current mood:  sick
book: fear and loathing in las vegas --hunter s. thompson
and the story ends here
friday 12.3.2004--.last day at sea. much walking around the ship was done. everything felt like it was in slow motion as we lingered in each room, and took our last walks around the ship. stopping at every bar to enjoy the moment. dancing our last dance(s).
our last dinner
me dancing my last dance
rich at the bar
again, rich at the bar
saturday 13.3.2004--.back to miami. our flight was leaving at 11:15am or so, so we decided that it would be wise to do "early check-out." the person in charge of check out dismissed everyone by floor starting at 7:30, with our floor being called last (figures). upon arriving on the fourth floor we realized how impossible it was going to be to get anywhere in any sort of orderly fashion. let's just say, herding cattle would have been easier. so 9:00 rolls around and we haven't moved from the spot that we stopped at, at around 7:35am. but there were several announcements over the loud-speaker asking for three families to report to customs. by 9:45 only one family was still being called and that family was, yup you guessed it...from canada. i got fed up--and for passive me to take action means i was seriously pissed--i walked down to room 2204 (that's how pissed i was, i still remember what room the Mc-fucking something family was staying in), realized that two other people joined me in my walk down to room 2204, upon arriving we found someone else already yelling at the family to report to customs! it turns out that the family decided to have breakfast (prior to packing their belongings mind you) and they did not hear their names being paged. fuck canada and the damn canadians is all i have to say. we were delayed because of them in our departure from miami and we were delayed because of them in our arrival back to miami.
i returned to my party to inform them and anyone else in earshot that that damned family was happily enjoying breakfast while the rest of us had to cancel, delay and change flights due to them. luckily getting off the ship from that point on was fast and easy. we were off the ship around 10:05 and at the airport at 10:20. thanks to e-ticket it took all 5 of us about 5 minutes to check in and drop off our luggage; we even had enough time to eat some disgusting airport pizza *bleh.* the flight back was problem-less and we actually arrived in philly earlier than we should have arrived.
philly from the sky.
.tid bits. i ate snails. it was great not having to pay for anything that i ate, at first i felt bad like i had to pay and i couldn't take the food without paying but then i got used to it :) also being able to eat as many entrees as i wanted during one sitting was a new and strange experience for me. by the end of the trip i was ordering three entrees alone. funny thing is i came back thinner than when i left. i miss 24 hr pizza, hot dogs, and burgers. it's sad not being able to wake up at 3am, go upstairs and get some free pizza with fries. it's going to be a while before i can eat watermelon for breakfast in philly.
you don't realize that the ship moves until you are on solid land for a few hours and you're the one that's swaying from side-to-side. i still miss the "oxford bar" terribly, i wish i would have known about it sooner. yes ron, i know. the oxford bar is a bar/lounge area where people listen to a live jazz band and smoke cigars while they sit in dark corners on big comfy leather chairs...we were one of the few young people there. for me, the ocean is best at night when i can look out into it's vastness and never fully distinguish where the sea and the sky come together, and the only light is the moon; that is when i truly feel life's majesty.
coming home was bitter sweet. memories are always kinder. | 
jubilant
bouncy
