October 15, 2018
Since we didn’t do much our first night on board, may I share with you some observations from getting to the ship. I may? Well, thank you. I was going to do so regardless. It’s my blog. I can.
Flying out from Atlanta we were above the most beautiful, fluffy white, marsh mellow clouds. Descending into Los Angeles, we left the marsh mellow fluff behind and dropped beneath the bottom of clouds that appeared to have been rolled in Oreo crumbs. Quite a contrast.
The flight from AGS to ATL was very comfortable. More leg room than I remember in a long time. From ATL to LAX it was cramped. Feet back, knees together, like a 1960s debutante. But the price was right.
At the airport I telephoned my contact at Carnival to secure our shuttle which would take us to Long Beach where the Splendor was docked. We located the Super Shuttle podium, gave our reservation number and a lady with prematurely blonde hair told us the shuttle would come “right here.” Bonnie pointed to the street immediately behind her and said, “Here?” and pointed to the street next out and said, “Not there?” We’ve had trouble with people not telling us where to be before (we’ve been told where to go, but never in LA) and those directions were wrong. The woman responded with a belligerent stare. Well, that made my wheaties soggy and I pointed to the street behind her and said, “You mean here?” and she lost the staring contest, admitting, “Yes, that’s it.” Probably thought, “Idiot Georgians.” But hey, when you’ve lugged your luggage to the wrong spot and then had to struggle to the catch the shuttle late at night in Miami, you want to get it right.
Number 513 showed up as advertised, and we loaded up, and headed out. The driver pulled out onto I-105 and then I-405, a journey that took more than an hour. Rush time in LA, I reckon. I never did see any speed limit signs on either of the two Interstates. And they really weren’t needed because we rarely got above 40 mph. In fact, we were passing the cars in the HOV lane.
I am convinced that the people who built the 757 we flew out on also built Shuttle 513 because they both had equal, almost non-existent leg room. And besides the driver, we were the only people on board. Oh well.
Bonnie was slowly nodding off. The ride was monotonous. And all at once, her subconscious noticed a huge warehouse building and the sign on the side of it: “Sketchers Outlet Largest in the World!” For a moment I thought she would ask our driver to detour.
We’ve sailed into Long Beach before, so we knew we were getting close as we saw the large construction cranes and loading cranes which dominate the skyline. They looked like pterodactyls from some Jurassic movie, hovering, ready to swoop and carry away the unwary.
Getting to the Maya Hotel ($350 a night for a room that did not have a water view) seemed a long and complicated process. And as I said earlier, it was over an hour ride. I was reminded of something Uncle Stan Callis said about the bathrooms in Laskey’s A-Frame Cottages on Deep Creek Lake: “To use them you have to back in or be born there.” Local knowledge or a GPS would certainly have been required.
Tonight we set the clocks back an hour, so we are now 4 hours different from EST. We’ll be 6 hours behind you in Hawaii.
Okeydokey. That gets you with us on board the Splendor and sailing west. Tonight was formal night – I’ll tell you a bow tie story tomorrow night if I can remember it that long. Mom had prime rib and I had lobster. We both had delicious, warm, gooey melting chocolate cake. We skipped lunch because there was only an hour between my talks today, so with the points saved we plunged in to the DWGMCC.
Until tomorrow.
TTFN
No comments:
Post a Comment