Wow.. a whole week! I guess that cruise took more out of me than I expected. Actually, it wasn't the cruise, it was the trip home:

We got off the boat and were at the airport by 10:00, ready for a few hours of waiting until our 2:00 flight to Chicago. Out of the group of 31, 6 of us were on the 2:30 flight, the last one of all of ours to leave Orlando. Around 1:00 we notice our luggage is now off the plane. Shortly after, there's an announcement that we're waiting for a mechanic to check out our plane. HOLY RED FLAG. I think I'm going to crash every time I get on a plane, so this was NOT good for me. The last thing I wanted to do was get on THAT particular plane. So, we wait.. and we wait.. and we wait. The people at United keep saying they're going to update us, but it's to no avail. All we can get from them is that there's a leak on the plane and no one knows what it is. Tre has a meeting at 8 am in Saratoga on Tuesday, so we HAVE to get home. Well, at least she does. She goes to the desk to talk to the people to se if there is any other flight she can get on and at one point, the woman says "I need a break" and walks away from her. It was unreal how unhelpful they were. We finally find out that they might be getting us another plane and we'll leave around 6:30. There is a 5:00 flight at the next gate but we were having trouble finding out if there was room on the plane. We had pretty much given up hope when a few people in our group happened to be walking by the gate and they heard Tre's name get announced (something we couldn't hear from our gate). They come running for me cause I had Tre's boarding pass, and she gets on the flight. I was bummed to be by myself, but she needed to get back so that's the way the cookie crumbles. Our friend then asked if there was any way I could get on the flight, and I was able to. However, I consistently asked the woman at the desk if we would make our connecting flight and she insisted we would. Considering our flight was leaving at 5 and our connecting flight was at 5:52 out of Chicago, it was doubtful, but I thought maybe I was wrong about the time difference or something, so I let it go. As expected, we got to Chicago and missed our flight by an hour, so we were basically in the same boat we would have been had we taken the same flight as our friends. We head to the United desk to see if there are any flights to Albany, and the first one was at 8 am the next morning. I really thought Tre was either gonna punch someone or cry. She then asks if there is a flight to Newburgh, which there wasn't. Last ditch effort: Hartford. There was a 9:15 flight that would get us into Hartford around midnight. I instantly called J (he's still out on worker's comp so he can't work until his next doctor's appointment) to see if he could pick us up and save my parents the trip. He says yes, so my mom emails him directions and we are relieved that we'll get back to sleep in our own beds. For the first time that day, we got lucky, as this was the inaugural flight of this route. It was only an hour and 45 minute flight and we got into Hartford before midnight. We had no baggage to pick up, so we were ready to go. However, there was some construction on I-91, so J didn't get there till about 12:30. We finally pulled into the driveway around 2:15 am, which was fine for me, but not so much for Tre. I'd say she got about 4 hours of sleep. She's still recovering!

Course, we still have no luggage. My friends had to stay overnight in Chicago and were taking the 8 am flight to Albany, so I had them call me when they got in to be sure our luggage had made it from Orlando. Luckily, it was there... as was my car. J had to take me to the airport to get everything and I was relieved to finally have all my stuff back. The day before was such a long day and I was just happy to be home. Bunks on cruises are TINY, so it was very nice to sleep in my very own bed again! I owed J big time for picking us up, so I had to take him to Moscatello's in North Greenbush for dinner. How come we basically did this for Tre and me, the unemployed one, is taking him to dinner. How the hell did I get the short end of the stick on that one?!

Here are some pictures to get you through:

This was our first night on the cruise, as we were leaving Port Canaveral. Beautiful blue water, and Senor Frogs!Tre and I at Senor Frog's later that night. Check out that tan line!This is a shot of the private island we were supposed to go to on Sunday. However, (as you can probably tell) the weather wouldn't allow it, which made us spend our day drinking on the boat. It was a trainwreck waiting to happen.