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Hitch a Ride with Bill & Mary Ann on Holland America's 2018 World Cruise - 113 days +

WCB

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WCB "Live from...." Rare

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Many thanks for the great send-off!!! It is quite rewarding to realize we have so many dedicated readers out there. As always, we'll give it our best shot to be informative as well as entertaining.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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WCB "Live from...." Rare

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Report # 2 The tripbegins…..January 1, 2018 Monday Happy New Year! Cool San Francisco to warm Ft. Lauderdale

 

The alarm clock went off at 2:30am. Not sure we ever got to sleep, checking tomake sure nothing was forgotten. Keepinga detailed checklist helps.

 

Our ride came at 4am, and was new for us. Our old stand-by company went out ofbusiness. The good thing is that theyare located in the town of Clayton, and they were very familiar with our remotearea. And since today was a holiday,traffic at this time of the day was almost zero. We were at SFO within an hour, shortly after5am.

 

Of course, the airport is always busy with travelers. Today there were families heading back homeafter spending the holidays with relatives and friends, we assume. Some of the little ones were still in pajamasand slippers with jackets thrown over them.

 

Checking in was easy, especially with the kiosks, and theagents helping many folks. This was thefirst time we noticed that if you wanted to pay an extra fee ($32), you couldget moved to an earlier boarding group. That way you were guaranteed that your extra bag would have space in theoverhead bin. We took our chances, andfound we did have space after all without paying extra.

 

All of our luggage was under 50 pounds, thanks to ourhandheld scale. The best news was thatwe got TSA pre-check, sort of. Nexttime, one of us has to remember to remove the light-weight back brace, becausethat triggered the xray scan, a pat down, and scanned with the powderwipes. At least the shoes did not haveto come off. Also, an agent was workinghis dog up and down the line. It isalways nice to get that over with, especially when you pass.

 

The restaurants were all open by 5:30am, so we enjoyedbreakfast with lots of hot coffee. Thatleft us just enough time to get to the gate, and get ready to line up to boardthe plane. The flight was a bit delayed,but we still arrived close to the time printed on our tickets. Taking a southern route, the flight waspretty smooth, and they did show one movie. It was the one about the famous dueling tennis players back in the60’s. We actually remember when thathappened. The snacks for the day were apackage of wafer cookies and a beverage. We noticed that most everyone purchased some food before boarding theplane….us included. Trail mix wasperfect.

 

We were on our way to the baggage claim area before 5pmeastern time. The plan was to gatherour three pieces of luggage, and look for the HAL rep. The reps are seldomthere, so we had them paged. After twoattempts, a friendly rep did show up, but did not have the correct info forus. Her roster showed we were travelagents from Canada. Not quite. How that info got so incorrect is beyondus. She did get us the complimentarytransportation within minutes, and we were off, in a bus all by ourselves, tothe hotel in Plantation. It took nearlyan hour to get there with little traffic once again. It actually rained a biton our way out of Miami. We recalled that last year, we had to buyumbrellas. So this time, we packed themwith us. Anyway, the driver was veryfriendly and helpful, and promised to look for us when we go to the ship in afew days.

 

The lobby of the hotel was festive with a white Christmastree decorated near the front desk. Inprevious years, we seem to remember the tree was gone by tomorrow. Lucky forus, two of our travel agency’s hosts walked in the door, and said hello withhugs for both of us. Wendy and Stevehave been hosts on at least three of our recent trips, and are most popularwith the folks. They arrived thismorning, after leaving their home in the northeast of the country where thetemps were well below zero. Makesnorthern California sound pretty good compared to well below freezing.

 

Stashing our stuff, dinner was number one on our minds. So we headed off in the dark by now, to anearby sports bar and restaurant. Theyhave the best charcoal broiled burgers and great salads. And at least 50 televisions with the RoseBowl being shown. Definitely a youngercrowd in here, but fun.

 

Hope to get a good night’s rest, and get out to stretch ourlegs tomorrow. A very long day, but itended well.

 

 

Bill and Mary Ann

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vino100 Great Review Rare

vino100

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Many thanks for the great send-off!!! It is quite rewarding to realize we have so many dedicated readers out there. As always, we'll give it our best shot to be informative as well as entertaining.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

Add me to the list of dedicated readers. I so enjoy tagging along and reading about your great adventures.

Have another wonderful around the world cruise.

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WCB "Live from...." Rare

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Report # 3 Firstfull day in Ft. Lauderdale January 2,2018 Tuesday Rainy and 59 degrees 49 Pictures

 

Well, we can tell you what we did not do on our first fullday in Ft. Lauderdale. Due to theinclement weather, we did not spend any time in or around the hotel poolarea. We did run into two folks thatwere just getting out of the spa, having been sitting in the driving rain. Turned out we knew them well, as they arelong time hosts we have known since 2001, while we were on a Seabourn worldcruise. They host for our travel agency,but mostly on Regent, Silverseas, or Seabourn ships. What a sheer coincidence that we happened tocross paths with them today, as they are attending another function unrelatedto HAL’s world cruise.

 

Our day began with a mid-morning breakfast a short walk fromthe hotel. For a cool and rainy Tuesdaymorning, the place was full of customers, with a constant line of waitingdiners. The meals and the coffee arealways hot, and the prices are more than reasonable. Good thing we brought our umbrellas, becauseit turned out we needed them all day.

 

We made a stop at Burlington’s, picking up a couple of gooddeals on useful knick-knacks for our room on the ship. Then, we went to Publix for some room snacks.

 

Back at the hotel, we had to deal with a computer problem weexperienced yesterday after arriving here. Good thing we were able to call our oldestson, who could fix the problem on his end. We were unable to send or receive emails, due to added security on ouraccount. We are still having an issuewith posting photos, but our son is working on that one as well. It sure is nice having smart kids.

 

Under drizzly skies, we headed off for a hike on the canalroad. Lunch was our ultimatedestination, and also a quest to find the Sheraton Hotel on UniversityAvenue. We knew it was close to theWestfield Mall, but could not recall having gone past it on previoustrips. After the world cruise ends, wewill be staying there for several days, waiting for the Amsterdam to come backinto service. Then we will board her,and head through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of the USA, andeventually home.

 

It began raining pretty hard, so when we spotted a Chilis,we ducked in there for lunch. Even thatwas crowded. We suppose with the kids out of school, the next best place totake them, is out to lunch.

 

Making our way up theroad, we did locate the hotel, then headed back. It took about one hour to reach theRenaissance. Needless to say, the windbegan to blow, and we did get damp. Theone thing that was good was that it was not all that cold today. And that’s when we ran into hosts, Kevin andSusan, coming out of the spa. We allwalked into the hotel, all of us dripping from either rain or the pool. You should have seen the looks we got whenthe elevator door opened, and Kevin had dropped his towel to wipe up waterpuddled on the tile floor. A couple offolks waiting on the second floor saw him in his swimsuit, and said they wouldwait until the next one came. We had agood laugh all the way up to their floor.

 

Drying out in our room, we down-loaded photos on thecomputer (now working), and headed out for a pizza dinner around 7pm. The rain never stopped, and after watchingthe news, we learned that Ft. Lauderdale had over an inch of rain today. Probably be more before the day ends. And from the looks of it, tomorrow may bewetter and even colder.

 

To answer a question regarding world cruises…..includingthis upcoming one, the number is fifteen.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

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