Our last day of the voyage was at sea. Maureen made one simple request- that we would not set an alarm clock nor have room service bring us coffee in the morning. We were to wake up naturally and sleep in as long as we wanted. Seeing that I was sunburned and that we had nothing to do until Italian trivia at 1pm, I was totally game. Little bit of aloe, little bit of Motrin, and BAM. Out like a light... for 10 hours.
After we finally woke up after 10:30, we took our time getting up and moving then headed to brunch, then to the Solarium to "read." I use that term loosely, because Maureen got on her computer and I fell asleep in the lounge chair after making it through 1 sudoku puzzle. ONE. That's an all-time low for me.
We went to Italian Knowledge trivia-- and WON! There was a woman who asked to join our team, and the 3 of us dominated- only thing that tripped us up are the names of The Godfather's children and who killed Julius Ceaser (which 2 people). Otherwise, we rocked that trivia and won-- coffee mugs. OOOH. We decided to do the 5pm "Farewell Trivia" later on that day, and invited this woman to join us as well. She is a law professor at Georgia University and her daughter plans on going to University of Michigan in the fall- I said to the woman, "I'm sorry." and she looked absolutely stunned at my response. I explained I'm a Spartan, and she said she went to Illinois- I don't understand how you let your child go to Ann Arbor willingly if you're alum of any other Big Ten school.
There were snacks in the Windjammer, more reading/napping, a visit to the gym, then some 5pm trivia. Saying that we got our asses kicked doesn't even cover it. We got 9 out of 20 right. That's horrible. At least most of the other teams did just as badly, but we didn't win. Oh well, the prizes were highlighters and pens. Who needs that crap when you can just steal it off of the housekeeping cart?
We had our final dinner with the group, complete with NY Strip Steak, desserts, and red wine. I'm going to miss having such interesting dining companions every night- I love my friends, I love going to dinner with my friends, but there's something exhilarating about talking to new people and getting to learn something different.
Luggage was packed up and put outside of the door at 11pm. We sadly went to bed, and the sadness turned to flat-out laughter. There's a promo for Style Network that Royal Caribbean TV was showing the entire trip which has Thom from "Dress My Nest" going in to fix a family room. The room has 2 children "caged" into a playpen area, and the mom tells Thom, "this is the kid's cage. We call it the cage." Thom yells to the camera, "WHO PUTS THEIR CHILDREN IN A CAGE?!" We couldn't get enough of it. And then, the promo shows monkeys. Freaking monkeys. We were dying and kept waiting for more commercial breaks. We finally passed out giggling.
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The final morning- it was pretty uneventful for most of the morning. We just ate, showered, and waited for our number to be called to leave the ship. We made it through customs without incident and found my grandparents for our ride back to Maureen's car.
Papa: "Shit. I made a mistake and left grandma's walker in the trunk." Grandma: "You're allowed to make a mistake, Al." Papa: "I made two- I brought you AND left the walker in the car! HA!" Maureen and I just laughed, Papa shut the trunk on Maureen's head twice, and grandma smiled and held onto a bag as we drove the Cadillac back to Leisureville, bungee cord and all. I love my grandparents. I wish they'd move back to MI full time, but that's a different story...
Maureen and I left Pompano Beach and met up with Maureen's parents for a nice lunch. Maureen hadn't seen them since Christmas, and her parents are set to go on a cruise of their own the next day out of Ft. Lauderdale. It all worked out.
The trip to Jacksonville was supposed to take about 5 hours. With a few SHORT stops, a lot of rain, and viewing 3 car accidents along the way (one involving a semi that spun out from the other side of the road into the guardrail and into oncoming traffic), it took closer to 7 hours. Ugh. All we did when we got back to the hotel was eat pizza, shower, get some free wi-fi and figure out how to pack my bags without overstuffing my large bag. I was already over a few pounds, and with my new alcohol purchases, I had to rearrange a few things to meet the maximum weight.I don't care if I have to leave half of my clothing behind, my alcohol WILL make it home, dammit.
I'm going to miss seeing Maureen every day. Sure, we had our moments, but this trip was amazing. Being able to spend 9 uninterrupted days with my best friend was even better. I can't wait until she's asked to do another trip and she asks me to be her 2nd in command again :-)
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