The Pitfalls of Paradise

Before we get to the pictures from our cruise vacation, I just want to address some of the lowlights of last week. Basically, I'm giving the bad news before the good news so we end on a high note in the next blog entry or two.

In corporate speak, we had some good "lessons learned" this past week. First and foremost, we'll probably never do a major vacation over Spring Break ever again. Lucas and I left on Thursday, which gave us plenty of time before our cruise left Saturday morning. However, Marilu couldn't leave until Friday afternoon/evening since she had to teach that day. Apparently, the school system frowns on teachers taking off the day before or after a vacation. Well, this was almost disastrous as she nearly missed her connection due to a delayed flight. Thankfully, it worked out and she got to Orlando very late that night.

On the other hand, our friends Sheri and Adam were not so lucky. They also left on Friday (she's a teacher), and they got as far as Toronto before their flights crapped out on them. They weren't able to get in Saturday morning, and instead had to fly directly from Toronto to our first port of call, Nassau, Bahamas, in order to catch up to the ship. This added a few grand to an already pricey trip. So second lesson learned for us is to always buy travel insurance for these types of vacations.

Coming back, our household was scheduled for 3 separate flights:

• Lucas and I: Delta to Detroit then Ottawa
• Marilu: Air Canada to Montreal then Ottawa
• Jonathan/Chantal/Colby: Air Canada to Toronto then Ottawa 

As it turned out, Lucas and I were the only ones who had a clean flight schedule. This turned out to be a bad thing as we arrived home first. Why is that a bad thing, you ask? Well, since we were expected to get in last, Marilu and her brother each had house keys, and we had none. If all went well, this wouldn't be a problem, but obviously, all did not go well.

Luckily, and perhaps stupidly, one of our back windows was left unlocked so I was able to get it open, push Lucas through, and he unlocked the sliding door leading out to the deck. He wasn't too thrilled with this plan since the house was pitch black (it was after 11 PM when we got home), and he'd already been talking about robbers all day. So he was crying hysterically as he went to the door but the little trooper got the job done.

Jonathan's party got delayed in Toronto and eventually got home an hour or two later. I don't know exactly when since we were asleep after being in transit, in form or another, from 8 AM to 11 PM.

So where was Marilu in all of this? Well, her flight was cancelled altogether in Orlando so she was stuck in a hotel overnight. Apparently, the pilots called in sick or some such nonsense, but since the ground crews are threatening a strike (or may actually be in one, I don't pay close attention), it's pretty clear that this was an act of solidarity. Whatever the case, Marilu didn't fly out until Sunday morning to Montreal. And that's where the next logjam occurred.

Because it's March Break for just about every student and teacher in Canada, the flights are pretty much all booked up. So even though she was able to get to Montreal on Sunday, she wouldn't be able to take the short flight to Ottawa until Monday! As a result, after waking up Sunday morning, still exhausted, I got the chance to drive the nearly 2 hours (each way) to Montreal with Lucas in tow. Although it's not directly connected here, the third lesson learned was that from now on, we travel together.

And that was the end of the flight drama. Thankfully, the cruise was almost entirely problem-free, which we'll talk about in the next post or two. Notice I said "almost." Thanks to what I believe is a combination of a bad cold I had prior to the flight down, as well as the descent into Orlando, my left ear plugged up, and I basically couldn't hear out of it for the entire trip. I could barely hear loud noises, and conversations were impossible so I found myself having to sit at the end of the table in order to keep everyone to my right so I knew what the hell they were talking about. On the return flight, my ears popped, and I have hearing again, but it's still somewhat muffled. I'm planning to see the doctor tomorrow about it so hopefully that will be resolved soon.

So all that said, the problems we had were mainly pre- and post- cruise, and weren't the fault of Carnival itself. So everyone had a good time once we were actually there. To tide you over until the next blog entry, here's a photo of Lucas that I took at the Orlando Science Center on the day that we had together. Behind him is a pool full of turtles and alligators, hence the somewhat concerned facial expression.

Next time: MANY more pictures and no complaining!