Garvin 2024 - PreCruise

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It's time for another Garvin cruise adventure, and here is the blog which will try to document what we are doing. This year's trip is actually called the 27 Day Western Europe Grand Adventure - according to the cruise line. We booked this trip about a year ago while we were on the previous cruise (sale price was 50% off), and it seemed like something far in the future. That is until a few days ago when it suddenly was just around the corner. Now the trip has actually started, and we are in sunny southern Florida.

We flew into Ft Lauderdale on a flight which left St Louis at 7:15 in the morning. Off course we had to be at the airport a couple of hours earlier, so we got a very early start this morning. Many THANKS to our son-in-law Mike Miller for getting up equally early and driving us to the airport. And thanks to our daughter Elizabeth for volunteering Mike to provide this much appreciated help. And while we are on the topic of thanks, we need a very big THANK YOU to the Brinks who will be watching our cat while we are away. Yes, Nala is going to have a vacation playing with a dog, another cat, and a turtle, as well as 3 grandchildren. We really are fortunate to have all these kind folks helping us.

Things were actually a little scary this morning even before the trip started. There was a heavy rainstorm last night and the power blinked out about 45 minutes before the alarm was supposed to sound. Fortunately, after about 3 blinks it came back on to stay. However, we had an outage of several hours a month ago, and visions of trying to get dressed and started in the dark meant we got no more sleep for those last 45 minutes. But all worked well, and Mike/Elizabeth arrived on schedule, and we got started fine.

Anyway, we got to the airport and checked our luggage curbside. Janet had arranged for wheelchair service to shuttle her through the airport and to the gate. There was a delay at the TSA as she was used as the training example for a new agent. After they wanded and examined her thoroughly, she had to get out of the wheelchair so the agent could fully examine the Southwest wheelchair too. But basically, the wheelchair method is a real express service and David had to hurry to keep up while pulling the carry-on bags. We flew on Southwest, so the checked bags flew for free, although we did have 2 carry-ons too. The flight was completely sold out, so no spare space, but we were given preferencial boarding due to the wheelchair and were actually the first ones on the plane. In Ft Lauderdale. Janet again had a wheelchair waiting and we were again ushered through the airport to the baggage claim. After collecting the suitcases, we got another helper to push her to the hotel shuttle location. As we arrived, the desired Fairfield shuttle came too, and we did not have to wait at all. All was well except our reservation turned out to be for the Residence Inn across the road, but they juggled the paperwork, and we got what we wanted originally.

We got lunch from a nearby Wendy's. Dinner was some more fast food because we didn't have the energy/desire to go looking for a restaurant. It was not fancy, but it provided the necessary substance. We will be having more elaborate meals in the future - count on it.

We are now settled in for the night ahead of tomorrow's cruise and hope to have a restful evening before we go to the ship tomorrow. That is when the more interesting things will begin, maybe even with pictures. For now, we just wanted to announce our successful departure and let you know we will be sending more updates throughout the cruise.

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Comments

[MarcieKingsbury]

Hi Dave and Janet. Really looking forward to reading all about your adventure. Thanks for taking us along with you! Have a fabulous trip. Bon Voyage, Marcie