If you weren't aware, we spent last week on a Caribbean cruise. The entire family, totaling in at 17 humans from the ages of six months and well, up. You know the drill: Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman. Et cetera... We flew down there (which for the record, I loathe to fly) and had no problems but upon departure well... We had problems. A delayed flight turned into a cancelled flight turned into panic mode turned into brainstorming mode turned into a few hours later we all piled into two twelve person passenger vans and headed north for the long drive home.
All in all we traveled for a solid 24 hours from start to finish (not including time waiting to debark the ship while still on said ship). We rode a bus and we rode a tram (or two) and we rode a van and not a plane but hey. We got home. But I'm tired. Like deep in my bones. Sure the kids were champs and they slept the entire night long... Thank the heavenly powers that be! David upon waking asked me if we were still in Florida..... No my friend, I wish, but alas, we were in Maryland. What kind of night is that? Fall to sleep in Florida and when you wake you are miraculously in Maryland?
So. All this to say, there will be more recapping my dear readers once I sleep and eat and bathe and have an adult beverage and the like but for now some stats I kept note of during our journey:
17 people
1.5 hours waiting to be dismissed from the ship
9 people not permitted to use the escalator
1.5 customs agents to address some 2,600 departing cruise guests
1 flight cancelled because of sun I mean rain in Baltimore
1 hour to wait for the luggage to be returned to us
2 twelve passenger rental vans
6 car seats
3 gas fill ups
1,032 miles driven
18 hours of drive time
3 car seat transfers to different vehicles
0 bottles of wine
0 cinnamon crunch bagels at Panera Bread for my boys.
Needless to say, our trip home was doomed from the start. Thankfully, we made it home alive.
Annnnnnd I'm never flying again. The end.
