The Journey has begun

Nancy and I have to be on the ship in San Diego on Wednesday, Jan 13 at 1pm. Given the travel difficulties over the last month, we decided to travel on Monday Jan 11 to give us plenty of time for canceled flights, etc. Monday morning was hectic as we finished packing, downloaded boarding passes, weighed our luggage, unpacked, cleaned for our house sitters and got to the airport. Kaitlyn Schmitt delivered us to the airport a full 1 1/2 hour ahead of time. Those who know us are probably pretty amazed. Both of our checked bags weighed 46.5 lbs, so we didn't have to pay any extra fees. I had already checked our bags online which saved us money.

We breezed through the security check with only 2 people in front of us. The woman who spoke little English and had gel bra inserts in her carry on caused a little delay as the security folks examined them carefully (seriously). So, then we had a 70 minute wait for our plane. It arrived in time, and we boarded on time and then sat on the runway for a 12 minute delay. The Capt. announced that we would have a delay in Charlottesville because he had been given a hold by the Flight Controllers in Charlotte NC. I'm guessing they have figured out that it is better to wait on the runway than to circle the airport at the end, burning a lot more jet fuel. We got our first "sustainability" (voyage theme) lesson. An easy flight to Charlotte got us there in the early afternoon for a 4 hour layover.

The Charlotte, NC airport seemed pretty busy, and still had Christmas decorations up.  I tried to connect to the wireless with my new NetBook, but couldn't, so I spent a lot of time troubleshooting.  I had wireless working at the University, but I had never tried it outside the UVa network, so I might have a conflict somewhere.  The airport did offer plenty of time for people watching. It was also the time that Nancy discovered that her cell phone was in her other purse that she had left at home.  She decided it was an omen that she should cut the ties a little more, so it was fine. We moved to our departure gate when it was time and were greeted with a beautiful sunset to fly into.

Then we were off and had an easy but long flight to San Diego. I noticed that probably half of the people that I could see on the plane had laptops, and I know that wireless connection is coming someday.  Nancy and I played a game of Scrabble on my Netbook with her trouncing me.  It then occurred to me that a cool app would be to set up a wireless intranet on the plane that let people play games with other people on the plane.  If Nancy didn't want to play Scrabble, some unidentified person could challenge  me.  Just throwing this out there for free to some app developer--you know who you are.

As we descended into San Diego, we passed just to the right of the downtown high rises.  It was a little disconcerting to look out the window and see buildings at our level.  We landed smoothly, collected up our bags smoothly, caught a shuttle to our hotel and enjoyed one of those drivers who really belongs on the NASCAR circuit.

We are staying at the Hotel Solamar--a Kimpton Hotel property. Klimpton prides itself on its sustainability efforts--touting that it saves 13,000 trees annually through its iniatives I got this hotel through Priceline.com after my friend Chris Ruotolo bragged about her prowess with good deals. It is a nice place and is besieged by Mary Kay Directors, all dressed in blue suits, here for a convention. I have to say that the free coffee bar this morning sure did smell good as they passed through.

Last night, we went out to dinner here and had dinner at 9pm California time or midnight back home. That seems to be working for the jetlag (although Nancy is napping as I type). We are staying in the GasLamp District--a very vibrant area filled with restaurants, shops, bars and people.

This morning was spent shopping at CVS for all the incidentals we know we will need on the ship. We've got vitamins, insect repellent, sunscreen, toothpaste, batteries, hand gel, shaving and eye care products and much more--about $300 worth. Everyone says you can buy shampoo in the ports, but who wants to spend time looking?

This afternoon, we strolled around and shopped for ship snacks at Ralph's. Ralph's is really a Kroger, and they took our Kroger card--giving us a big discount on about 20 boxes of granola bars.

And finally, I do have to say that it is certainly wonderful to walk around in 70 degree weather without a sweater or jacket. Stay tuned.