Ted & Relinda's Life Adventures

We had decided that we were not going to do another cruise in 2009 since we had just taken the 10 day cruise in December/January. Well, I guess we should know better than to say we wouldn't do another.  While at a FOP meeting wewere talking with a friend and he told us about this cruise that he and his family were going on. A 14 day transatlantic with a few days in London and a night in Dublin. Well, the price was too good for us to pass up so off we sailed!

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and it took no time at all to get on board this ship. On most cruise ships you stop and look around but on this one you stopped and looked in awe of the size. They had cruise personnel reminding you to keep on moving so others could board.  While on our last cruise we were at dock tied up to this ship and we remembering thinking about how huge this ship was and how nice it looked.  We dropped our stuff in our cabin and took off for the buffett restaurant- that is always the first thing you do. Go for lunch and then start checking out the ship prior to pulling away from dock.  We wandered around for a bit and then hit the forward deck to watch us leave Fort Lauderdale. Quite a few people are out on deck to watch us leave and then everyone heads back inside to eat. It happened that we were delayed getting away from dock and the early seating in the dining room was under way so people were in a hurry. Watch out- don't get between some cruisers and their food! The jokes about eating every 5 minutes isn't quite a joke and it is amazing that even though you know you will get to eat as much as you want people are always in a great big hurry to get to the food.

 We had 6 days at sea and we had a great time. We had wondered how it would be but being with friends and having things to do on board kept us busy. We watched movies, walked, people watched from the coffee shop, sat on deck looking for whales (which I never saw) and other fish (lots of flying fish) and had a great time relaxing. Granted we aren't the sunbathers sitting around the pool but we would find a quiet place or our balconey to sit and enjoy.  Ted tried to surprise me with having our stateroom decorated for my birthday but as normal, the staff did not have the decorating done when we returned to the room. He was very disappointed so he mentioned it to customer service personnel and they sent us a bottle of wine complimentary along with roses from the housekeeping staff.  Thanks honey it was a nice thought and the room looked super all decorated. We had a very nice balconey stateroom and that made it easier just hanging out in there. Even though we really didn't spend that much time in there other than sleeping. Our steward got to know that we liked to sleep in.

 We were lucky to be able to take a 10 day cruise over New Years with our friends Barb & Ric. Barb & I have been internet friends for years and figured this was the perfect time to get to meet. We decided to pick them up at the rental car drop off site and take them over to the Tampa port with us. We arrived and after walking around a few minutes I decided to call Barb to see where they were. I turned and looked at a couple with their back to me as their phone rang when I called her. Lo & behold it was them and the trip was on and what a great time we had.

 We left out of Tampa on Royal Caribbeans ship Grandeur of the Sea. Beautiful ship and it seemed a little smaller than the ones we had previously cruised on. The one thing we found we really liked about her right off the bat is the buffett restaurant was on the forward side of the ship and that way we could watch our comings and goings from there. We would sit there and watch the men working on the decks below casting off lines and doing the hard work while we drank our coffee.

After a couple of sea days we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the day. We had signed up for a tour of the Bacardi distillery and of old San Juan and were looking forward to a little shopping. A nice day other than a bit of drizzle. We finally got on our bus and headed off to the distillery only to have to wait for 2 hours for our tour to get in to the distillery. Ted was not very happy and on top of that we did not get a tour of the actual facility but only a short video.  This put us way behind and then once we started heading towards town got in to a traffic jam. We didn't get our tour of old
San Juan but spent about half an hour at one of the forts on the island. No shopping either.

Some days Ted wishes that the internet did not come in to our house. Such was the day that an email from Priceline came in for the 3 day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line. We decided to see if our long time friends Dennis & Brenda would go with and they did!  We sailed out of Miami and headed to the Bahamas for a short 3 day cruise. This was nice as we got to spend some time with them and we believe that Dennis actually relaxed a bit.  In Nassau we walked around the local stores and the straw market before heading on our excursion to the zoo and gardens. The highlight of the zoo was the show that was put on using Flamingos. They had them trained to march and stop on order. It was cute.  Each evening was spent with a very nice meal and then we would watch the show.

Washington DC-  we visited the spy museum, the old Post Office & tower,  Lincoln, Washington, VietNam, Iwo Jima, Air Force and other memorials and monuments. We rode the Metro around DC and did quite a bit of walking.

Laurel, Md-  home of John & Maggie Neal.  What a beautiful location. The house and property have their special touches and it was a pleasure to spend the night there with them.

Rehobeth Beach, Delaware- the beach home of John & Maggie.  What a lovely place to spend a couple days relaxing after all of the walking and commotion of DC.  The beach was 3 blocks from the house (at the end of the street) and a boardwalk was there and went in to downtown. Full of little shops and looks like a really nice place to hang out.

Lewes, Delaware- another beach town. Has a lightship boat that is a museum but of course it was closed along with all the other museums.

Dewey Beach, Delaware- another beach town. Has a lighthouse museum that was also closed. I guess we were a week early for all the openings of the museums for tourist season.

Grantsville, Md- home of Don & Sarah. Windy and very chilly.

Still traveling   more to come.

May 26 update:

Cleveland, Ohio   home of Uncle Ted & Aunt Mary Brogan.

Sandusky, Ohio   Ohio Veteran sailors and soldiers home- Ted's Uncle Doug Taylor lives there.

Conway, Arkansas    Darlene & Dick moved here from Nashville.  Appears to be a very nice town.  Went and visited Pickle Gap today and yesterday we were at Toad Suck Park.  I am not making up these names folks.. 

We ended our travels at the home of our dear friends Stan & Corky McGinn. We were so glad that we stopped and spent a night with them. Keep up the fight Stan- we will be back to see you again.

Our second cruise sailed from the Port of Tampa, Fl and we visited Grand Cayman Island, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel. We had a great time and can't wait to do another.

January 13-20, 2008                  

Eastern Caribbean

Sunday: We started out our cruise with a bus ride from Port Charlotte to the Port of Miami. On the bus we met with Donald Ulrich from Dist 1 who was sailing out on Carnival Valor for his honeymoon. We talked most of the way to the ships. There we boarded NCL’s ship  Dawn. Our cabin is 10152 with balcony. Balconies are great because you can sit and watch everything going on at the port around you.  The first evening after the life boat drill we got to meet the rest of the group that is on this cruise with us.  This cruise was the FOP district 3 fundraiser and there were a few others from out of state. Several from DC1, another from Ohio & a couple from Washington.

 Monday:  Day at sea.  This is the day to sleep in and then just wander around the ship. We went from deck to deck trying to find the different areas.  Tonight is our formal group photo so everyone get dressed up but not everyone shows up for the photo shoot. Oh well, got the Florida group anyway.

Tuesday: Samana, Dominican Republic:  Wow, what a port. We were amazed at how poor that area is. The cruise ships have only been going there for a few months and you can tell it. Mostly poverty and only a few areas that are built up. We did go on a tour here of a local ranch which grows coffee, cocoa, papaya and such. We were told about the sizes of their families – normal is 10 to 15 children. And they are teaching them all how to make money off the tourists. We had to walk to a waterfall and the kids were there to help you walk or give you a flower and then expected to be paid for it.  At the beach they walked around with trays of cut fruit and palm leaf bracelets and as soon as you told 1 no another would be in their place. Rather annoying but that is how they are making their living.  While walking through town there were people selling hats made out of the palm fronds. As soon as you tried to take it back to the ship you found out that you couldn’t take it. They were thrown away.

Wednesday:  St Thomas, US Virgin Islands: We are sitting on our balcony looking down at the Haversight shopping mall and the pier. The hillside is great and watching everyone out there scurrying around and coming back with bags of stuff.  I could move here in a heartbeat. Island looks gorgeous- the water is spectacular!  Our adventure here was on an ocean racing sailboat and what a great ride we had!  Ted was helmsman and took us over the finish line just beating the other boat. Rail in the water.  This is the highlight of the whole trip as far as he is concerned. He loved it! There was a couple on board who had never been on a sailboat and had no idea what to expect. They were scared several times but just sat back and had a ride.   After that we went up the Sky Ride and had their world famous Baileys Bushwacker (dang they are good) and did some shopping. Right now we are both tired and sitting here on our balcony looking over the crowds below us and contemplating what we are doing for supper tonight.

Thursday:  Tortolla , British Virgin Islands:  Amazing how it took 12 hours to go less than 50 miles to the next stop.  We headed out this morning on a tour of the island. What a nice tour it turned out to be. The best tour we had this trip.  It is amazing to be sitting on deck and look up to the mountain tops on the island at 1700 feet. Tortolla is very boater friendly, marinas, chandlery & sail lofts were seen along the tour route.  Sailboats anchored all over the chain of islands and sailing charters are a big thing there.  I could call these islands home! We are hoping to sail down here in the next few years.  The price of fuel is at least a dollar more a gallon- diesel was at 4.35 a gallon.  Guess the slower pace of the sailboat is a good thing when it comes to cost.

Friday:  Day at sea     nothing really exciting happened today.  Seas were a bit rougher but it just made you pay attention to your walking.  We saw a movie and just hung out and walked the decks.

Saturday:  Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas    This is the private island for NCL.  They had a beach party and lots of sun, alcohol and people.  We on the other hand, opted to sleep in and stay on board and enjoy a day of having the ship pretty much to ourselves. Watched a couple of movies and relaxed.  Nice meal in the evening and a late show before heading off to our cabin for the night.

November 2004

  We started planning our China trip early in 2004. We set the dates so that we could celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in China and got our passports and visas. We were headed to China to spend time with Ted's sister Darlene & her husband Dick (D&D). They were living in Suzhou which is between Shanghai and Bejing and were working with a US Company starting a factory there. We asked Dick about setting up a tour for us to see more of China.   We arrived in Shanghai and after clearing customs, met D& D who had a driver waiting to take us to their condo in Suzhou. We had a 23 hour trip to get to them and it was another hour to their place but we were so glad to be there.  We were introduced to the driving habits of the Chinese right away- we always thought that traffic lights were there to be obeyed- red meaning stop. Well, in parts of China they use them as "suggestions" so we were very glad that we were not going to be driving.

 Everything about our trip was amazing. We had a wonderful time there even though we did not speak any Chinese. But, luckily D&D do  speak fluent Chinese. We ate new foods and had cultural exposure and took a lot of pictures and new that this trip would be remembered forever.  We didn't realize how much until after we got home.

 Shopping was quite an experience. If you buy things here in the states marked "made in China" you can not buy those same items in China. But being in a country where you do not speak the language makes all communications difficult but the shop keepers there are wise. They have a calculator that they put the price in and hand it to you- if you don't like it you type in your price and it goes like this until you agree on the price. I shopped with Darelene for silk & pearls & of course souveniers.   The cultural differences surprised me being in the cities. We met up with a family with a toddler and were introduced to the split pants that the children wear. No diapers- they just squat and do their business anywhere outside.  

 Dick had arranged for a tour of several cities for the 4 of us and it was amazing. We started with my first ever train ride! Oh my goodness- what an experience starting in the train station. I don't like crowds and in China people don't stand in line they always want to be first and that equals crowding. But as long as Darlene was close by I never worried. We headed on an overnight train to Bejing- the 4 of us in a sleeper car. We ate in the dining car- which should have been called the smoking car.  Early morning found us at the train station in Bejing looking for our tour guide who would escort us for the next couple of days. In Bejing we went to Tiennamin Square, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China. We had a hotel room in downtown Bejing and didn't have alot of free time. This is where I started having a sore throat and coughing but we thought it was due to the terrible smog conditions there.  From Bejing we headed to Xian by plane and we were met there by another tour guide. Here we visited the Terra Cotta Soldiers and the ancient walled city.  From Xian we went to my favorite place- Guillin.  This was in what is the sub tropical area of China and is called the most romantic town in China and is where we were spending our 10th wedding anniversary. By the time we got there and did a quick tour and got to our motel I was so tired and by this time so very sick.  Ted & I had planned on a very nice anniversary dinner but because of how sick I was the 4 of us had a gourmet meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken. As we were walking back to the hotel we found a corner pharmacy and went in to see if we could get something for me. What an experience- their medicines are nothing like ours- all herbs and we could not read any of the ingredients nor could the pharmacist and Dick figure out a translation. So- I took what he offered and still have no idea what I took but it did make me feel better.  In Guillin is the River Lei and the most beautiful hills and mountains in all different shapes- not like the mountain areas in the US.  From Guillin we went to Shanghai and spent a couple days there and even visited a police museum that was there.  During these tours we went to silk factories, pearl factories, visited places that were thousands of years old, palaces that were incredible and the buildings and gardens were incredible.

We went back to D&D's for a few more days and were able to meet their friends and learn a bit more about the culture. Things we take for granted here, like getting utilities or bills we found are not that way there. You do not drink the water there but call for water delivery and it is delivered by bicycle and placed on the machine for you. You go to the bank to pay for all of your utilities but they don't send a bill. Once your money runs out they shut off that utility until you pay it. But unlike the states as soon as you pay they turn it back on.  While staying with D&D those last few days, a couple of mornings while taking my shower I noticed what I thought might be a lump in my left breast and never said anything about it. This was to take us on our next adventure.

 May 2006

Ted had always wanted to go to England and visit the town where his Mother was born. And with us having friends in the UK- this was the right time for us to head over there for a visit.  In May 2006 we flew to London and what an adventure just getting through customs. We stood in line for quite a while to clear customs and then headed out to meet with our friend Gary Sims who was there to greet us.  We met up with him and his son Max and headed for the car after getting our luggage.  We had made a reservation at a b&b which is a first for us.  We are use to having hotels on every corner and we had been told that we would not have any problems getting a room in Horsham, which is where the Sims family resides. 

 Our first experience came on the ride to the b&b. We had decided not to rent a car from the airport and before we got to the b&b we knew that we would not be renting a car during this trip. Public transportation, walking and friends willing to give us a ride was going to be in order. Between driving on the opposite side of the road, the different road signs and not knowing where we were going!  Now we understood why Gary had such a hard time when he drove in the US.  He delivered us to a lovely b&b and we got ourselves checked in and settled in and Gary was coming back for us later to have tea with them. It was definitely a bit cooler there than we were use to but it was not cold and that was a relief.  We relaxed for a bit and then Gary came back for us and we went to their home.  It was very nice to be with Gary & Iva, Max & we met Klara. The last visit we had with Gary & Iva (2004)- Iva had just found out she was pregnant and this was our chance to finally meet Klara.   We spent the evening with them and got a ride back to the b&b.  They would be back in the morning to pick us up so that we could take a ride.

 Our first morning in Horsham was chilly and wet. We were heading to the coast for the day and it looked like it would be a rainy day. After a nice drive we go to Brighton by the Sea, a quaint town. We walked through the shop area and look for a place to get something to eat.  We find out that they don't do real coffee and I didn't have any problems with having hot tea instead of coffee.  Ted on the other hand..... We all know he likes his coffee and he did tolerate all the instant coffee that they serve.

Much more of this wonderful trip to follow soon