Saturday, September 7, 2024
It’s a travel day so sleeping well the night before was out of the question. My alarm was set for 7:00 but I got up at 6:30.
Since we had Customs inspection in Bar Harbor yesterday, the ship didn’t have any trouble with clearance today. They started calling disembarkation promptly at 7:00 for those considered self-assist (need no assistance whatsoever from HAL getting yourself and your luggage off the ship). We went up to the Lido for breakfast and it was crowded as I expected. I found us two seats and waited for Chuck to come back with his food before I got mine.
We came back to the room to find that the stewards had already done some preliminary work on the room. We could have stayed in the room, but we know how anxious the stewards are to get the room ready for the next guests, so we got our stuff out of the safe and took our two backpacks and our one carry-on up to the Sea View deck to wait for our number to be called.
It was a pleasant morning although a little overcast. We chatted with some other departing guests while we drank coffee. I noticed a gentleman sit down with his coffee and I remarked to Chuck that he looked like Glenn Michaels, the Cruise and Travel Director from our Zaandam cruise; however, this gentleman was very casually dressed so I couldn’t be sure. Chuck went over and asked him.
Yes, it was Glenn. He told Chuck that he would be taking over for the current Zuiderdam Cruise Director while she was on vacation. He said he remembered us, but he may have just been being polite. It was two years ago, and he sees many, many guests.
Our number was finally called, and we got in line to be processed off the ship one last time. Once we finally made it downstairs to the luggage area in the terminal, it was a madhouse. Chuck finally found our two big pieces of luggage and then we realized we had to get in another long line for the taxis. The line was so long it stretched from outside the terminal building back into the building itself.
If we had wanted to take an Uber, I heard a dock person tell someone that they had to turn right out of the building and walk down the sidewalk to Dock Street. That was where the Uber pick-up was. If you were taking a HAL transfer, you turned to your left and someone directed you to the correct bus.
What we should have done was have a porter help us with our luggage inside the terminal. Seemed as if you had a porter, you followed him/her and by-passed the taxi line and got into the first available taxi. One of the personnel said that the wait for taxis was longer than normal because three big ships were disembarking/embarking today.
Even though our flight was not until 2:00, I was starting to get nervous because, with three ships in port, I didn’t know how crazy the airport would be once we got there. Also, for some reason, Chuck’s TSA pre-check symbol did not show up on his boarding pass so I knew we would be going through the longer regular airport security line. Then, there was the “always fun” road construction issues.
We finally did make it to the airport about 10:45 at a cost of $25. We checked our big bags outside. Inside, we went to the CLEAR line which was at least a little shorter than the regular line. The person checking me in said “you’ve got pre-check.” (which meant she didn’t know why I wasn’t in the expedited line). I know but his didn’t show up and we’re not getting separated.
Then she took us to the Security line, and the officer looked at my boarding pass and said “you’ve got pre-check” (why aren’t you in the expedited line?). I know but his didn’t show up so we’re not getting separated. He kind of rolled his eyes, stamped my boarding pass so the officers at the security line would let me keep my shoes on. I also didn’t have to go through the full body scan machine – just the metal detector.
Chuck’s backpack went down the naughty line again and was reviewed and sent back through the x-ray. But once we were both through, I realized they didn’t make him go through the full body scan or take his shoes off either. You just never know.
I knew though when I got back home, I was going to double-check all our existing reservations to ensure that we both have our Known Traveler Number entered on the reservations.
We split a turkey sub sandwich and chips and each had a diet Coke at the airport Jimmy John’s. $20. Sigh
I took my camera bag out of the carry-on and gate-checked the carry-on, so we could have more foot room on the plane. We could each put our backpacks in the overhead. The plane was on-time, but we were delayed boarding for about 10 minutes because they were still cleaning. I couldn’t find a movie I liked so I watched three episodes of the CBS series Elsbeth. It was okay.
The flight was uneventful (except for all the coughing). We touched down a little earlier than expected so I was hoping we might make an earlier shuttle. Our gate-checked bag came off first and then Chuck’s big bag came off. Took a while, but my bag finally showed up.
We got to the shuttle pick-up area and saw the shuttle. I told the driver that we had reservations for the 6:00 shuttle but if he had room on this 5:00 one, we’d love to ride it. He checked with dispatch and then let us on.
We did not have to make any stops between the airport and the shuttle office. However, there were signs about delayed traffic because of an accident near our destination. He exited before we got to the delay and took the backroads to the office (didn’t seem to be his first time having to do that). We were only a few minutes later than normal. No telling how long it would have been if he hadn’t taken the earlier exit.
Wasted no time getting the luggage in the car and heading home (with a quick stop at Krystal’s for a to-go order).
Pumpkin greeted us with many yowls of displeasure and immediately wanted to go out. Then he wanted to come back in and yowl some more. Then he wanted to go back out. No, wait, he wanted to stay in and yowl. I was in for a long night.
It was good to be home.
Tomorrow: Laundry and grocery shopping 😒
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustav Flaubert