Friday, October 18, 2024
After a relatively restful night’s sleep, I got up with the alarm. Made a cup of coffee. I always hope the coffee is going to be decent, but it is always just barely drinkable. At least the coffee at the breakfast bar is good as was the food.
We took the 8:35 hotel shuttle back to the airport. The airport was very crowded. Even with TSA-precheck and CLEAR, it took one hour to get to our gate from the time we arrived at the airport. Our flight left on time and was uneventful. I watched the movie Inside Out 2. It was cute. Chuck watched the movie Horizon but was unable to finish it before we landed. Will have to finish it on the flight home.
Once we got to baggage claim at Logan Airport, I started looking for the Holland America (HAL) representative while Chuck was waiting for our luggage to arrive on the carousel. As I was looking around, I happened to notice several pieces of luggage standing outside the baggage claim office. I realized that two of the bags looked like our bags. How? Why? I got Chuck’s attention, and he confirmed that they were our bags. Weird.
I still had not been able to find the representative. He/she is usually in the vicinity of the luggage carousels and can be spotted by their signs and navy jackets. Not today.
I ended up calling the HAL local help line and the person on the phone said the representative was on her way. While waiting, I checked my email and found an email from Delta letting me know that our baggage had flown to Boston on an earlier flight, and we could get them at the baggage claim office.
I would have thought that an important message like that one would have come through the Delta app or by text. Seems like all the other messages Delta sends comes those ways. I’m just glad I happened to spot them so we weren’t waiting and waiting at the carousel for bags that wouldn’t be arriving.
The rep took us to our driver, and we were soon on our way to the same hotel we were at in August – Fairmont Copley Plaza. It is a distinguished hotel and is recognized as one of the Historic Hotels of America. The rooms are small but elegantly appointed. I enjoyed looking at the photos of all the dignitaries and celebrities who have stayed here over the years. There is still construction going on the plaza area just right outside the hotel.
Our room was not ready, so we checked our luggage and walked about a mile to the Cheers bar near the Commons. I had been there before, but Chuck had never been inside. It is a popular stop on the HOHO bus route, and it was very crowded. We were able to squeeze into a couple of spots at the bar near the door. We had a nice conversation with a couple visiting from California.
Once we finished our beer and had taken some fun pictures, we walked back toward the hotel, stopping at the Chick-fil-A for a quick dinner.
Back at the hotel, we got our room keys and then stopped by the HAL hospitality desk for our embarkation instructions and luggage tags.
It wasn’t long before it was lights out for us.
Tomorrow: Embarkation
