Day 0

Day 0

Michelle got me up at 8:30. As I got out of the bathroom, Tom walked through the door. We sat and talked with them for about an hour. I had my last egg and sausage biscuit. Tom did not have coffee because we do not have cream. Nonetheless, Tom stuck around for a while. She came by to say bon voyage. This was a good thing because it won’t see him for four months. We had plenty of time, so this was a good thing. Tom left and Denise walked through the door. We talked to Denise for a while. She, too, wanted to wish us bon voyage. We talk with her for a few minutes. I finished my breakfast and got my computer stuff together. We decided I was taking both laptops and one iPad. I spent about an hour checking this on that. We wanted to make sure that we had everything. We put everything into my backpack. It was about this time, almost 11 o’clock, when I saw Scott through the windows. Scott, our driver to Fort Lauderdale, was ready to go. Mary loaded me into the car. She then packed the boxes around me and climbed in herself. She then managed somehow to get herself in the car and into her seat. I was honestly amazed that she was able to fit everything into the car, including herself. I did not see because it was behind me, but I can’t imagine there was but 2 inches of square space free.

As we drove out the driveway, our wonderful neighbors gave us a nice sendoff. George, Kim, Kathy, Jim, Denise we’re all at the end of their driveway wishing us a good trip. We even had Kathy’s good cookies. It was a great sendoff. We have great neighbors.

Scott, our driver, did a great job of getting us to Fort Lauderdale. We had one stop at a rest stop. We got gas and Mary peed. There was one slow down area where we had to get off the turnpike. There was an accident so Google maps routers around. We’re going to the hotel at 4:15.

Mary went into the hotel to find out that our room was not ready. Nonetheless, we unloaded all of our bins and suitcases into the hotel. We sat there a bit before the Cruise Specialist ladies came by. We chatted with them. It made me feel better that they were actual Cruise Specialist people. About 5 o’clock, we got our room. We went upstairs. A room was very nice. (Room 932 in the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale West) We went upstairs and chilled for about 30 minutes

At 6 o’clock, we went downstairs. There was a Cruise Specialist get together fo all World Cruise folks at 6 o’clock. I had a glass of wine and Mary had Diet Coke. We found open spots at the table. Over the next 20 minutes or so will we met two or three couples and a couple of single people. Of course, I can’ remember their names right now, but I’m sure I will meet them again. We had salad and a chicken dish with carrots and broccoli. It was very good. We also had cheesecake for dinner. Lady next to me, and me, killed a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. It was good. I don’t remember the name, but it was good. We learned a little bit more about Cruise Specialists. After dinner, we sat and talked for about an hour with the people at the table. It was about 9 o’clock when we went upstairs. I finished the crossword puzzle while Mary flipped through the channels. I was asleep with my pillow. I think the same for Mary.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, I noticed my watch wasn’t working. I didn’t think much of it. I figured it ran out of battery. Mary plug it in in the middle of the night. When I got up the watch still was not working. This would be the first failure of the trip. I use my watch for my smart drive on my chair. Without the watch, the drive is useless. The first thought was we would buy a new one in Los Angeles, three weeks from now I would have to reconfigure Mary’s watch to use my smart drive. Oh well, we had a plan.