TravelE

8 minutes ago, mamiamjo said:

Good luck to you. I don't think I could do 1 cabin with 5 😔 When our kids were little we did 4 in an Ocean Suite and that was bad enough. Too many people, too much "stuff" in too small of a space, and only 1 toilet 😱

Even when I share a cabin with just my DH, I try to pick a cabin near a public bathroom just in case there is a “situation” and I need an alternate facility. 

1 hour ago, Stallion said:

Awful. My son's best friend/sometimes roomate and a kid that I took on a couple of cruises with us  before also committed suicide several years ago. He was a happy go lucky kid with a bright future that you would never guess was suffering from severe depression. 

I understand he must have been in such pain. Yet it’s devastating thinking about a life extinguished at such a young age (really at any age). 
 

Depression, alcohol, and guns should not be mixed. 

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

About to play my favorite game… how much food is just enough to cover the days until we leave. 
The kids are packed. Mr. Megan is packed and heading back to work for 4 days. And I’m just here trying to figure out why I only did one stateroom for 5 again. 

This is going to be so much fun! 

You might be ready for 2 cabins after this cruise. 

I am here and excited to hear about all of your adventures.

We are also embarking on our own Alaska Graduation Cruise this Sunday on the Westerdam. I am hoping for some Northern Lights in Juneau!

Sorry I have been scarce the last few weeks. Lots going on in our lives. Some good, some bad!

I had a great trip to the Florida panhandle the last week of April with a couple of my mom friends. We met when our kids were in elementary school. Now they are either out of college or graduating soon. Below are a few pics from that trip.

Got back to Atlanta and celebrated my oldest son’s 24^th birthday with a nice dinner at home on Friday night. He had plans to go out with friends to celebrate his birthday on Saturday.

I get a text very early Sunday morning asking me to call him.

***Trigger warning: this post contains content about suicide***

After a night out celebrating with dinner and a couple of bars, his dear friend and roommate came home and committed suicide in their apartment. My son and his girlfriend called the police and then texted me. We picked them up after the police released them. They were distraught both with grief and the trauma of hearing the gunshot and knowing what it likely meant.

DS obviously does not want to go back to their apartment, so he is living with us temporarily. Not exactly his ideal living situation! But he is very grateful to have a place to stay and parents that have moved everything out of his apartment (almost) while working around a hazmat team. 

****Happy topics now*******

In the meantime, we were preparing for my younger son’s college graduation which occurred this past Saturday. We had a family celebration dinner on Friday with graduation the next morning. Everything was flawless and well-done. This DS has struggled with a learning disability his whole life so to graduate college with highest honors was an incredible feat. We are beyond proud!

Now we transition to preparation for our Alaskan cruise on the HAL Westerdam leaving this Sunday from Seattle. We fly out to Seattle on Friday night with plans to hit the Seattle highlights on Saturday. I really need to focus on packing and getting the dog ready for the dog sitter. There are a few things that still need moved out of DS1’s apartment but the movers are coming on Wednesday.

I am excited to read all the upcoming trip reports: @KmomChicago, @TxTeach79, @MeganGC1983, and @sid_9169 (maybe???)

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Tribe moms and surrogate moms!

Photos from the beach and DS2's college graduation

7 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Well Tribe I have been quiet here as the mid-May Alaska cruise approaches. I had asked everyone’s thoughts about live reviewing it as a Friends of Bill W. Cruise. 
 

That’s not going to happen. Bill’s friend isn’t his friend after all. I still intend to take this cruise because it is our only child’s high school graduation present. It’s maybe 50/50 whether Bill’s former friend will be in any condition to travel. Probably won’t decide until it’s time to drive to O’Hare. Game Day decision. 

 

Instead I might be sharing the experience of figuring out exactly what kinds of health cancellations are covered by my cruise insurance. I always buy it but confess I just get whatever plan the booking engine offers and never read the policy. 
 

For once I actually booked travel insurance on both the cruise and the flights, two separate policies. Should be interesting, I guess if that’s the word for it, to figure it out. 

 

Oh no! Sometimes it take several tries for someone to stay sober. Don't give up hope!

But you absolutely do need to carry on with your life and celebrate your child's graduation. You both deserve that.

Do any of you use USPS informed delivery? I do and it showed an envelope on its way from my County Courts Jury Services Division. I panicked and then zoomed in and could see it was for my son. I’m relieved but feel bad for him. Hopefully his work has a good jury duty policy in place!

52 minutes ago, Funsince1983 said:

Looks like we're going to need surgery (AGAIN) also. Soft casting to wait for swelling to go down and surgery to set and put in pins early next week. Same exact break my 10 year old had when she was around the same age. All 3 have now broken some part of their arm.

I’m guessing said child is also out of the game for awhile?

I hope it heals quickly!

1 hour ago, Roscoe13 said:

Wow!  Spooky...are you spying on us?

That's exactly what we are doing! I mean to the letter! 

And at the end of the month I go back in to our spreadsheet and reconcile every category as we have created a tab for inputting actual money spent vs budgeted amount. 

 

It's kinda fun and challenging and a little competitive. 

For instance, my DW didn't think we could cruise twice a year...I put in 10k, or 834 per month and the answer is? The money was there!

 

We have a grocery budget, not dining out just grocery budget, of $1000 per month for just the 2 of us. While that seems outrageous, my DW has celiac so most groceries are Uber expensive and much smaller in size. 

Not to mention almost everything that's gluten free tastes like caca!

In other words, pay more and get less with poor flavoring. 

Win/Win/Win

No, not spying but it sounds like we both love a good spreadsheet!

I estimated that our budget for groceries and eating out was $650 per month for 2.5 people (the 0.5 being the college kid that visits and usually leaves with food). We also don't eat out all that often because I don't mind cooking and we try to eat healthy.

Well, I was not even close. We are way off budget there. But like I said, tracking is definitely helping.

Being gluten free does make things harder. My son's girlfriend is gluten free but loves to bake. Her stuff tastes pretty good but I have heard that bread and some pizza dough still tastes yucky.

15 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

https://www.youtube.com/@GroundedLifeTravel

 

They have several different channels that you can link to from this one; Amtrak; Finances; etc.

I enjoy the videos because they are very "grounded" and not pushing any agenda.

Thank you. They are a cute couple, and I watched way too many of their videos last night. I am not sure Amtrak travel is for me. For example, if I want to go to New York, the train leaves Atlanta at 11:29 pm, arrives in New York 18.5 hours later, and costs $164 for a coach seat. Maybe one of the more scenic routes would be worth it.

Did you see the video where they break down how much they make from their YouTube channels, affiliate marketing (Amazon links), and blog? It was over $18K per month. Good for them!

As part of our pre-retirement planning, I started tracking all of our expenses in a spreadsheet. Both my husband and I are savers at heart, but we have some categories that definitely need adjusting. For example, our grocery bill was out of control even though it's usually just the 2 of us with one out of the house and the other at college who visits once a month or so. I also am guilty of buying too many plants for the yard recently!

However, I have found that by tracking it every few days I am doing better about staying on budget for those items. 

26 minutes ago, jerryg95 said:

I think it makes no sense to whip out cash for a small purchase. Then you have to deal with change. Considering the supposed aversion to germs that some here have, why touch disgusting US currency? 
 

if you use a debit card the money comes from the same place as the cash you seem to prefer. So much easier in all ways including budgeting. You have a running balance at your finger tips. 
 

For those with a little

self

control, use a credit card and never pay $600 for an hour flight to Miami again. 

It makes “cents” to @sid_9169

but I’m sure he appreciates you offering your $.02. 

6 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

@TxTeach79  thanks.   I follow some You Tubers who are full time world travelers and they wanted to reach out to me via Whats App, now I understand.  

 

We are considering some travel via Amtrak and these folks are very experienced Amtrak users.

I find the Amtrak website difficult at best.

 

These folks sold everything and now they exclusively travel the world living on a budget of $3 per month.  They are only in their early 50's and empty nesters.  They are not rich by any means and they have several You Tube channels that finance their travels.

Do you mind sharing a link to these people/travelers? I would love to check it out. 
Thank you!

11 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

$3? 

I would love that gig! Where do I sign up?

3 minutes ago, figmentfreak said:

Watched it and thought it was enjoyable. 

I was glad it was free. My friend says the book is better. 

28 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

Probably the pscyho one! Our brains tend to hold onto bad memories more easily than good ones. Something about evolution and bad memories teaching us more about survival than good ones. This worked well for our ancestors but nowadays leaves us with emotional baggage.

Psychologists encourage people to focus on a positive aspect of a bad memory in order to rewrite it in our brains. You might have to help your kids with this part. I know I will!

43 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

We arrived at the port at 9:10, and the parking garage was open! 😎

That's good to know!

2 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

It's cruise day!!! 😁😁😁

Cruise day is the best day. Have a wonderful trip!

2 hours ago, Stallion said:

Its always a good sign when your team wins the Spring Game (Of course, Georgia Tech also LOST the Spring Game)🤔

They try. Bless their hearts!

We went to the spring game at Georgia Tech today. It was a beautiful day for it. 
 

Tech won the game, but according to the scoreboard it’s been awhile since we won a National Championship. 

10 hours ago, Funsince1983 said:

Well, I ate them all.. so. 😬

They were sugar free so why not?

13 hours ago, Kevin135i said:

Update:

Finally got the cheque reissued and deposited without any issues.

So glad this is resolved!

With that being said, we do plan to keep crusing with Carnival in the future despite this negative experience.

How did you end up getting it resolved?

6 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Dead! 
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2dyRdROoep/?igsh=MXhsejNzZnBkeHB0Mw==

So true! 
Plus they need to take a page from Disney and update their disability boarding policy. 
 

“According to Disney, disability access has become the most widely requested service at the parks, with use more than tripling over the past five years.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/04/11/disney-disability-access-service-das/

A small population needs boarding assistance but a large number are taking advantage of it. On my last SWA flight 20 people pre boarded in wheelchairs and only about 3 waited for assistance to deplane. I think the solution is to provide them with boarding assistance but they have to wait for their A, B, or C number to be called. It will be a pain at first but will weed out the abuse. 
 

1 hour ago, mkcurran said:

I'll send you my Jury Duty vibes. I showed up, got dismissed after an hour. Easy peasey. It was so brief I forgot about it, until they mailed me a payment card for the mileage. 

I have not been called for jury duty in so long. I am worried that my number may be coming up soon!

I'll take some of your jury duty vibes just in case.

30 minutes ago, Etta1213 said:

Anybody surprised that the dementia patient off cruise ship in Cozumel hasn't been found yet?

I am actually surprised. I know his family said that he likely would avoid people, but I would have thought that after a few days without water and food he would wanted to seek out people for help. I hope they find him soon. He is basically the same as a missing child!