The voyage home

Music:  "It's Been a Lovely Cruise", Jimmy Buffett

Debarkation went very smoothly.  One of my complaints during our Valor cruise was that we spent far too much time in the lobby, waiting yo get off the ship.  Way different getting off the Breeze.

Public service announcement:  pay attention to your zone number.  Pirate king spent 20 minutes at the wrong luggage carrousel before I found our luggage.

Thank goodness the ride to the airport was short, the bus driver had to turn off the a/c to keep water from a broken pipe dripping on the seats.  And we had a bad moment at the airport when the TSA agent told the pirate king his carry on bag was too big and had to be checked. . .until another agent took a second look at the matter.  Took the Sky Train to our gate and settled in . . .got there before noon for a 4:00 flight.

What's good about Miami Airport -- because the terminal is so large, you have lots of choices for a quick bite.  Pirate king got hot dogs from Nathan's and I wound up with food-court Chinese.  We were both able to charge our cell phones at the Verizon charging station at our gate.

What's not so good?  They charge for wifi.  Not an issue for me, I have a data plan on my tablet . . .but after a week of paying for wifi on the Breeze and using my minutes sparingly . . .it would have been a major disappointment . . .

"Interesting" encounter as we were about to board the plane. 

During our sea days on the Breeze we spent a lot of time in the Tides pool.  Remember, the pool is very small and very shallow, and gets very crowded. On our second day in the pool we encountered so really rude behavior from a couple in their 20's.  I will call them Rude Couple.  The first time we noticed them was when Rude Guy cannonballed into the pool.   Really, I think everyone in the pool noticed him.  There was a lot of horseplay after that, including Rude Girl climbing onto Rude Guy's back so that he could drag her across the pool, shouting "piggyback rides 5 cents" over and over again.  He bumped into several people, never apologized.

The two hot tubs by the Tides pool are elevated, you have to climb a flight of steps to enter the hot tub.  And there's a bench under each hot tub where you can sit with your feet in the pool.  When Rude Couple bought drinks from the bar, he decided to sit on that bench. . .  But there were children playing in that hot tub.  They'd taken some cups from the beverage station and were using them in the hot tub to splash water on each other.  The water came out of the hot tub and over the partition . . . Rude Guy wound up with salt water from the hot tub in his pina colada.  He drank it anyway!

Anyhow, at the airport, it's time to board the plane, and who should be standing next to me but Rude Girl!  Rude Guy is behind me.  As the crowd moves forward, she moves in front of me.  Then she reaches behind her and takes his hand, and tries to pull him forward.  Only problem is, I'm standing where she wants him to stand.  If he'd said "excuse me", I  would have let him step in front of me, but I have a bit of a stubborn streak when someone tries to push me out of the way, so I didn't move. Some words were exchanged -- he told me I was being rude, I told him I didn't appreciate being pushed,  and she told me she could feel my bad breath on the back of her neck . . . wasn't worth escalating . . . He got off the line and walked around everyone else and met up with her at the door where you habd your boarding pass to the airline employee.

We got onto the plane, and guess who was sitting directly in front of me and the pirate king?  We could have made their flight pure misery . . .but we're adults. 

So it was an uneventful flight home.  And I am already depressed, because today is Monday and I have to go to work.