Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Flowers I received from Crystal
Because the limo failed to pick me up in Zürich on the 16th, Crystal offered me dinner on the 20th, and then sent me a bottle of wine, and flowers to my room on the ship!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Catching up ;January 16 to 22nd, 2009
Hi, Everybody!
Nothing is simple in this life, and although I was just about ready to leave home at 11 a.m. on the 16th, when the limo to the airport should have arrived, no one came! That precipitated lots of stress, and ended with my travel agent calling a local taxi. Fortunately, there was little traffic, and I got to the airport just a little late, but not too late. Got to L.A., and hotel, and met Roy to exchange my computer for his overnight bag, which I could take to Phoenix in place of my huge suitcase. Put my larger suitcase in hotel storage to go directly to the ship, and left the next morning to meet Mabel and her daughter Eve (mother and sister of Carol Shamieh from my Singles Cooking Group). I was pretty much jet lagged with all the time differences and mostly just relaxed in the sun (and fell asleep!).We ate out for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next day! T.V. in the U.S. quite disappointing; could only get election coverage and no foreign news, anywhere. Saturday was the big ball game which excited all the locals, esp. when the Phoenix Cardinals won. In the meantime, Eve gave me a pedicure; she is awaiting her license and will get a job as soon as it comes. Next day, they took me to the airport, and for the first time, I experienced a Security Alert at the airport! Everything just stopped for about 20 minutes, with no one allowed to even move. When I was finally on the plane, it couldn't leave due to a "mechanical problem" that needed checking. Made up the time, and got to hotel, to find out that by way of apologizng for the limo that didn't show up in Zürich, Crystal invited me to be their guest for dinner that night in the hotel (The Beverly Hilton on Wiltshire Blvd). Made a date with Roy for lunch on Tuesday, and watched the Inauguration Ceremony in my hotel room. Napped after lunch, and met some of the cruisers from last year in the lobby. It was like "old home week!" The Gala was O.K., but the food on the ship is better than in the hotel. Three of the people at the table were acquaintances from last year.
Left the hotel at 11:15, but worried about the suitcase they had stored on Friday, and rightly so because it was NOT delivered to the ship with the rest of my baggage! The ship was due to sail at 17:00h and my case was finally discovered at the hotel, at 16:20 and sent in a cab! It arrived at 16:50! (I'm too old for all this stress!). Went to dinner, only to discover that I was not being seated at a table for 6, as I had requested, and didn't even go all the way to the table, but rather back to the Maitre D, who immediately looked up where I should have been, and ended up as the only woman seated with 4 men! One seat was empty, and two other ladies have been trying to get that seat for today. The discussion was most interesting and quite political as one man is here this week to give lectures on Intelligence Counter Intelligence, etc. and is a live wire! (Nigel West, from London); one man was a jockey in France and is now here with Berlitz to give French lessons on board. The other two are Ambassador Hosts, hired to dance with the ladies. I really look forward to dinner this evening with them. Last evening was most interesting!
Today, I signed up for the full Computer Course at Sea (includes college credit! and takes place on every "sea day". Also played bridge in the afternoon, after a lesson in the morning. When I finish this, I have to change for the Captain's Welcome Cocktail (tonight is "formal") and a photographer will take pictures for the photo album (too bad, I need a haircut!) After dinner, there is a Hollywood Spectacular (if i can stay awake that long) and at 11 p.m. there is Karaoke, but that will have to be for another time. Enough is enough!
Tomorrow afternoon, we are in Cabo, and I will take a bus tour.
Are you exhausted from just reading? I haven't even mentioned some of the people who are glad to see me again, (and reminisce about some of the others who didn't return this year) and the huge flowers and bottle of wine that was given to me by way of apology for the "inconvenience" with Limo and baggage!
Everything is shaping up just great! It's a pleasure to have warm weather and sunshine, also.
Do keep in touch; you can email me on my regular email address.
Love to all, Ann
Nothing is simple in this life, and although I was just about ready to leave home at 11 a.m. on the 16th, when the limo to the airport should have arrived, no one came! That precipitated lots of stress, and ended with my travel agent calling a local taxi. Fortunately, there was little traffic, and I got to the airport just a little late, but not too late. Got to L.A., and hotel, and met Roy to exchange my computer for his overnight bag, which I could take to Phoenix in place of my huge suitcase. Put my larger suitcase in hotel storage to go directly to the ship, and left the next morning to meet Mabel and her daughter Eve (mother and sister of Carol Shamieh from my Singles Cooking Group). I was pretty much jet lagged with all the time differences and mostly just relaxed in the sun (and fell asleep!).We ate out for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next day! T.V. in the U.S. quite disappointing; could only get election coverage and no foreign news, anywhere. Saturday was the big ball game which excited all the locals, esp. when the Phoenix Cardinals won. In the meantime, Eve gave me a pedicure; she is awaiting her license and will get a job as soon as it comes. Next day, they took me to the airport, and for the first time, I experienced a Security Alert at the airport! Everything just stopped for about 20 minutes, with no one allowed to even move. When I was finally on the plane, it couldn't leave due to a "mechanical problem" that needed checking. Made up the time, and got to hotel, to find out that by way of apologizng for the limo that didn't show up in Zürich, Crystal invited me to be their guest for dinner that night in the hotel (The Beverly Hilton on Wiltshire Blvd). Made a date with Roy for lunch on Tuesday, and watched the Inauguration Ceremony in my hotel room. Napped after lunch, and met some of the cruisers from last year in the lobby. It was like "old home week!" The Gala was O.K., but the food on the ship is better than in the hotel. Three of the people at the table were acquaintances from last year.
Left the hotel at 11:15, but worried about the suitcase they had stored on Friday, and rightly so because it was NOT delivered to the ship with the rest of my baggage! The ship was due to sail at 17:00h and my case was finally discovered at the hotel, at 16:20 and sent in a cab! It arrived at 16:50! (I'm too old for all this stress!). Went to dinner, only to discover that I was not being seated at a table for 6, as I had requested, and didn't even go all the way to the table, but rather back to the Maitre D, who immediately looked up where I should have been, and ended up as the only woman seated with 4 men! One seat was empty, and two other ladies have been trying to get that seat for today. The discussion was most interesting and quite political as one man is here this week to give lectures on Intelligence Counter Intelligence, etc. and is a live wire! (Nigel West, from London); one man was a jockey in France and is now here with Berlitz to give French lessons on board. The other two are Ambassador Hosts, hired to dance with the ladies. I really look forward to dinner this evening with them. Last evening was most interesting!
Today, I signed up for the full Computer Course at Sea (includes college credit! and takes place on every "sea day". Also played bridge in the afternoon, after a lesson in the morning. When I finish this, I have to change for the Captain's Welcome Cocktail (tonight is "formal") and a photographer will take pictures for the photo album (too bad, I need a haircut!) After dinner, there is a Hollywood Spectacular (if i can stay awake that long) and at 11 p.m. there is Karaoke, but that will have to be for another time. Enough is enough!
Tomorrow afternoon, we are in Cabo, and I will take a bus tour.
Are you exhausted from just reading? I haven't even mentioned some of the people who are glad to see me again, (and reminisce about some of the others who didn't return this year) and the huge flowers and bottle of wine that was given to me by way of apology for the "inconvenience" with Limo and baggage!
Everything is shaping up just great! It's a pleasure to have warm weather and sunshine, also.
Do keep in touch; you can email me on my regular email address.
Love to all, Ann
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Update before lfying to L.A.
Although I have cancelled almost all my activities this week, except for bridge on Wednesday morning, nevertheless, it has been a rather hectic time, trying to pack everything, defrost the freezer, use the food in the refrigerator, take care of the mail, and entertain friends and relatives. Today is the 13th January, and I leave on Friday, the 16th in mid morning.
I have been pleasantly surprised and quite pleased to have heard from various friends as well as from people that I met on the cruise last year, who will arrange to see me this year, when we are near their home port. The very idea of going half way round the world and meeting up with friends and acquaintances who live so far away is quite exciting and makes the various destinations more interesting.
November and December were bad months for me healthwise, and I really worried how I would be able to travel, but fortunately, everything has cleared up and I feel quite well again, and ready for "adventure". The world news disturbs me greatla, and it doesn't seem to matter which end of the globe one reads about. Sad that people cannot learn to "live and let live".
In any case, I fly to L.A. on Friday, go to Phoenix for two days to visit with firends, and return to the Beverly Hilton in L.A., where I also hope to meet friends before the Gala evening offered by Crystal on the night of the 20th, before we set sail on the 21st.
I hope to keep up this blog for the duration of the trip, and you can always reach me via my regular email address.
I have been pleasantly surprised and quite pleased to have heard from various friends as well as from people that I met on the cruise last year, who will arrange to see me this year, when we are near their home port. The very idea of going half way round the world and meeting up with friends and acquaintances who live so far away is quite exciting and makes the various destinations more interesting.
November and December were bad months for me healthwise, and I really worried how I would be able to travel, but fortunately, everything has cleared up and I feel quite well again, and ready for "adventure". The world news disturbs me greatla, and it doesn't seem to matter which end of the globe one reads about. Sad that people cannot learn to "live and let live".
In any case, I fly to L.A. on Friday, go to Phoenix for two days to visit with firends, and return to the Beverly Hilton in L.A., where I also hope to meet friends before the Gala evening offered by Crystal on the night of the 20th, before we set sail on the 21st.
I hope to keep up this blog for the duration of the trip, and you can always reach me via my regular email address.
Monday, November 3, 2008
planning the next Cruise!
Friends have been asking me if I intend to keep up my blog again this coming year, and the answer is,"Yes". It is now November, 2008, and I am still in contact with a few people from the last cruise, making plans to join the 2009 World Cruise. If all goes well, I will spend a couple of days in Phoenix before joining the pre-cruise Gala in Los Angeles, and at the end, I expect to spend a few days in Massachusetts, before returning to Zürich.
I had a taste of winter driving this past week, (without snow tires) and know that I don't want to be here during winter weather!
I am not sure that I remember how to post pictures, but I will experiment, now, and see what happens.
If any of my friends read this, you can email me directly to let me know. Thanks, Ann
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