Isn’t 6 Hours Long Enough For Flight Transfers?

 Apparently not when you’re flying Jet Blue. My 11:15 AM flight from JAX to JFK hadn’t even left the tarmac in JAX by the time it was supposed to land in JFK at 1:15 PM. I thought a 6 hour layover would leave me bored, tired of window shopping, weary of sitting around, sick of the novel I was reading, chewing my cuticles, and babbling incessantly with perfect strangers. Normally it would.  Passengers trapped in their seats around me were getting cranky.  At 2:00 they deplaned us.  At 2:30 I was dialing the concierge service at Allianz insurance to try to get another flight to JFK so I could get my Delta flight to Rome at 7:30 when JetBlue reboarded us

and finally took to the skies.  We landed at JFK, and it took ANOTHER nail biting hour to get my luggage, so I made it to the gate just as they were finishing boarding for Delta #152 to Rome.  I was just a little stressed.  From here on, I fly in the day BEFORE, like I tell my clients to do.

It all ended well, I surprised my nephew Brady on the flight, we flew over together, and met Liam in Civitavecchia.  It’s so good to be traveling with my boys! Let the games begin!

And I’m Off!

There’s always been a certain amount of stress involved with travel, but I’ve always thought that it was part of the fun.  Can I clean all the pressing items off my desk before I go? Organize a good sitter for the dog? Remember to put an “out of office message” on my e-mail inbox?  Turn off the oven? Unplug the iron, get foreign currency in small denominations for tipping?  Remember medications? Passport (yes, I have forgotten that more than once — and I’m supposed to be a professional). 

The amount of additional paperwork and testing added by Covid-19, and by traveling with two twenty- something’s almost did me in this time.  Getting the twenty- something’s to read e- mails marked “URGENT” and “DON’T F*** THIS UP” have proven unsuccessful.  Two days prior to embarkation and I was getting messages asking if they needed booster shots and what kind of Covid testing was necessary, ummmm that info was in the e-mail I sent in March marked “URGENT”.  It’s like trying to nail jello to the wall.  If all three of us get on the ship in Civitvecchia I’ll stop having panic attacks😱.  If not, I’m never attempting this again.

Finally Heading Back to Sea

 It's just been so long, so very, very long since I've had a deck under my feet!  The smell of the ocean breeze, the wind in my hair, nothing but the horizon to see, looking for dolphins splashing in the wake or seeing if there's a fin in the water (a habit from childhood).  I'm going back to the sea!  I love this quotation from John Kennedy:

 “I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.

 That sums up so well how I feel about it and why I love cruising and selling cruises so much.

 

So what's so special about THIS sailing?  Well, I'm taking two of my grandnephews with me, so for once I won't be sailing alone!  These two young men, age 20 and 23, are tall, slender, athletic, blonde haired, blue eyed and I will be the envy of every other old lady on the ship!!  You don't believe me?  Here's a photo of one of them. I don't currently have many photos of these  two but in a month or so I'll have a ton of them!!  They plan on being my wingmen, setting me up with every guy on the ship.  I plan to set them up with all the pretty women, mermaids, sirens, you name it -  both on land and at sea.  This sailing is sure to be a hoot.  😊  The only thing missing will be my dog, Blue, who will be home with the dog-sitter being spoiled rotten, going to a neighbor's pool every day or to "Dog Beach" to play with the other dogs, and getting lots of love and attention at night.   It's going to be a great vacation for everyone and most important of all ... I'm going back to the sea from whence I came!!  I hear it calling and I must go!