The Journey Begins

It all started early – very early. We were up at 3:00am. After getting dressed, we picked up around the house and made some coffee.

On Our Way to Italy

Then we got the dogs settled at Thomas’ Dad’s house – Bruce and Nancy wiil take care of them for us. We left the house around 3:40am and headed to Albuquerque. Since it was so early there wasn’t any traffic but the drive seemed to take forever. Eventually we arrived at Airport Parking and caught the shuttle. We checked in our bags and got our boarding passes and headed for security. It was slow going through the checkpoint – they only had one lane open, but we got through and gathered our things and headed for our gate. By the time we got done with everything we didn’t have long to wait for our flight. We boarded the plane and took our seats. The flight was quick, it only took about an hour and 20 minutes to reach Dallas. We landed at DFW at Terminal D – we then needed to get to Terminal C for our connecting flight to New York. The Skylink was a quick ride to Terminal C and in no time we were at our gate. There was still about an hour before we were leaving so we took a bathroom break and then got a quick bite to eat (McDonald’s – bacon McGriddle, sausage McMuffin, hashbrowns and water). Then we waited, but not very long and then we started the boarding for the flight to JFK. The boarding seemed to take forever and we left about 15 minutes later than our scheduled departure – it was about 10:20am when we finally took off. This flight was longer and a little more uncomfortable because the woman in front of me kept pushing back in her seat and causing my drink to spill. She did eventually go to sleep and that made things better.

During the flight to JFK I watched Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, I listened to my iPod, I read and I worked a little on this blog. It definitely made the flight go faster. The only snacks on the flight were things you had to buy and I felt they were really expensive for what they were offering. So I had some orange juice and water. Thomas didn’t have anything except the water he brought on the plane with him. Most of the time Thomas read or slept and before we knew it we were in New York.

When we arrived in New York it was around 2:30pm which meant we had about 5 hours to kill. We walked around the concourse and eventually stopped at Abitino’s Pizza and we each had a slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza. After eating we walked around and stopped in a couple of shops before heading to our gate.We found a corner of the waiting area and settled in. I connected to the internet to look up a quote from the Madagascar movie.

Alex

The main character (a lion named Alex) was talking to his zebra friend (Marty). They were in Rome and they were part of a circus performing at the Colosseum and this was the quote . . .

“The Colosseum Marty! The original theatre in the round. You know my ancestors used to perform here. Every show a captive audience. Apparently they killed.”

I loved this – since we are going to Rome and will visit the Colosseum and since I use the trail name lionsmane this quote really stayed with me.

After checking this quote I look at my emails and then decided I could use some coffee. There was a Starbucks near our gate so I started walking in that direction. I ended bumping into Grumpy Grinch (Susie and Frank). I showed them where we were sitting and they went and met Thomas and I went to get my coffee – I ended up with a venti iced Caramel Macchiato. We visited for a little while and Susie gave us each a bag of trail mix for a snack on the plane. Not long later the lazy letterboxer (Deanne) and the letterboxing ham (Dave) showed up. Deanne made everyone a journal with the event stamp on the cover (a great journal and a nice gift) and she carved us each a signature stamp (our trail name in Italian).  Shortly thereafter someone noticed the rest of the group walking in so I went over and showed them where we were sitting. So we were joined by ggghiker (Toni), EdieSoCal (Edie), The Seeker – aka Nana C of Nana C and the Seedlings (Cheri), sewsewbizzy (Judy) and Mark & Sue Pepe. Sue brought banana bread to share with the group. With all twelve us now in the airport I think it finally hit me we were on our way to Italy. The group has people from all over the U.S. – Alaska, California, New Mexico, Illinois, Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts. We did some stamping in of the new Italian signature stamps, the event stamp and some stamps that sewsewbizzy carved to plant in Italy. You can read about that at Letterboxingat JFK. We then just visited until it was time to board the plane which was about 7:30pm. By the time we boarded, taxied on the runway and finally took off it was a little after 8:00pm.

Settled in our seats and finally on our way, the flight crew came around with drinks. Thomas and I each had 3 rum and cokes. During this time I did some puzzles on my Kindle and started watching one of the in flight movies – Darling Companions. Not long after (about 9;30pm EST) they came around with a little meal. We had a choice of chicken or pasta. Thomas and I opted for the chicken. We had chicken and rice with a salad, crackers, cheese, bread and a brownie. Not too bad and it hit the spot. After eating I relaxed and finished watching the movie. Once the movie was done I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth – if we had an eight hour flight I needed to have fresh breath. I then took some time to write a few things on this blog and listen to some music on the iPod. For the remaining of the flight I did a few things – but sleeping was not one of them. I read, did puzzles on the Kindle, wrote in my journal and watched another movie – this one was The Vow. The last part of the flight seemed to go faster than the rest. About an hour before landing the flight crew brought out croissants and orange juice and we also had coffee. After eating I packed everything away except my iPod and I just listened to music until we landed. Once off the plane we went through Passport Control and then off to baggage claim. We all gathered our bags and headed outside to meet our transport to the hotel. I will continue our trip in the next post now that we are in Rome.

Italy Planning and Preparations Are Complete

In January of this year we started plans and preparations for a trip to Italy. Last year we took a cruise in Alaska with a group of letterboxers that was put together by Mark & Sue Pepe for one of their Pinecone Adventures. We had a great time on that trip and since this trip to Italy is another Pinecone Adventure we decided to go on this trip as well. This trip and event is called Viva Italia Letterboxing Tour. We are very excited about this trip and I have been planning since the beginning of the year.

Classic Italy Tour

I got travel guides and maps, I did research on the internet, I talked to people who have been to Italy and countless other things to prepare for this trip. We are going with a tour group and we are taking a tour called Classic Italy - Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Venice & Lake Como. This is a twelve day tour but we will gone 14 days with the travel to Italy and back. We have been to Italy before but it was on a tour of Europe so we only had a few days in Italy and didn't get enough time in the country. This time it is all Italy and I am looking forward to it.

For the trip we are only allowed one check in bag and one carry on bag. I was a little worried when I first found this out but I did a lot of research and planned well. I have a medium sized suitcase to check in and it weighs about 37 pounds and I will carry on a backpack with a few other things. I think I did well with my packing and I am sure that I willl have everything I will need for the trip. As of 4:00pm this afternoon we are completely packed. There are only three things that I need to take care of tomorrow and then we are ready to enjoy our trip. We leave very early on Wednesday morning - 6:00am and we will be traveling from Albuquerque to Dallas to New York and finally to Rome. We arrive on Thursday morning around 10:00am in the Eternal City.

I plan on posting to this blog every day so that I can journal this trip. But that will depend on the internet connections in the areas where we will be. My exact plan is to write my blog post in Word and then publish them to the blog itself when I have a connection. This blog will hold the details of our trip throughout Italy and on the days we do some letterboxing I will post on my Lion's Game blog at Italy Letterboxing.

Carnival Caribbean Cruise: Day 9 – Debarkation and the Trip Home

We docked this morning in Galveston at around 8:00am. But we couldn’t leave the ship until our Zone was called. We were Zone 6. So we all decided to meet for breakfast at 7:30am and then find a place to sit until they called our number. We ended up on some couches on Deck 4. We just visited and waited. Finally around 9:20am we were called. We made our way to Deck 3 and the gangway. When we got into the terminal all the bags were laid out in the zones. We made it to zone 6 and found all our bags. Then we had to get into a very long line to get through customs.

Joe's Crab Shack

The line moved really slow and at 11:30am we were through customs and we exited the terminal. We found a shuttle to take us to the cars in the parking areas.

Once we were all loaded in the cars we headed north on I45 toward Houston. We decided to stop at Joe’s Crab Shack for lunch. After a nice lunch my family drove Thomas and I to the airport. We said our goodbyes and they headed home to Louisiana. We entered the airport, checked in and then made our way through security. We spent the next hour at our gate waiting for our flight. We spent the time reading until we boarded. On the plane we both slept a little and luckily the two hour flight seemed shorter and in no time we were landing in Albuquerque. We grabbed our bags, caught the shuttle to our car and eventually made our way to Santa Fe. We were in our home and loving our dogs by 8:20pm. I called my sister to find out if they made it home okay and to let them know we were home. After that we unpacked but that is all we had energy for. We showered and fell into bed – it is always nice to travel but we love it when we are home in our own bed.

We had a great trip and enjoyed our time with my family. All in all the trip was very relaxing and we got to see some great areas that we had never seen before. We are both glad we have this next week off to continue to relax. Thanks to Brent for getting this trip organized and thanks for including us.

Homeward Bound

Carnival Caribbean Cruise: Day 8 – Third Whole Day on the Ship

This morning we slept in since we weren’t docking anywhere and we had the whole day on the ship. When we did get up we headed down to the Southern Lights Restaurant for breakfast. We took our time eating and just relaxing then we returned to the cabin to get our clothes organized. We needed to pack our bags and have them ready for pick up by 11:00pm. So we packed what we didn’t need for the day and tomorrow. Then I headed to the gym for a little work out. After 45 minutes on the elliptical and some leg work on the nautilus machines I went back to the cabin and changed into my swim suit. I decided to spend a little time getting some sun. I spent about an hour in the sun and then I got too hot and changed to a hammock that had some shade. I read on the hammock for about an hour and then I went back to the cabin to get Thomas so we could get some lunch.

Chocolate Extravaganza

We headed to the buffet on the Lido Deck and bumped into my family. They had gone to the Chocolate Extravaganza. We talked for a while and then they went off to do their thing and we found something to eat. We both had a build your own burrito and then some dessert from the Chocolate Extravaganza. After eating we returned to the cabin and took a nap which lasted about two hours.

When we woke up we took showers and got dressed for dinner and then finished packing our bags. As we left the cabin to do a little walking around the ship we put our bags outside the cabin so the porters could pick them up. We walked for a while then found a spot to sit on Deck 4 near the lobby. We listened to some music and then my brother and his wife showed up. So we visited with them until it was time for dinner. We all made our way to the restaurant for our last dinner on the ship. We really lucked up on this cruise because our dinner companions were a great family and we always had a wonderful time visiting with them. For dinner tonight Thomas had a salad and then roasted prime rib and for dessert he had a tropical fruit plate. I had a crab cake and frog legs for an appetizer, then panko crusted shrimp for an entrée and ended with cappuccino pie for dessert. Dinner tonight ended up lasting about two and a half hours. Then we said goodbye to our waiters and dinner companions before returning to the cabin for the night. Tomorrow we dock in Galveston and our trip comes to an end.

Towel Heart

Carnival Caribbean Cruise: Day 7 – Cozumel

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Thomas and I woke at about 7:00am and got dressed and ready for our day in Cozumel. We decided to have breakfast in the Southern Lights Restaurant first and then head into port. After eating we headed down to Deck 0 to debark.

Cozumel Port

We walked down the dock and to get into Cozumel we had to walk through a shopping area. We were bombarded with sales people trying to get us to buy everything from liquor to jewelry to clothes to purses to candy to cigars. It was a long walk. Then we get into another shopping area with different stores and restaurants. We walked around a bit and ended up bumping into Donna, Mark, Brent and Heather. They were waiting to go for their excursion – a day at the beach. They went to Playa Mia Beach Park for some relaxation in the sun.

Sailboats on the Caribbean

So we left them in their line and we continued navigating our way through the shopping area so that we could exit the port and walk around Cozumel. So we headed down the main street outside the port and headed toward the downtown area. We walked along the sidewalk where we always had a view of the water. We stopped not too far from the port to find a letterbox and then we continued on our way. Along the way we say lots of flowers, sailboats in the blue water, iguanas and lots of taxi drivers. We were stopped at least 25 times by drivers to ask if we wanted a tour of the island. We said no each time as we just wanted to wander. After a three mile walk we arrived at the downtown area and here we were constantly being asked to come in to the shops – everything from diamonds to cigars. We walked around the area and took pictures and we did go into a few shops. It was a pretty hot day and the humidity was high so at one point we stopped for gelato and some water and sat in a shady spot with a nice breeze to keep us cool.

Seahorse on Fountain

We spent about an hour in the area and then decided to head back. We started walking back again on the sidewalk along the water. We passed a beautiful arched fountain and some other statues along the way. The walk back to the port seemed faster than the walk from the port. Again I took pictures and enjoyed the view of the Caribbean. Since Thomas and I are not really shoppers we made our way back to the ship. After checking back in we headed to the cabin – Thomas decided to take a nap but I headed to the spa. I wanted to spend some time in the Thermal Suites. So I changed into my bathing suit and grabbed some other things and headed up to the spa.

I had the place to myself. Since most people were still out in Cozumel the ship was pretty quiet. I spent about 45 minutes there going from room to room. Then I decided to head to the Serenity Deck to get some sun. I was probably up there around two hours and then I took a walk around the ship before heading back to the cabin. Thomas had showered and dressed for dinner already and so I jumped in the shower and got dressed. We decided to go for a walk and have a drink before dinner. We stopped at the FunShops and I ended up buying a watch that was on sale for 50% off. Then we went to the RedFrog Pub for a drink and snack. I tried the Thirsty Frog beer (which I loved) and some grouper fingers. Thomas had a rum and coke. After our drinks and snack we went to the Play It Again Piano Bar to listen to some music until dinner time. Then we headed to the Northern Lights Restaurant for dinner.  I had chicken tenders marinated in Thai spices, shrimp and fries and chocolate, raspberry & vanilla cream cake. Thomas had a salad, lasagna and old fashion apple pie. By the time we finished dinner we were both really tired and decided to call it a night. Tomorrow is a day on the ship.

Towel Snail

Carnival Caribbean Cruise: Day 6 – Belize

This morning we stopped near Belize. I say ‘near’ because we anchored about 5 miles out from the port.

Belize Map

This meant that we had to Tender into the port. Thomas and I had signed up for a shore excursion with Brent, Heather, Donna and Mark. We were going zip lining and cave tubing. Our tour wasn’t until 9:00am and we ended up being ready by 7:00am. So we headed to the Southern Lights Restaurant for some breakfast. After eating we headed to the Showtime Theater (which was the meeting point for our excursion). It was about 8:15am when we descended the stairs and we encountered some staff members that directed us to join a line. This line went around a corner, through the lobby, into the Northern Lights Restaurant and around the entire perimeter, out the restaurant back into the lobby and then down the hall to some tables at the entrance to the theater. Here we showed our excursion tickets and then we were given small, round tags that were colored and had a number on them. We were then directed into the theater (which was packed with people) where we found seats. After we sat Thomas noticed Brent, Heather, Donna and Mark. We met with them and went to sit upstairs in the theater where there were more seats. Then it was a waiting game. You had to wait until your color tag and number were called and then you could make your way to the Tender. It was around 11:00am before we were called. Talk about a huge waste of time – just sitting in the theater waiting – my idea of a great vacation.Finally we were on the tender and we took the 15 minute boat ride from the ship to the dock. Then we were directed into a building into another line and then onto a bus for our excursion. We were told when we left the ship that the last Tender back to the ship was at 4:15pm and our excursion was suppose to last 6 hours. Luckily we booked the excursion through Carnival because the ship would have to wait for us to return.

Crystal Cave

Now for the excursion. We were on a bus that was supposed to be air conditioned but was pretty warm and it had a rough ride. We drove for an hour and a half on the Western Highway and reached our destination. We arrived at the Nohoch Cheen Entrance for the park. The bus parked and then we got off that bus and took another bus over a hill and then stopped again. Here we got a key for a locker to store our things during the excursions. First we did the cave tubing. We met our guide and he gave us life vests and hard hats with lights. Then we grabbed our tubes and our guide helped us get settled in the tubes in the water. We were hooked together two people side by side in a line of four. Our guide pulled us through the water around the caves. Here and there we had some sunlight poking in but mostly we used our head lamps. We also got out at one point and walked around the caves and saw some pottery shards from the Mayas. We also had a chance to swim in a part of the river before getting out of the water and turning in our tubes, life vests and head lamps.

Zip Lining

Next we went to get set up for the zip lining. We got our harnesses put on then got a hard hat and gloves. Next we walked up some steps to a demonstration area and got some instructions and safety warnings. Then we climbed more stairs to get to the first zip line. We went in this order Brent, Heather, Donna, Mark, Me and then Thomas. Donna and Heather seemed to be a pretty nervous. And I know Thomas and I were a little nervous but I was ready to give this a try. I couldn’t really see anyone else except for Mark in front of me and Thomas behind me. The first two lines we just sat back and held on to our strap as we traversed the line – we did not brake on the first two lines. I did pretty good on both of these except on the second one I started turning but ended up landing just fine. Well, landing isn’t really the right word. I was going pretty fast and they told us not to brake so I ended up hitting the guy on the platform that was catching us. I felt bad because with my weight and speed I hit him and we rammed into the pole that was in the center of the platform. I felt bad about that but then learned that everyone was doing that to him. I bet he is really sore after a day of this. After the second one I was feeling really good and was really enjoying myself. We had three more lines to go and on these we had to brake at the end. I was a little nervous because I didn’t want to brake too soon and end up not making it to the platform. But I worried for nothing I ended up doing just fine and was really wanting to do more. I loved the feeling of flying through the air. This was really one of my favorite things I have ever done and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Now that we were done with the zip line we returned our harnesses, hats and gloves and then picked up our things out of the lockers. We then went to an area where you could buy some food. They had rice and beans with chicken cooked in coconut milk at one station and they also had nachos at another station. It seemed the nachos were more popular than the rice and beans. They also had some wine you could taste. I think there was pineapple and cashew wine and I was told that they tasted horrible – I didn’t try any – I took a break from any alcohol today. There was also Belikan beer that some people were drinking and there were mixed reviews about it. We had about an hour to kill while we waited for some of the other people on our bus to finish their zip lining. There really wasn’t much to do so we sat and ate while waiting. We then loaded the bus and went back over the hill and then got on the bus that would take us back to the dock. It was another hour and a half ride to the dock and then it was straight on to the Tender and back to the ship. We were back on the ship at about 5:30pm. I had a terrific time with the cave tubing and zip lining but was really aggravated with Carnival for the way they handle the debarkation. I would have loved to have that two hours we sat in the theater to explore Belize City a little.

This had been a long day and Thomas and I were really tired. We returned to our cabin and put our things down then decided to go to the buffet for dinner instead of waiting for dinner in the restaurant at 8:15pm. So as we ate and relaxed we realized we were more tired that we thought. So we finished our meal and returned to the cabin and take showers. We watched the movie Hop on tv and then read a little before calling it a night at around 9:00pm. Tomorrow we are in Cozumel and after the fiasco of debarkation today Thomas and I decided to just do our own thing. We don’t dock until 8:00am and we have until 3:30pm to explore Cozumel.

Towel Stingray

Carnival Caribbean Cruise: Day 5 – Mahogany Bay (Coxen Hole), Isla Roatan, Honduras

This morning we met everyone at the Southern Lights Restaurant around 7:00am for some breakfast before heading into Mahogany Bay.

Coxen Hole Port

While we were eating the Captain came on the intercom to inform us due to high winds it wasn’t safe for him to maneuver the ship into the channel to dock. So he made alternative arrangements and we ended up docking at Coxen Hole a few miles away. This put us about a half hour later than the scheduled docking – not too bad. So when we finished breakfast we all headed down to Deck 3 and the Shore Excursion desk to sign up for our Zip Lining and Cave Tubing Excursion for tomorrow in Belize then we made our way to Deck 0 and the gangway to the dock

Cameo on a Shell

Coxen Hole has some shops and a visitors center inside the dock and in the parking area there are taxis available as well as any tour operators for shore excursions. We didn’t have any excursions planned so we visited a few shops and Thomas bought a couple of gifts and then we all decided to go for a walk and look for a letterbox. We exited the dock and headed west down the main road. We walked quite a ways down the road looking for the landmark – a stone castle. We eventually found it (it was Stone Castle Cameo Factory) and continued just a short distance and found the letterbox. After stamping in we returned to the stone castle which is a place where they make cameos. So we went inside and found some beautiful pieces of jewelry. Thomas bought another gift and Donna also bought something. Then we made our way back to the dock. But this wasn’t the end of our visit. We got a taxi from within the gates of the dock and we went to the Mahogany Bay area.

Mahogany Bay Beach

There was an excursion that you could take which got you a ride on a ski lift type chair from the shopping area over to the beach (you could also walk but why do that when you can fly). We didn’t do the excursion but we decided to do the chair. But first we stopped by Fat Tuesdays and got drinks and then we got out tickets for the chair and took the short ride to the beach. It was a pretty nice beach and there were chairs all over that you could lay out on. We were also ready for lunch at this time so we stopped at a little restaurant on the beach and had a nice relaxing lunch. After eating and refilling our drinks we found some chairs and then hit the water. The water was a little cool but really nice and it was a little blue but not as blue as I had pictured. We did enjoy ourselves in the water but our time didn’t last long. We needed to get the taxi back to the other dock and we wanted to do a little more shopping. So our taxi driver took us to a little Mercado and we all found a few little souvenirs before heading back to Coxen Hole.

We walked around the shops here for a little while before heading back on to the ship. We had to be back on board by 5:30pm and we made it by 5:15pm. Once back on the ship we all headed to our cabins to clean up. Thomas and I showered and got dressed and decided to take in a show before dinner. We saw a show called Destination: Unknown. Here was how the show was billed . . .

Destination: Unknown! A Night of Extraordinary Illusions: starring Jason Byrne and the Carnival Magic Singers and Dancers.

Destination: Unknown!

The show was fantastic! The effects were great and it was high energy. All the illusions were pretty impressive and the hour went by so fast. I wanted to see more and was sorry that it was over. But I guess it was good because it was time for dinner.

Thomas and I headed for the restaurant and got there a few minutes before it opened. Once the doors were open we were the first at our table. Then the other family at our table showed up then Brent and Heather. Donna and Mark didn’t make it to dinner (we found out later that they fell asleep and slept right through dinner). We had a nice time and a great meal - . The other family had seen the show as well and enjoyed it as much as we did. So we talked Brent and Heather into eating dinner quickly and leaving so they could catch the 9:00pm show.

The day was really nice, we had a great time on the island even though it rained just a little. We saw a beautiful beach and some incredible flowers. I am so tired now and tomorrow will be another busy day.

Towel Thingy