Sail Away!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

This is the day we get on the ship to go back home. We are SO ready. It is not that it is not nice here, but we have just had enough of travelling and we miss our house, our beds, making our own food … just being home.

We purchased vouchers for breakfast in one of the fast food places in the rest area because we were down to last 20 pounds and we had to have cash for a cab to the port. We ate breakfast, packed up and left the hotel around 11:30 AM. Our ticket said that we should board at 2:30 PM but we did not want to take a chance being late.

I was tossing and turning last night and had a bunch of dreams about missing the ship.

Steve drove us safely back to the rental car place and we asked them to call a cab for us. The lady from the car rental company came out to check the vehicle. When she saw Hannah and Stevie hanging out on the sidewalk with the suitcases, she made sure to tell us that American kids are not polite like British kids. I thought that the insinuations she made about our kids behavior were rather impolite as well. Time to go home!

The cab showed up soon and drove us to the port. The fare was 6 pounds but the driver did not have change for a 20 – the only bill I had. I pulled out all of the coins we had and came up with about 5.70 pounds. He said he would take that instead.

The port was busy with quite a few passengers arriving. We took the escalator upstairs where they were assigning letters that corresponded to a check in time. When they saw we had kids, they sent us to the desk for people with mobility handicap. That was nice as we got to check in right away and did not have to wait in line.

Steve’s back was hurting really bad and we needed to get in our room so that he could lay down. We got in the line for security check and waited our turn. Then, out of the blue Steve started wheezing like he was choking. I was so scared! (I am sure he was pretty scared too.) I was wondering if I needed to do the Heimlich on him but he signaled for a drink (unable to talk). I had a little bit of Sprite left in the backpack. He drank it and was able to start breathing again. Steve was chewing on an aspirin and a larger chunk went down his throat. He is not sure if it was an allergic reaction to the aspirin or if it was a physical reaction because he was dehydrated and his throat was dry. Either way it was a very scary moment. He was also in a lot of pain from his arthritis and all I wanted was to get him in the room so that he rest and get better.

The line through security moved slowly but we managed to get through and were walking on the gangway to the ship. We were stopped again because a man in front of us got into an argument with a port or cruise employee. They requested a wheelchair for his wife and it was not ready for her. The man was upset that his wife was in pain. The situation was escalating and it seemed for a moment that the men would start a fight. What a start to our cruise! But alas we made it to the room and Steve could relax. I prayed the whole day for him to get better so that he can enjoy the cruise. And all I really wanted was to go home.

One of our suitcases was already waiting for us and the other was delivered shortly after. We stayed in the room and rested. The Play Zone was opened in the afternoon for registration so I took the kids to get them registered. They were both excited to go play and were said that they could not stay yet. The Zone would open at 6 PM that night.