Please Tell Me I'll Sleep In Sometime On This Trip

Monday morning, I thought to myself, "Yeah, I could get used to this..." Get used to watching the day begin in the very slightest way. Get used to laying in bed, knowing it's not time to get up because the sun had not risen at 6:14 a.m. as were told it would do yet. Knowing that, regardless of how the weather is, it's still not time to get out of bed because room service hasn't arrived!

Yes, the food fantasies began that early in the day for me, a surprise because I actually still feel quite full from yesterdays consumptions. A light breakfast of whole fruits and that delicious cup of Bailey's enhanced coffee yummy. Too bad D chose to get her coffee downstairs from the surly unknowledgeable barista, who instead of cappuccino, handed her a cup with about an inch of foam on top of a small spitting's worth of blackened coffee juice. She did offer to fill the cup up with water... which was declined. I added it to the bottom of my cup and swigged it without remorse, then set in to wait for the shuttle bus to arrive, chatting with our new friends Lani and Nancy, and making some new ones too, including the delightful Carolyn, who really is a sweet sweet southern gal with a lot of love to share.  

Don't know quite how it happened that her feet got tangled as we waited for our shuttle at the hotel that morning, but the result was that a simple moving of her suitcase would result in a week of swelling and discomfort. Taking pity on her in the mad rush of boarding cruisers outside the terminal warehouse, I was able to offer myself as a crutch she could use to stay upright. With so many people pushing to get on board I was a little afraid for her! Anyway for the rest of the trip she would insist on introducing me as, "Her Angel, Anna." What a sweetie! 

Here's what might be my first typed comparison about our Alaskan Holland America cruise onboard the Oosterdam: my grandma was along to share the experience. Now, I love my grandma tremendously, and one of the reasons I was so happy to have her alongside experiencing the trip was because then I wouldn't have to try to remember all the details when we talked later!  Well, I'm still the one tasked with remembering the details, but at least she remembers things like the exquisite dining, beautiful scenery, and that unique occurrence of a small city of strangers finding ways to live with one another on the high seas. Having Carolyn to go and squeeze on helped me to connect with "GG" as the kids call her. It will be neat to print out these posts for her to read from the comfort of her living room easy chair.

Once we were welcomed aboard by the Captain's slightly Transylvanian voice, which could have been Dutch, we were set free to swarm back up six flights of stairs with the rest of the inpatients previously milling about the elevators.  Followed the lemming line into the spa for our first treatments of the trip. No, it was actually just to find out if our names would be drawn for prizes. Basically to see if we'd be relaxing for free there at some point. AND for me to grab a quick weight check. 

 Unfortunately for us, it was the guy's day to win; I think four out of the five winners were gentlemen in attendance. One guys daughter whooped and hollered, clapping him on the back and exclaiming, "Yea Daddy!" I had to laugh when he turned to me and commented, "We'll see if she acts that excited when I tell her, I Ain't Sharin'!" 

We did win something though- we each walked away with a free footprint! There is a an analysis they will perform based on your footprint that can help you to discover if pain in your body is stemming from the pressures of each step.  D immediately went to stand in line with the other one shoed ladies and waited for her turn to walk across a silk-screening ink pad. This would transfer her body's pressure onto a large white sheet of paper for analysis.
I opted to critique each stepper with the following foot printing strangers, and then after all that evaluation of technique jumped into the much shorter line and had my chance to prove how well I would do. The trick was to walk across the ink pad. Most participants couldn't help but pause and press, and I was determined that I would not be one of them! So determined for accuracy that I walked right off the ink screen and only got 7/8 of my print accurately placed :-)
With footprints in hand we sought our room. No luggage! Our porter explained that unfortunately, he had not yet located our belongings, but that of course they were on ship... I had to just laugh as the three of us realized our bags were probably being held with 90 others due to the inclusion of SCISSORS. On a cruise offering scrapbooking. Yeah.
So, would our luggage ever arrive? How would we complete the trip sans scissors? Drop by tomorrow for the next installment of my Scrapbooking Cruise Adventure!