Dylan on his Highschool's driver's ed course. (Same one Lisa learned on! :) )Well we finally got everything ready for the trip by about 1:00am. So you can imagine 5:55am came really early this morning. Lisa’s Dad picked us up and got us to the airport by 7:00. (Thank you Dad!) We made our plane on time, which left to San Diego at 8:30.
We are on the second to last row (That’s row 11 if you were wondering) Yep it was a very small plane.
“On the very first flight I (Lisa) ever took, I was nervous and my Dad told me to look out the window, if the wing was still there, we were probably okay. If the wing wasn't there... we had a problem. Since that first flight I have always sat next to the wing (not on purpose) but at least I have a view of the wing, to know if we are doing All right... lol.” Check last day post and see if this pattern continues. . .
WE thought we would assist Delta in their marketing campaign. The Delta cookie, a tasty little treat with some cranberry juice to boot!
The flight was uneventful. It took about 1:45 for our direct flight to San Diego.
We arrived in San Diego at 9:30 AM and took a shuttle to Enterprise to rent a car. Daniel suffered a few minor scrapes while maneuvering the luggage in and out of the Rental car place. Why would they have stairs leading in?
We had made the reservation online. . . It was only $25 for the car, but when we got there they wanted a credit card they could charge $300 too (sure that makes sense, for their protection, but would it have been difficult to put that in the confirmation letter?). The problem was, we pulled most of our money out of the bank and put it in travelers checks. They only accepted credit cards!! We "tried" to talk them into taking cash or travelers checks, but sadly they would not. So we used Lisa's emergency card (Thanks Mom).
The idea of getting a rental the same day we set sail was to take a little drive down memory lane. . . Daniel lived her in San Diego in 2004-2005 and he calls it his second home. The weather is a beautiful 82 degrees (21 c for our Canadian Friends, you know who you are, the rest of you will get to meet them in later posts).
Our first stop was The Carnival Spirit to drop of our bags. Check-in went really quick as we were some of the first people there. The nice lady gave Daniel a band-aid for his owee!! And we were on our way!
We drove up the 5 at a cool 85 MPH (Canadians, you can do the Km/h conversion). We jumped off the freeway at Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad and hit the In & Out Burger. . . A nice Double meat, protein style and a fry!!!
Isn't that a Beautiful car? :)
It was a first for Lisa, and she said, "it's REALLY good!" :) (disclaimer: this statement is not intended to in any way support, suggest or indorse the use of meat products or the innocent slaughter of Idaho Potatoes or the overall deliciousness of "IN-N-OUT” Burgers)
After eating the tastiest fast food on the planet, we headed up the coast through Carlsbad and into Oceanside. It’s a beautiful drive year around. We ended up near the Pier in Oceanside and took a short walk along the beach.
This is the beach that is really close to where Daniel lived. It is considered the "Trashiest" beach in San Diego. We think they say that just to keep all the tourists out because it's a spectacular beach!!
We had to get at least one picture on the beach!!! We only had time to stay a few minutes then we were off back down the coast!!
We were grateful to have a beautiful day with clear skies to take pictures. It is one of the coolest temples in world.
This temple, like most of the temples around the world, sits in a unique place that really ads to it”s majesty. Just off the 5 freeway in La Jolla, it sits atop hill. You may notice the manger scene on the grass. It kind of looks out of place, but remember Christmas was only last week!!!
Daniel ran into some old neighbors (From Salt Lake City, Utah) that were here. The Frotchams (Nathan, Rebecca & Alex) They were here for a wedding. It's a small world.
We wanted to make sure we goto the ship on time, so we took off and ran a few errands.
Our first stop (Sorry no pics) was the U.S. Post Office, to mail our wedding announcements. . . Sorry Mom & Dad. . . . :)
Next we stopped at Albertsons to get a few cases of water. We heard the water was expensive on the boat and we both drink a lot of water. . . So Daniel lugged it around as we dropped off the rental car and made our way onto the ship (personal interjection from Daniel: "Did you know that water is the same by weight and volume. so 16 oz bottles times 24 per case times 2 cases (16 x 24)2 =768oz or 48 lbs. . . I'm a stud!!")
(our little “here we are” pic)
Once we got on to the ship we headed to our cabin, dropped off the waters and carry on bags then headed out to see the ship. . .
We were only on board a few minutes before an mandatory "Titanic" Drill was called for the entire boat, I mean ship. Just in case something happens to the ship. We’re not sure but we think that it's iceberg season in the mid-pacific region, so it's a good thing they did this. . . Daniel just happened to be talking to Harrison (his 11 year old son for those of you who aren't as familiar with our personal lives) on the phone. He was a little scared when he heard the alarms sound. . . But Daniel quickly explained what was happening. . .
After the drill, we headed out (for real this time) to see the ship. . . UPDATE: We never saw this part of the ship again. It contained the kids area, video games, pool table, etc.
The Jungle Room
We attended an embarkation "thingy". . . sounds kinky eh? Well it was kind of like the maturation lectures in 7th grade. . . .We were shown a lot of pictures, given a lot of information and still, we had no idea what we were doing. . .
Next, We headed to dinner were we met our dinner mates. . .
Together at Table 343 (Javiere and his "Wife") lol. . . UPDATE: Although we only ate with them about half the time, we really enjoyed our time and hope to see them again. (If you need to get equipment financed, Javiere is the man, just goto balboacapital.com or email him directly @ javiere@balboacapital.com )
We also met Minor, our Server from Costa Rica. . If there ever was a Costa Rican Nerd, it's Minor, the funniest Server we have ever had. . . Think Dana Carvy doing a funny French/Costa Rican waiter.
We never got the "Bread Guy’s" name, but we decided he looked like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Not so much in this picture, but trust us. . or don't
This picture was taken of the Empire room where we ate dinner by our friend Ana.
Lastly we went to Bingo!! not really it was just what was going on when we took the picture of the Pharoah's Lounge.
After dinner we went to a show in the Pharoh's Palace.
UPDATE: We were so very disappointed at the quality of shows that \took place on our cruise. We had really high expectations though. . . We both felt like we were watching a bad High School talent show. (Except the lead male singer who was the only redeeming thing about the shows.)
And that is our first day...... Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.....
2 comments:
Wow! That sounds like it will be a great trip! And how nice to be in warm weather right now! :) I hope you have a wonderful time.
Thank you! It will be fun to take you with us!