April 26, 2012


Welcome back to the Travel Log!


Hey, folks, today I hit the skies from DFW airport and flew to Ft Lauderdale to get on the Crown Princess ship on Saturday and voyage to the Mediterranean. This will be my third transatlantic crossing by ship, as some of you know already, but the first during which I'll have a friend along. Debbie H, whom I worked with a zillion years ago in my library career, is making the crossing too. She will be staying on the ship when I get off at Rome and continue on for the first Mediterranean cruise of the summer. We'll be getting semi-acquainted with Ft Lauderdale until we get on the ship, so there probably won't be any exciting news for a couple of weeks. Posting is difficult and expensive from the ship, and I really don't want to carry my laptop on the day-trips once we reach Europe, so I won't be doing any regular communicating until I'm set up in Malta, hopefully no later than May 14 and maybe as early as the 12th. I'll have to scope things out once I arrive.


The hotel here in Ft Lauderdale is quite near the port and in fact I saw part of a cruise ship today, off in the distance, when I looked over between two buildings at the shopping center. Blue skies, warm air, a bit of humidity. A lovely afternoon to arrive, all told. I really hate to fly and was pretty anxious and stressed (and irritated too) until we got to the hotel, and then the excitement of the trip really took over. No more airplanes till May 12, just the ship. I love the ships. Our stops along the way to Rome are Gibraltar, Alicante (Spain), Barcelona, Marseille and Livorno. All but Barcelona and Livorno are new stops for me, so that will be cool. I'll give a report once I've visited. Those of you who know will well will not be surprised that I am hoping to get to spend some time in a good book store in either Alicante or Barcelona.


Wish me luck!


April 27, 2012


On my walk this morning, I went up the causeway drawbridge and stopped more or less at the top and looked out over the port and the water. I could see the Island Princess at dock. (We'll be sailing on the Crown Princess which may not be in dock yet?) While I was up there, the drawbridge lifted, and two sailboats and a yacht went through. Traffic really backs up on the road when the bridge is up!


Y'all have fun while I'm at sea.