My Photo Trip Review of the 4-30-11 Sailing of the Dream and our Vacation

[TeknikDC2]

 

This park is the same park we passed a few days earlier on our carriage tour the sits on the corner of the Charleston Harbor and the Ashley River. There are many monuments here built to honor those who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. They also have many old cannons set up all around. Out in the distance you can see Fort Sumpter where the Civil War officially began.

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

The park is also located across from those huge mansions that are built so close to one another. I loved this area of Charleston. I loved walking along the waterline seeing the city in the distance. It had such a neat vibe that I can’t even explain it. It was instances like this that really made me fall in love with Charleston.

 

[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

 

After finishing up with the park we loaded back in the car and made our way back to the city center. We passed the famous Rainbow Row on the way and eventually found ourselves finding parking near King Street.

 

[TeknikDC2]

[TeknikDC2]

 

King Street is like the shopping mecha of Charleston. It is here where you will find many different shops from clothing stores to candy shop and also many different theaters and Restaurants. We looked in a few different shops as we made our way down the street. We were all hungry though so it was food we were mostly looking for. However we were surprised to find many stores and restaurants closed already for the night. We thought this was odd until we eventually found out that a water line broke leaving the majority of the businesses out of water for the evening forceing them to close early for the day.

 

[TeknikDC2]

We did eventually find some restaurants that were still open though and decided to eat at the Old Towne Grill and Seafood. When we went in I was expecting this place to be like a Southern BBQ place. I was wrong though as there primary food was Greek. I hadn’t really eaten Greek food before so this was gonna be a new experience for me. And it turned out to be very, very good. I had the Roasted Chicken which was pretty much half of a whole chicken. Kiera ended up getting a chicken salad of some sort. We all agreed that the food was pretty darn good here and you got a TON of food for your money. The only downside to the place was that the service wasn’t the best we’ve had. It really wasn’t all that great.

 

 

After dinner we decided to call it a night. Almost all of King Street was shut down now so there was really nothing else for us to see. We headed back to the car and made our way home for the rest of the evening. Once home Kiera and I started to get out things packed as we would be heading home tomorrow. We had about a ½ day left to spend in South Carolina before we would be saying goodbye to my family and making that plane ride back home to the reality of real life.

 

 

And this concludes this long update. Sorry again for the delay and a big thanks goes out to those of you still following my review. As always Comments are welcomed and Please ask any questions you might have and i'd be happy to answer them. Its sad for me to say but there is now only 1 segment left until this Trip Review comes to an end. With life kinda back to normal now that final update will be coming soon so watch for it. Thanks again everyone.

[NeuroQueen]

I've spent the last two hours reading and enjoying your review. You are a talented guy. I feel like I know your whole family. You and your wife are so cute together and you must post pix of the the little cruiser to be..good luck to you both and I hope you get to cruise again soon!!!

[boaterette]

I have never been to Charleston and you have made it come alive for me. It is now on my list of places to visit. I will sorely miss your reviews. Maybe when teh baby is born you can just come post here and let us know what you have. Good luck to you both.

[TeknikDC2]

Day 15: Travel Home

 

The day we never wanted to come finally had. Today was our final day of vacation. Later this evening we would be back home in Utah and our normal life would resume. The last day is never a fun day. However we had no idea going into this day how bad it would get. To day it was a nightmare is an understatment.

 

Upon waking up for the day we immediately got ready and got the rest of our things packed in the car so we could make the most of the last few hours we had at my parents house and in the Charleston area. After getting everything packed and loaded into my Moms car we went back inside to wait for her.

 

 

In addition to this day being our final day of vacation. It was also my Birthday. Yes its never fun to travel on your birthday but for what we saved on flights it was worth it. To celebrate my Mom got me a little gift before we left. It wasn’t anything too big. Sitting on the kitchen table were some balloons and a car box that contained the gift. Inside was the Nintendo Wii game Wipeout that’s based on the TV show. Believe it or not the game is actually pretty fun. Although it was something small it was nice to open something actually on my birthday (Kiera and I did my birthday at home a few days later).

 

[TeknikDC2]

 

After slipping my gift into one of our bags it was time for us to go. Although we still had a few hours tell we needed to be at the airport my Mom wanted to take us out to lunch for my birthday as well. The place we decided on for lunch was a restaurant called The Kicken Chicken. I absolutely loved this place. There main item on the menu was there Chicken Tenders and wings. Basically you choose how many Tenders you would want, how you would want them cooked, and then there was about 25 different sauces that they would cook them in. They taisted excellent and because of this place it made me really want to find a similar place back home (I love Chicken Tenders). All of us thought it was a pretty good place and the prices were reasonable as well.

 

With time still to spare before needing to be at the airport my mom took us to a local gas station to get something that seems to be a big thing in the South. Boiled Peanuts. She said you could buy these almost anywhere. My family I guess had really liked them and so it was a must for us to try before we left. My mom got us some Cajun style ones and although they were pretty darn good. They were also very, very hot. My mom said they usually weren’t that hot because those are the ones they usually get. I don’t even know how to discribe them but I thought they were pretty good.

 

 

We soon picked up Tanner from school. Then we drove over to the Middle School where my mom pulled Kory out early so that they could all see us off at the Airport. With Kory picked up we started to make our way to the Airport. It was about a 25 minute drive from where we were currently at.

 

 

As we pulled into the Charleston Airport area we once again drove past the Boeing plant where my Step Dad will be working. To our Surprise both of the Boeing Dreamlifter Jets were there today. And to make it even cooler one of them was open so that we could see inside of it. It still amazes me how cool these transport jets are.

 

 

The time was nearly 3:45pm now as we were being dropped off at the Airport Terminal. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5pm and would put us back in Salt Lake around 9pm. It was sad saying our goodbyes to my Mom and brothers but we knew we would be seeing them again soon when they came to visit us over the summer. Goodbyes are never easy especially when its with your family. Little did I know this would be the easy part of the day. I couldn’t believe how dead this airport was. Yes it is very small and not busy at all. There wasn’t even a line to go thru security. No lie it probably only took us about 10 minutes from the time we were dropped off, checked our bags in, went thru security, and were waiting at our gate.

 

The nightmare of this day began as we were going thru Security. Upon emptying my pockets my phone started ringing. It was already on its way thru the X-Ray machine so I figured I’d check it afterwards. After getting thru security Kiera needed to go to the restroom so while I waited I checked to see who my missed call was from. It was an unknown number. However they left a voicemail. So I called that. The Voicemail was from Southwest Airlines informing us that our 5pm flight had been delayed until 6:30pm. I started to panic. Kiera soon came back and I told her what was going on so we quickly rushed to our gate to find that to be indeed true with a big DELAYED sign posted. What worried me most about this delay was that we had a connecting flight in Chicago. And because of the delay we wouldn’t be able to make that connecting flight. To make matters worse was the attitude from the attendant working the stand. I asked her what was going on as we wouldn’t be able to make our connecting flight in Chicago. She looked up some info and upon finding that our flight from Chicago to Salt Lake was the last one of the day She rudely told us that we wouldn’t be flying home today and we would have to try again tomorrow. She then told us to take a seat and she would notify us when she had more info (something she never did).

 

[TeknikDC2]

With the panic and fear going thru me now that we might not be going home tonight like we planned I started making calls to those I needed to. I’m suppose to work the following morning at 6am. Kiera works the next day at 8:30am. So both made the calls needed to our works to inform them on whats going on. I felt so bad for my coworker and me and her are the only ones who do our job and she had now worked 16 days strait. I hated telling her she may have to work again tomorrow. I also called my Mom to let her know we may not be leaving Charleston today so we might need her to come back and pick us up.

 

As we were sitting waiting to hear any more info we overheard a younger couple talking to a new attendant now at the podium. We overheard them say they too were going to Salt Lake City and they were assured they would get there tonight. Ok What the Hell I thought. Since the lady still hadn’t told us jack about our situation I went back up to the podium to talk to this other attendant. I told him what I told the other girl earlier and he told me somewhat of good news (at the time). He told me Southwest would be delaying our connecting flight in Chicago for those of us coming from Charleston. However when we land we would only have about a 10-15 minute gap so we would litterally have to run from one gate to the other to catch our connecting flight. Ok that’s not too bad I thought. At least now it seems like we will be home tonight. We then made the calls we needed to and notified them to be on alert as that may change but as far as we knew we would be home tonight after all.

 

 

The time had passed and our flight had finally arrived in Charleston. Before we knew it the plane was quickly unloaded and we were soon boarding. We found our seats and I sat in anticipation. Kiera asked me if I was alright in which I responded I would be once we were on the plane from Chicago to Salt Lake. On my mind was the fear of getting to Chicago, missing our connecting flight, and then being stuck in the Chicago Airport all night. Only time would tell. Although I was nervous the entire flight to Chicago the time went by pretty fast and before we knew it we were flying next to the Chicago skyline and landing. It was now time to run.

 

 

We unloaded the plane quickly to find ourselves in a very packed Chicago Airport. We had not time to take in the surroundings though. We had a plane to catch. We quickly got to the gate where we needed to be. Only to find There was no Plane there. Oh my Gosh I thought. Our plane left without us. Panic really started to build up inside of me. We are gonna be stuck here I thought. I immediately went and got in line at the podium to speak to an attendant. Upon doing so I found out our Salt Lake flight was also delayed and it hadn’t even landed yet in Chicago (so although we were delayed 1.5 hours in Charleston our connecting flight was delayed like 3.5 hours or something).

 

Knowing we hadn’t missed our flight helped calm me down. As I looked around the terminal I now saw that every single gate had a sign posted that said DELAYED. This echoed on the moniters as well as every single Southwest flight seemed to be delayed. This was because of all the bad storms going on at the time in the Midwest and back East. Planes couldn’t take off in those zones. And any planes traveling over them had to go around the storms. Knowing we now had some time to kill in Chicago we went and found some dinner. We decided on Pizza.

 

 

Upon returning to our gate we saw a plane had now arrived. Finally I thought we were going home. However there was a question to still be answered. The podium said a flight for New Mexico would be leaving at 9pm. And a flight for Salt Lake at 9:05pm. How was that suppose to work. Well it doesn’t I guess. That plane at the gate was for those going to New Mexico. As they were boarding it was soon announced that that Salt Lake flight had been moved to a different gate and we should go there as it would be boarding soon. And so to the new gate we went. Only to get there to find no plane. How are we suppose to start boarding with no plane?

 

We waited and waited and waited. Finally a plane shows up. Oh but wait surprise. Sorry Salt Lake Passingers but this is not your plane. This plane is going somewhere else. Once again we were told to go to ANOTHER GATE and it would start boarding our flight there. Needless to say we were not surprised this time when we got to the gate and also found there wasn’t a plane there yet.

 

 

After being in Chicago for over 3 hours now and changing out gate 3 times a plane that would go finally pulled up to the gate we were at. Finally we could soon be boarding. And after the plane was unloaded we sure enough were quickly loaded onto the plane. Only to sit on the tarmac for nearly 45 more minutes. Two issues came up as we were boarding the plane. The first was a storm had rolled in so it stared raining really bad. The second was the luggage wasn’t loaded correctly and so there was a weight balance issue so they had to completely reorganize All of the luggage. I remember sitting on the plane looking out the window at the rain and thinking we are never going to get home. Now they will cancel the flight because of the weather.

 

 

I was grateful that I was wrong. As the plane soon started to pull from the gate and we would be on our way to Salt Lake. The plane took off but we weren’t in the clear yet. We still had to get out of this storm. It was a ruff ride but we were soon well above Chicago and on our way to Salt Lake. Although we would be landing nearly 4 hours later then we were suppose to we would be making it home.

 

The flight was very interesting. Out the window you could see Lightning bolts all around the plane. Something that is unique and scary to experience. That didn’t last long though as once we passed over the Midwest it was smooth flying from there until we were home. Which we finally made it to. The flight was uneventful but it too seemed to pass by quickly. Before we knew it the decent into Salt Lake City had begun. We were finally home.

 

The time was just past 1am. We were tired and exhausted from our long and very stressful day of traveling. It was so odd to see the Salt Lake Airport so empty. We got to the baggage claim area and then awaited our bags in hopes that nothing got lost with all of our delays and gate changes. We got two of our bags very quickly but our third was one of the last to come. But hey at least it did come. Although when it did I kinda got angry as there was a big tear down the backside of the suitcase that was not there when we dropped it off in Charleston. Oh well I thought I just wanted to go home. I don’t care anymore.

 

Kieras parents were kind enough to stay up and pick us up from the airport in the wee hours of the morning. We loaded up our stuff and headed to there house. Once there we retrieved the car I left at there house and we continued on to our home. By the time we got to our house it was nearly 2am. It felt good to be home. How much we had missed it. It was sad to end and incredible vacation. However after the day we had trying to get home. We were happy to be there. There was nothing like starting back into normal life on only 3 hours of sleep.

[TeknikDC2]

It saddens me to say that this is The End of this review. Its taken a long time to complete and it is sad to see it come to a close as it pretty much made me relive the vacation over again. It saddens me even more as I don't know when the next time I'll share a cruise review with you guys. This was the largest review to date that I have put together but with words and with just over 1,500 photos having been posted in it. You are all wonderful here at Cruise Critic. I want to give a big thanks to those of you who have followed my review from the beginning. Thanks to those who have read or even just looked at the pictures contained in this review. A big Thanks goes out to those of you who have actually commented and asked questions and helped contribute to this review. Its this kind of support that helps me to continue putting these things together. And of course a huge shoutout to those of you who have not only been following this review but to those of you who have followed me from the beginning nearly 2 years ago when I started doing these reviews. Thank you so much. I ask you all to please contribute to this thread as you would like no matter how old it might be. As I will still be around to answer any questions you might have. THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE ON CRUISECRITIC.COM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Many of you have expressed how much you love reading my reviews. And so I will leave you with links to all of the past reviews i've wrote (both land and sea vacations). Writing these vacation reviews have truly become a big hobby of mine lol. You'll find over 4,500 photos contained thruout the 6 reviews.

 

Honeymoon Mexican Rivera Cruise aboard the Carnival Pride to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1060691

 

Christmas 2008 Trip to California, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knotts Berry Farm, and Las Vegas:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2071198

 

Eastern Caribbean Cruise aboard the Carnival Glory to Nassau, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Plus time at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1079191

 

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 Trip to Las Vegas:

http://micechat.com/forums/other-theme-parks-destinations/138624-vegas.html

 

Western Caribbean Cruise aboard the Carnival Legend to Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, Plus time at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studios Florida:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1294711

 

Western Caribbean Cruise aboard the Carnival Dream to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Costa Maya, Plus time in Epcot and Charleston South Carolina:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1413440

 

And now I bid you all farewell as this review officially comes to a close. It saddens me that I don't know when we will cruise again with the birth of our first son drawing near. We are hoping to sail the Carnival Breeze for our 5th anniversary in 2013. But only time will tell if finances will allow for it. This is not the end of our vacationing though as our next adventure will be taking us back to the Orlando area in April for a large family trip to Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort. I'm excited as I will start planning that trip very, very soon. I wish that Cruise Critic also had a land vacation section so I could share this upcoming adventure with you guys and showcase our first vacation with a child and as parents.

 

Farewell everyone. Until next time........................

[SoundDawg]

Thank you for that awesome review. I have been reading it in anticipation of my upcoming cruise on the Carnival Miracle on 9/11/11. My last cruise was on the Valor 12/06/09 so I am very excited as this is our first cruise with our son who will be 10 months old at the time of sailing. You are going to LOVE being a dad! My only advice.....don't change your lifestyle too much because of the child. We have taken our boy on so many adventures since the day he was born and although it ads some challenges he is a very happy boy who adapts well to new places.

 

Be well and God bless!

 

Chris

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. I enjoyed this review (and love all of your pictures) as much as I have enjoyed the others. I also enjoyed your review of Charleston, SC. I go with my family to Hilton Head Island and we've always gone to Savannah, GA, but after reading your review, I'm looking forward to talking them into going up to Charleston. Savannah is closer, so that's why we've always gone there.

 

Like you, I don't know when our next cruise will be, but we're hoping for the Southern Caribbean on Carnival Victory. I do hope you get a chance to cruise again sometime soon. In the meantime, congratulations and best wishes to both of you on your little one on the way.

[CTCruiser74]

Thanks for your great review. I am beginning to look at a cruise for next fall, and the Dream seems like a good option. I enjoyed your pics and your details. I spent a good chunk of today reading the entire thing!

 

I also enjoyed your review of Charleston. I went there 25 years ago and had a blast. Not much has changed! I recognized so much. It seems to be a timeless city.

 

Thanks again for sharing!

[patty41]

Thank you for your in depth review. It was both entertaining, as well as informative. You're delightful couple, and I will, with great anticipation, look forward to seeing pics of the wonderful blessing that's on his way. God bless the three of you!!!!:p;):D

[TeknikDC2]

Hey everyone. I know its been awhile but I havn't had any new cruises to report on. Anyways I didn't want to start a new thread for this but as those of you who followed this trip report from April/May know that my wife and I were expecting our first child during this trip.

 

Anyways I just wanted to share that on September 26th Daniel Glen was born at 8:59pm weighing 6.3 pounds and 21 inches long. He is doing great and so is the new mom dispite having to have an unplanned c-section.

 

Many of you commented to keep you updated when our child came so I just had to let you all know. Thanks to all the great support I got here at cruisecritic. You guys all rock.

 

[Hogladyrider]

Congratulations! Your son is just beautiful!

[KrusII]

How wonderful for you and Kiera. May your lives be enriched as you bring this awesome child into your world. He is just beautiful. Thank you for sharing your news.

[RenoNanaOz]

Your Son is beautiful, God Bless you all.

[xillbu]

Congrats! I just had my first 2 months ago and can tell you that you two are going to have a blast. Best of luck!!

[magic&buddy]

What wonderful news - thank you so much for sharing this with us! What a beautiful baby boy. Wishing you and your family much happiness - enjoy all the moments.