go thru the casino. I had an itch; but didn’t see a “Wheel of Fortune” slot, so decided to pass. Plus, the walking “black cloud” was with me.

Back in the room – mom read and cursed about the kids running the halls.

All in all – good day. We did nothing, but that was a good thing.

Our goal for tomorrow, in Nassau, is to get off the ship around 9am. Try to find a 2 hour trolley tour… a new “frock” for mom to sleep in ….. a new toe ring for me (I left mine in the rental car in Outer Banks 2 yrs ago) and be back in time for Bingo.

This ship has TONS to do! Most of it is after 9pm though. Not sure how that happens. Not for us!

Yes, we are unhappy with the food and the customer service – but we are having a great time doing nothing!!!!

I am having email withdrawls… only checked it 3 times on Tuesday and that damn near killed me! Baby steps.

Bahamas Vacation - Day 1

On Sunday morning, I flew from Hartford to Fort Myers. It was Easter so we had a big dinner with family, etc.

On Monday, mom and I got up early and set out on our quest to Miami. The same trip we attempted to make 1 year ago and never made it. If you recall, there were accidents on both roads to Miami and after hours of trying, we missed our cruise to the Bahamas.

We got there accident free this time – yah!

We would let ourselves get excited until our feet were firmly planted on that ship!

Here are the photos I took as we were leaving the port of Miami.

After we set sail, we sat on the deck for about 1.5 hours. We realized that there are a lot of “rif raff”; or “west siders” on the ship. Definite downgrade from the last boat.

It got chilly, so we went back to the room to finish organizing and get ready for dinner.

It was while we were still out on the deck that I realized I didn’t have my sea legs… and no, it was not alcohol related.

Since I was having issues, we didn’t spend a ton of time getting ready.

Found one of the 2 ‘sit down places’ for dinner. Again, so much for the dress code – every other table had someone in violation.

Ordered dinner. Not good. I had a sirloin and they refused to give me the asparagus instead of green beans because that’s what came with my meal. Even though mom’s meal came with asparagus. So we traded.

My sirloin… the paint stripes hadn’t completely dried when they served it. I think they stopped at Ponderosa when they were in Miami.

Mom had red snapper and lobster on a bed of rice stuff. She said it was really good, except the lobster was overcooked and the snapper was dry.

It was just disappointing since we know how good the dining room food was on the last cruise.

But we have figured out why…. There are 3 places you can go eat for a cover charge. Their theme restaurants – a steak house ($25), French place ($20) and an Italian place ($10).

After dinner, we walked one lap around on deck. Found the other “free” sit down restaurant and confirmed it was the same exact menu. I was having a hard time walking, so we came back to the room.

We laid on our beds and read, but there is a ton of racket above us. We are thinking it’s the kids club or something kid related. Cause there is running back and forth.

Eventually got to sleep. And I did much better than I thought – was certain laying down was gonna make me puke. But I felt fine.

Hartford, CT

Around 5:30am, I got up to pee.

Was just falling back to sleep…. What is that noise?
Is that what I think it is? No, can’t be. There is no alarm going off in my room or the flashing light….

Yah… that’s the fire alarm. Cheap hotel doesn’t even have the alarms in your room like every other hotel across the country.

I got out of bed, got the laptop, backpack, purse and jewelry and headed outside. Stood out there for about 10 minutes; got the all clear and went back inside.

Of course since it was now after 6am, I never went back to sleep.
Ugh.

Met Nic and Steph at 9:15 and we went to a Starbucks for breakfast on the way to work. It was miserable and rainy.

On our break, I went up and checked out the booth.

Hartford, CT

Today was a set day for Lacrosse. Crew call wasn’t until noon, so I had a nice relaxed morning.

I did go down for a bagel… again, was the only person in the entire place. This place is freaky!

Left for work around 11am because I was bored. Our graphics build was a breeze. Steph and I have a pretty good system in place.

Pretty uneventful day.

When I got back to the room, I worked on my Red, White and Boom! project for a while.

Columbus > Hartford, CT

Flew into Hartford. Had to go on US Air, which always makes me cranky.

Made it with minimal delays or issues.

Got to the hotel and surprise! It’s no longer a Sheraton. It’s now Hartford Plaza Hotel. No national chain affiliation.. which makes Nicole cranky!

Hotel/airline/rental car points are my “benefits plan” – so when I spend 3 nights in a hotel and don’t get any points, that makes me cranky!

Walk in to the lobby. Immediately notice the sign on the desk.. that indicates that guest should remove all detachable devices from their vehicles so they will not get stolen.

Yah… not a good sign.

Eventually, the clerk comes out and is completely clueless on the whole process of direct bill for the room/incidentals on my personal credit card. Among other basic front desk staff functions.

Go back outside, park the car and am hesitant to leave my extra (Florida) suitcase in the car. Is it going to be stolen?

I decided to gamble. I just don’t have the energy to lug it upstairs.

So the room itself is not so bad. It was a Sheraton until April 1st – so it’s only had 20 days to go downhill.

I quickly notice the stain on the bathroom tile.

I decide it’s blood since there isn’t much that permanently stains tile.






Then I note that the hair dryer has been removed.

So I look in the usual places for a normal hair dryer… nothing.

I then call the front desk requesting one be sent up.

Ugh.







I spent a few hours working on email and such.

Then I headed down to the bar for some dinner.

I sat there for a good 10 minutes before I saw a soul. I could of poured myself a few shots and no one would of known!

The pregnant bartender showed up. I ordered the burger.

She ate a salad.

When she delivered the salad, she said, “I was so craving a burger today” (rubbed her belly with one hand) “But I gotta eat healthy”

With the other hand she opened a drawer, and got out a Marlbolo Red and a lighter.

OMG! Not just a cigarette, but a Marlboro Red! That’s hard core!

So I guess the salad makes up for the nicotine the baby is getting. Dear lord!

I will say, the burger was not bad for a hotel burger.

April 15th -16th

Friday – Set Day

Am here for the Alabama Spring Game tomorrow. It’s my first time here for football, so that’s cool. Have been here for other sports. We are on one of my favorite trucks :)

The day quickly went sour. It started with my APs laptop dying a slow painful death.

We had a quick lunch near the stadium; I forget the name of the place. I had a grilled cheese and a shake. Yumm!


Lots of memorabilia on the walls….

Soon after lunch a really powerful storm rolled in and we had to evacuate the truck and take shelter in the bathrooms of the stadium.

Since I was the only girl on the show, I didn’t want to sit in the ladies room alone. So I hung out with the guys. We had to sit for a few hours on the main concourse of the stadium. It was very boring. They did put the weather channel on the concourse tv’s so we could see updates from the Weather Channel.

The rain and hail was unbelievable. The field was flooded and the paint started to come off the field.

A tornado touched down nearby … but we were spared. Eventually we were allowed back in the truck.










Due to the long hiatus away from the truck, we were very behind on graphics!


We worked a few more hours and then had to leave since we had to be back early in the morning.



Saturday – Game Day


So the tornado yesterday touched down near our hotel. Ripped the roof off a few nearby businesses.

I can’t believe that they are predicting a sell out crowd for the game today. Really? It’s not even a game!!!

Sure enough, the stadium started to fill up.

The game was fun and yes, it was a sell out!


It was easily two hours after the game before I headed out on the road back to my Birmingham hotel.


Are you kidding me?!

Bumper to bumper traffic for miles!



I am starting to hate yet another breed of fans.

Charlotte > Birmingham > Tuscaloosa

Slight headache this morning.  Can't imagine why?

Headed to Panera and got Shannon and I breakfast and iced coffees.

We spent the morning watching TV.

Eventually, I got my self around, showered and re-packed.

I went over to Lori & Mark’s to visit Lori and their 4 year old triplets.

I met Lori back in 1994 when I worked at the CBS affiliate in Fort Myers. At that time, Mark was a good friend of hers up in Pittsburgh. He was doing what I do now – freelance graphics.

Years later, they ended up getting married… and then the triplets!

Last fall, Mark took a job at the Charlotte office and Lori and the kids moved down in the winter.

I had lots of fun playing with the kids. But oh my goodness! They never stop moving!!!
I left there completely exhausted!!

Once I got the airport, I couldn’t wait to get on the plane because I was ready to nap!!

We were delayed quite a bit getting out of Charlotte. It wasn’t looking good for me to catch my connection. I was in row 36, which didn’t help matters.

We ended up landing early, but had no gate. Sat there for 42 minutes. Not good. Once I got off the plane, I had approx 14 minutes until my flight closed. I knew they would give away my seat because the flight was oversold, as were the 2 flights to Birmingham after mine. So I HAD to make it!

Landed at A5 and had to get to E5. Long walk to the train… long train ride… long walk to the gate. I kinda jogged, but I was wearing flip flops – so I couldn’t ‘really’ run.

I got to the gate as they were doing final boarding. Meaning 1-2 minute later, they would start giving away seats. Whew!

Of course the overhead bins were full and I was in row 26. I found a place for my rollerboard around row 12. But since the seats were full, I had to throw all my stuff in the isle so I could lift the rollerboard into the overhead bin. See my backpack is too heavy and if I lift the rollerboard over my head while wearing the backpack, I tip over backwards. Other passengers tend to get annoyed when that happens.

So I gather all my crap off the filthy floor and head back to row 26. Where I find the extremely large dude sitting in the middle seat, overflowing into mine. Oh dear god. And it is also about 98 degrees. I am dripping with sweat, hanging into the isle because there is no room left in my seat.

Somehow survived the flight and got on the road to Tuscaloosa.
Made it to the hotel and went to bed. Exhausting day!

Charlotte Vaca

So this week I was planning to spend about 5 days in Charlotte visiting friends and family and 1 day working.... And then my assignment changed. I went from working one day in Charlotte to working 2 days in Birmingham, which involved another 2 days in travel.

I salvaged what I could of my vacation and went with it.

Today I flew to Charlotte and met my friend Anne for lunch. We had a wonderful time catching up with work stuff and most importantly non-work stuff!

Then I went grocery shopping and headed to my friend Shannon’s.

We were making dinner and then heading out to a wine bar to meet some of her friends.

Dinner was fab and the wine bar… well.. it quickly began to look like this…

Columbus

Illinois vs Ohio State Softball

Worked softball today at Ohio State. Was nice to see everyone again.

April 7th – 9th

Thursday – Travel Day
Columbus > Charlottesville, VA

Got to Charlottesville in the mid-afternoon.

As I caught up on emails and such, I realized that I had roommates.

I called the front desk because I could not reach the critters.

They explained that they were harmless stinkbugs and they were invading the hotel. They would do nothing to me, but stink if I squished them.

Even so, they sent up a maintenance worker to remove the bugs.


Friday – Set Day

Oh… what a good sleep!
It’s so very rare that I get to say that!

I did not wake up with beetles looking at me either!

Stumbled down the hall to the concierge lounge for a cup of coffee. Back to my room to wake up and get changed. Then headed to the gym.


Saturday – Game Day
North Carolina vs Virginia Lacrosse

Nice to be back at UVA and not dealing with the story lines we had to cover last season.

Here is a shot of the field from the booth.

This is where the announcers sit and do the game.

After the game I was able to catch a flight home.

So much of my life is spent looking at sights like this.

And sitting in tight spots.

I am not very tall, but these planes have less and less legroom!

East Rutherford, NJ

Konica Minolta Big City Classic:
  Johns Hopkins vs North Carolina
  Syracuse vs Duke

2 games today – yah!

Everything went well. Had a little to explore the stadium.

And some shots from inside the truck

Columbus > Newark > East Rutherford, NJ

Today was one of those mornings that I questioned some life choices I have made. Mainly, my career path.

4 hours of sleep will do that to a person.

Showered, made final packing preps and headed to the airport. Much to my surprise, I had been upgraded on a Continental flight. Which shocked me because I barely have status on United, their partner. But I was not one to question on a morning like this!

I got in my seat, buckled in, phone off, jacket over my face and tried my best to sleep. I never fully fell asleep, but I at least drifted in/out and rested. Better than nothing.

When I got up to get off the plane, I realized there were a total of 7 passengers on the plane. 4 in coach, 3 in first class. NO WONDER I got the upgrade! Even my crappy “status” was something on this flight!

Had my easiest time ever getting out of the airport and to National to get my car. Of course I was sure to NOT take a Chevy Tahoe.. since this is the location I rented a Tahoe in back in 2009 and returned it to the Hartford, CT location, that promptly accused me of stealing the 3rd row of seats from said Tahoe. And eventually turned me over to a collections agency. That didn’t turn out so well for National or the collections agency.

As George Costanza once said, “they picked the wrong man to accuse of fake handi-capping”. I use that phrase many time, in other contexts.

Zoomed my way to the hotel in Secacus. Wow, Jersey isn’t that bad of a place early on a Saturday morning!

Arrived at the hotel just before 9am. Where I was told my room was not ready. Yah… that did NOT go over well. Considering the fact that I called 9.5 hours ago and was told that a roomed had already been blocked for me and no one was in it – so I would have no problem checking in early.

And amazingly enough, a few computer clicks later, “Peter” was able to give me a room. He had some story about how he had to move me to another room, but it was “all good”.

It boggles my mind how hotel clerks will flat out lie to a person and say a room is not ready, just because they can. Just because it is not 3pm. What harm does it do? Do you think that maybe by me checking into my room early, there just might be a chance that I might order room service? Or buy snacks from the front desk? Yah, there is a good chance you are going to make money off from me, IF, you let me check in. But if you don’t, you are going to piss me off and I am going to take my money elsewhere.

I went straight to bed. Where I quickly learned what terrible sound proofing this hotel has. I am 2 rooms from the elevator, however, each time it passes this floor, I can hear it. I can hear every door slam in the entire building and every footstep placed on this floor and the one above me.

So again, I drifted, didn’t actually sleep. Eventually got up, freshened up and headed to work. With a stop at Starbucks to “re-fuel”.

New Meadowlands Stadium. Just as annoying as the old one. As far as figuring out which gate to enter, etc. I was here many years ago when ESPN aired Arena Football. Before I even knew what Arena Football was. I think it was so long ago that I still had a full time job.

Found the truck with little issue.

Our set day went well. It was only 6 hours long, so that is always a bonus.

After work, a few of us walked over to a Houlihan’s nearby to watch VCU vs Butler in the Final Four. Had some drinks, dinner and good times :)

I made a fatal error in ordering. I had the French Dip and at the last second, added French Onion soup when I saw my friend John’s get delivered. Sodium overload! I did not finish anything and spent the rest of the night in agony.