The Land of Oz

This post will primarily be just photos, only because it has been over 3 months since the trip and it is hard to remember all the details!

On November 16, Kevin and I had an overnight trip to Baltimore before flying to Sydney. We arrived in Sydney on Saturday, November 19 and were unable to check into our hotel so we walked over to Darling Harbour and ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We checked into the hotel around 1pm, took a long nap and then went to the harbour that evening to watch the fireworks. We inspected the ship on Sunday morning did some shopping Sunday afternoon and crashed early Sunday evening.

Waiting for the fireworks in Darling Harbour. 

Pretty spectacular!

This one turned out awesome! 

What trip to Sydney is complete without a photo of the opera house??

On Monday morning we flew to Brisbane, Australia. This was our first time in Brisbane, so we decided to visit one of Brisbane's major tourist attractions, The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Of all the places we have been to see koala's, this is the only one in which you can actually hold and cuddle a koala. This is something I have wanted to do since our first trip to Australia in 2008, so I was super excited to finally get the opportunity. We checked-in to our hotel, got directions to the sanctuary and arrived there around 2pm. The park had over 130 Koala's and a large area to hand feed kangaroo's. We had a great time and I can now check off cuddling a Koala from my bucket list! On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a grocery store and picked up some dinner (our hotel room had a kitchen, so we were able to do some minor cooking) and called it an early night. We inspected the ship on Tuesday morning and did some shopping that afternoon, before we went back to the hotel to pack our bags for our early morning flight. We didn't have too much time to explore Brisbane, but we certainly enjoyed ourselves while we were there! We flew home on Wednesday, just in time for Thanksgiving on Thursday!

On the bus to the Koala Sanctuary. 

The entrance.

It's a tough life as a Koala!

The Koala's were everywhere! This was right by the picnic tables where we ate lunch.

They are just so stinking cute! 

Feeding the Roo's!

Such a great experience! This was the second time we were able to feed the kangaroo's like this, but it never gets old! Their teeth are very interesting. 

They were everywhere, and got rather ticked if you didn't feed them...hence my lovely expression! 

I like this one!

SOOO AWESOME!! He smelled like Eucalyptus and so did I for the rest of the day! 

See how sharp the claws are!?! Apparently Koala's can be pretty nasty. I think this is why most places don't let you hold them, let alone touch them. Such and incredible experience!  I could have cuddled this little guy all day!

On our way out, we passed the nursery and saw these adorable babies! 

This picture gives you a much better view of the size difference. Can I have one!?!

Apparently it is a tough life for a wallaby too! So comfortable!

Brilliance of the Seas Part 3

After our exciting detour to the Emergency Room, our trip got even better (please sense some sarcasm in that statement)! We got to the airport on Saturday to continue our journey back to the Brilliance and the first problem was that we did not have seats together and the flight was overbooked on our 9 hour flight to Rome. This is not usually an issue, but after what happened the night before, I was not going to let Kevin out of my sight. After some kind words and throwing our frequent flyer status around, we were able to sit together and got some extra leg room sitting in Economy Plus! Because the flight was overbooked, we were about 30 minutes late leaving IAD and therefore 30 minutes late arriving in Rome. When we got to Rome, we had to find our bags, which were shockingly on the carousel with all the other bags from our flight (well 2 of the 3 bags– that’s right, Kevin was missing his bag with ALL of his clothing). We were told that for some reason the bag was checked all the way to our final destination and we could claim it there – Great, Right? It would have been great if we had made it to our final destination, but unfortunately that didn’t happen!! By the time we figured out our bag situation, and moved from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, we only had 25 minutes to check-in, get through security, and get to our gate – obviously that wasn’t going to happen. So we went to the re-booking counter. The next and only flight on that airline (Alitalia) to our destination (Reggio Calabri) was not until 5pm, putting us there at 6:30pm. The ship was leaving at 8:30pm from Messina (a 30 minute ferry ride from the airport) and we most likely would not have made it to the ship in time on this itinerary. Our next option was to change airlines and fly out at 10:10am to Reggio and arrive only an hour later than originally planned. This seemed too good to be true, and was! Let me note that it was approximately 9am at this point and the flight would leave in an hour. First, we had to go back to Terminal 3 from Terminal 1 and find the booking office. We successfully found and booked our ticket and then proceeded to check-in. With our boarding passes in hand, we walked over to security and immediately my heart sank! The line was like a Disney line. It wove back and forth and no end was in sight. We finally got into a line for one of the 10 or so scanners and right before we reached the end of the line one scanner broke. Of course this caused everyone from that line to come over to our line and our hopes of making the flight were shot! If you have never been to Italy or had much interaction with Italians you probably can’t imagine the chaos and pushiness we encountered. Everyone seemed to think their flight was the most important and they would miss it if they did not push to the front. I remember looking at my watch with 15 minutes until the plane left – not boarded, but left - and we were still not through the mess. I finally made it through (Kevin was a few people behind me) and sprinted to the gate. When I got there, the agent informed me that we had missed it by 5 minutes! AHHH!! I couldn’t believe it, and at this point Kevin and I were both LIVID!! They told us where to pick up the 2 bags we had, and we were back to square one. I collected the bags while Kevin attempted, without success, to get a refund on our ticket and make plans for another flight. After some research, we decided to take a flight from Rome to Milan and Milan to Reggio, putting us there around 5pm – still cutting is close, but worth a shot. When we went to purchase the tickets, they were no longer available! What more could go wrong!!! The very kind agents back at Alitalia suggested we fly into the Catania airport and take a 1 hour train ride to Messina. This was a great suggestion, but would not allow us to claim Kevin’s luggage in Reggio. We weighed our options and finally decided to for-go the bag and just try to get to the ship. So we booked our ticket to Catania, leaving Rome at 1:40 and arriving at 3:30. We finally got out of Rome, but were still apprehensive of what was to come. Once we had claimed our luggage, we went to the tourism office and were told we could take a bus directly to Messina so we booked our ticket. We missed the 3:45 bus by about 5 minutes and the next bus didn’t leave until 5:10, so we had some time to eat some pizza – probably the best pizza I have ever eaten – and then wait. We got on the bus with no problems, drove for about 90 minutes and were dropped of at the train station that was within walking distance of the ship. We finally got to the ship around 7pm with 90 minutes to spare before departing (this was about 8 hours later than we planned, but we actually made it). I honestly didn’t think we were ever going to get to the ship! Around 7:30, 30 minutes after we signed-on to the ship, Kevin got a phone call and was informed that his luggage was at Reggio. Instead of risking the chance that the bag would not make it to the ship in an hour (which was highly unlikely) Kevin opted to have his bag delivered back to Colorado Springs. We shall see if that actually happens. Kevin does not have high hopes of ever seeing that bag again, but I am optimistic!

After we settled in our room and showered, we had dinner in the Windjammer, watched the headliner show in the theatre (a comedic violinist), and finished the evening watching Dancing with the Stripes – the ships version of Dancing with the Stars. It was an incredibly long day, well 2 days really, so we called it a night around 11pm. We were just happy to have actually made it to the ship!

We woke up around 8am on Monday morning, because we had a meeting with the environmental specialist on the ship. The meeting was quick and easy and we were able to start working by 9am (although we didn’t). We grabbed a quick breakfast in the Windjammer and then went back to sleep until noon. We went up to the rock wall at noon and removed the holds on the top 3 meters of the wall and then quickly powerwashed the wall again. Fortunately most of the prep work was done when we started this job in August, so we didn’t have much to do this time. We were back in the room around 2pm and slept again until about 7. We showered and then Richard (the sports supervisor) met us at the room before we all went out on the ship together. We had dinner in the Windjammer again, and then went to the Schooner Bar for drinks and Piano Bar Entertainment with Paul O’Shea. His entertainment never gets old! Around 10pm we went out to the centrum for the 70’s dance party. Sadly, Richard didn’t have to dance this time, but we still enjoyed watching others dance…I even joined in for a while! We finished the night in Starquest and parted ways around 12:45am. Kevin and I decided to grab a midnight snack at the Seaview Café, and took our snack to go as they were just closing down for the night. It was a nice and relaxing day before the painting began!

On Tuesday, we waited about 24 hours for the wall to dry from the powerwash the day before, and didn’t get started painting until about 11:30am. We (well Kevin) painted until 2:30 and then took a quick lunch break. We got back to work an hour or so later, but were forced to stop working at 5:30 because the sun had set and it was extremely difficult to see what we were painting. We were hoping to finish painting all in one day, but no such luck!

Beginning of painting, Day 1.

End of Day 1.

I snapped this picture while Kevin was finishing up....Still shocked that I actually captured something so beautiful!

And a close up of the above picture! Love it!

Because Kevin's bag was lost, he had to wear my pants! Richard supplied Kevin with some new shirts and I provided the pants. I thought it was rather entertaining. 

On Wednesday, the ship passed through the Suez Canal! We woke up around 9am and ate breakfast in the Windjammer. The ship started through the canal around midnight and was almost half-way through when we woke up on Wednesday morning. We saw the ship exit from the upper part of the canal into the Great Bitter Lake - a holding point for all of the ships waiting to go north and south. We waited in the Great Bitter lake for about 3 hours before entering the last one-way section of the canal. In total, it took about 15 hours for our ship to pass through the entire canal. Meanwhile, we finally finished painting the wall!! We finished everything around 1pm, but the coat of paint we put on the wall earlier in the morning had been thinner than what we ended up with, so we had to do some patch work around 4pm. We ate dinner at the Windjammer that evening and then went to the juggling show in the theater. We were able to spend some more time with Richard during the show, and again later that evening at the White Party. We were so happy to finally be done painting!!

The front of our convoy entering the Great Bitter Lake. 

Our first daytime glimpse of the Suez Canal!

Ships in holding in the Great Bitter Lake.

More ships waiting for their turn to pass through the last half of the Suez Canal.

Beginning of Day 2. 

Going through the last half of the Suez Canal. It was amazing how different each side of the Canal was. The European side was lush and green, where as the Asian side was completely barren. 

Our convoy leaving the canal. 

Exiting the canal 15 hours after we entered. The city behind us is surprisingly called Suez! 

The end of painting...Or so we thought! If you look very closely at the top left of this photo you can see some color differences. This was when we realized we had to do a few touch-ups.

Finally DONE!! For real this time! 

The final product, minus the last few holds at the top. 

It's about time we took a picture of the 3 of us! 

We woke up around 9am on Thursday and went up to the wall to finish putting the few holds back up that we had to remove. We worked for about an hour and then were finally finished! The ship docked in Aqaba, Jordan right next to Eliat, Israel. I wished we could have gone to Israel so bad!! We had to be out of our room around 11 that morning so we packed our bags and stored them in Richard's office. We ate some lunch at the Seaview Cafe and then relaxed on the ship until about 2pm. Our flight left Aqaba at 6:30 that evening so we went to the airport around 2pm. We had no idea the airport would consist of only 2 gates and that we would not be able to enter the airport until 2 hours before our flight. So we sat in the lobby and waited very patiently to check-in and wait some more. We flew from Aqaba to Amman and had a 6 hour layover with the same situation - we could not enter the airport until 2 hours before our flight left. So we waited in the lobby until 11pm (with horrible bathroom facilities and no where to get anything to eat). It was absolutely miserable. Our next flight was from Amman to Frankfurt, where we waited another another 5 hours before flying to Chicago. Our layover in Chicago was 5 hours before we finally flew home. In total, we traveled for 40+ hours that day! Needless to say, we were exhausted and incredibly happy to be home, out of airports and off of airplanes!!

Looking out at Eliat, Israel from the port in Aqaba, Jordan. It always surprises me how close Israel is to so many countries that dislike them! 

It was a once in a lifetime experience to travel through the Suez Canal and we are so glad to finally be done with this crazy paint job. We had great experiences and met some great people throughout the process, but we are so glad to be DONE!!

On a sidenote, it took 2 weeks for Kevin’s bags to make it back to the house, but fortunately they did return, one day before we were scheduled to leave again!

The Adventures Continue…

On Friday, November 3, Kevin and I left to go back to the Brilliance of the Seas one last time. We left Colorado Springs at 8:40am and flew non-stop to Washington Dulles International (IAD). We arrived at IAD around 2pm and our flight to Rome did not leave until 5:15pm so we went to the United Club to wait out our layover. While in the United Club, we enjoyed some snacks and drinks. Around 4pm, Kevin started to shuffle around a bit. I asked him what was going on and he said his throat felt like it was swelling up and he was having a hard time breathing. He suggested leaving the club and walking a bit before our flight left. Within about 5 minutes he started to have an anxiety attack…in his mind, he was thinking – “what happens if something is really wrong and I am on a plane for 9 hours with no access to medical attention?” or “how difficult will it be to seek medical attention in a foreign country?” With these concerns and many more, Kevin decided to ask a gate agent what his options were. Apparently, there are no medical facilities in that particular airport and the only option was to call the paramedics. So that is what we did. The paramedics (about 8 on them) arrived in about 10 minutes and started examining Kevin (in front of a flight about to board to Montreal). Kevin explained his symptoms and they checked his blood pressure and pulse oxygen. His blood pressure was extremely high because of the panic that had set in. The paramedics didn’t seem to think anything was too urgent, but recommended Kevin go to the Emergency Room to get checked out, and to get his blood pressure under control (apparently the change in altitude and pressure on a plane is not good for a person with high blood pressure). Kevin also thought a trip to the ER was a good idea so we hopped on the ambulance and went on our way. The gate agents re-booked us on the same flight the following night (we were supposed to spend a night in Rome so this didn’t change plans too much) and then we were off to the ER. Kevin rode in the back and I rode shot-gun (I had never ridden in an ambulance before!). Because Kevin’s health was not a dire emergency, we didn’t get to turn on the sirens and lights, but it was still a fun experience (I can say that now that I know Kevin is OK!!!). We got to Reston Hospital and Kevin was triaged because the emergency room was full and his case was not urgent. We waited about 45 minutes before getting a room and then waited another ½ hour or so before the doctor came in. The doctor asked some questions, did a brief work up, and then ordered an x-ray. Another 30-45 minutes later, Kevin was taken to get x-rays and then we waited even longer to get the results. The doctor wasn’t able to find anything obstructing Kevin’s breathing and gave us the go ahead to travel, but to check-up with an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor when we got home. Kevin was still not feeling normal and started to panic again when we were released with no answers, so the doctor prescribed some Ativan (anti-anxiety pill) to take if needed. We took a taxi to a nearby Walgreens to get the prescription filled, booked a room at a Holiday Inn near the airport, and checked-in to the hotel without luggage (our luggage flew to Rome that night without us). We had a small dinner at the hotel, Kevin took his meds, and we called it a day!

Now that some time has passed, we are starting to believe that Kevin may have been having an allergic reaction to carrots. The possibility of an allergic reaction never really crossed our minds in the heat of the moment, because before that day, Kevin was not allergic to any foods. He is doing much better now – although getting over the nasty cold going around – and now we have another interesting story to add to our book of life! 

Walt Disney World

We arrived in Florida on Monday, October 24, 2011 around 10:30pm. Derek and Nicole (the couple who's wedding we were there to attend) picked us up from the airport and we stayed at their house Monday night. On Tuesday, our good friend Lisa, who lives about an hour north of Melbourne, came to pick us up so we could spend some time with her and her husband, Scott. We went out to eat at a great BBQ restaurant and then shortly left to drive to Orlando. Scott was kind enough to lend us his truck for the week, so we were able to get around a little easier. We got into Orlando around 9:30 that evening and met Ryan, Meighan, and Riley at the hotel. We woke up on Wednesday morning around 7am and got ready for our first day at DISNEY!! Our original plan was to go to Epcot one day and Animal Kingdom the following day, but we were convinced to buy park hopper passes and visit ALL 4 parks in 2 days! Our first park was Hollywood Studios (MGM). We got to the park around 9:30am and went straight to Disney Junior - Live on Stage. This was a live show based on a number of different Disney Channel Shows for kids. It is a show that Riley loves so we started there before she got too tired. Our next stop was Tower of Terror while Meighan tried to get Riley to nap - unfortunately a nap did not happen, but the ride was awesome!! Our last ride at Hollywood Studios was Toy Story Mania. This is a 4-D ride/game that was so much fun! One of the best parts of the ride was actually the line leading up to the ride. The details were incredible!! We had to wait about 60 minutes for this ride, but it was totally worth it (and just so happened to be the longest we had to wait for any ride at any park).

The centerpiece of Hollywood Studios. 

From Fantasia.

Waiting in line for Toy Story. We make these glasses look good! 

We have a picture just like this from 2007...

...Ok, so maybe it is a little different! This is at Universal Studios in 2007.

We started getting hungry and decided to eat lunch at Epcot because the Wine and Food Festival was currently taking place. We got to Epcot around 1pm but had a hard time finding the special food so we ended up eating at the food court. After lunch, we decided to go to Test Track. This ride takes you through different tests for cars including heat tests, brake tests, and speed tests reaching up to 60 miles per hour! It was awesome! Our next stop was Soarin' so Meighan could ride something (she was 6 months pregnant) but the line was 70 minutes long so we decided to pass. Instead we walked over to the World Showcase to make dinner reservations and do some shopping. Kevin and I went off on our own for a little while and rode Mission Space which simulates zero gravity and a trip into outer space. When we got off we were pretty dizzy! Our next stop was an outdoor concert featuring Boyz II Men!! Boyz II Men was the first concert Kevin ever saw live, so it was awesome for him to see them again, and for me to have that experience with him! The concert was only about 30 minutes, but we certainly enjoyed it! We left the concert and went to dinner at the Chinese Pavilion. We spent some more time exploring the World Showcase and then made our way over to the Finding Nemo ride. Our last stop was Spaceship Earth which is inside the massive ball. This is a ride I remember from when I used to live in Orlando and go to Disney with my parents, and it was so great to create new memories with Kevin!! We left around 9pm that night, made a quick stop at the grocery store, and went back to the hotel. We crashed around 11pm so we could be well rested for one more day of fun!

The Epcot Ball! 

Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men and The Sing-Off. 

A Classic!

Just us! Such a great day!

We woke up around 7am on Thursday and were at Animal Kingdom around 9:30am. Animal Kingdom is Disney World's newest park and is a park that neither Kevin nor I had ever been to. It was AWESOME! Kevin said it was probably his favorite park out of the 4. Our first stop was the Kilimanjaro Safari. This ride takes you on an African Safari to see all of the wildlife in the area. It was incredible how close the van got to some of the animals. The animals were obviously caged, but it was almost impossible to see the cages. It was an incredible aspect of the park. What is cool about this ride is that every time you go on it, it will be different, depending on which animals decide to come out. So fun! Our next stop was Mt. Everest! This is a roller coaster that is shaped like Mt. Everest. It starts out like a "normal" roller coaster, but ends up moving backwards. It was a very pleasant surprise! And the wait was only about 20 minutes. It was another ride in which the line was just as entertaining as the ride. It was incredibly educational! After Everest, we went to see Finding Nemo the Musical. Riley enjoyed the Nemo ride so much the day before, that we thought she would enjoy the musical as well. She enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as Kevin and I did! It was incredible!! It was a much smaller version of Broadway, but I could definitely see it making its way to the Great White Way in the future. The costumes and special effects made me fell like I was in New York! SO awesome!! We had pizza for lunch, rode Dinosaur while Meighan and Riley rode Triceratop Spin (the equivalent on Dumbo), made our way back to Everest and then went over to Magic Kingdom around 2pm.

Our Safari vehicle.

Little Giraffes. 

A baby elephant!!

The Tree of Life - the centerpiece of Animal Kingdom.

A close-up of The Tree of Life. Look closely and you can see all kinds of animals. 

Meighan, baby girl, Riley, and Ryan in front of Mt. Everest!

Riley, Kevin and I in front of Everest and an awesome Tibetan Sculpture. One of the things Kevin liked most about this park was all of the incredible sculptures.

Marlin and Dory from Finding Nemo the Musical. 

We parked our car at one of the Disney Hotels and then rode the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Our first stop at the Magic Kingdom was Pirates of the Caribbean. We walked through the switchbacks and right up to the front of the line with out any wait! Unfortunately, we experienced some technical problems while we were on the ride, but it made for a unique experience. The next stop was the Haunted Mansion and again there was no wait AND more technical problems. We sat in the same spot for about 5 minutes waiting for the ride to get fixed. Fortunately everything was fixed in a rather timely fashion and we enjoyed the ride with no other problems. We attempted to ride Peter Pan next, but the wait was over an hour, so we grabbed a snack instead and then watched the show in front of the castle. After the show, we went to ride Thunder Mountain, but that ride was also experiencing some technical problems so it was flat out closed. I was shocked at how many rides were having issues over the 2 days we were at the parks (the day before we couldn't ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster either because it was getting repaired). We decided to go over to Space Mountain and although the wait time was about 45 minutes, we decided to ride! By the time we got off Space Mountain we were out of time for the day. It was almost 7:00pm and the park was closed to guests who had not paid EXTRA money to celebrate Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We tried to stay, but quickly found out you had to have a special wristband and you could only get that with the purchase of a new ticket. Fortunately, we were all pretty exhausted at this point anyway, so we drove back to the hotel to relax! Our plan is to go to the Halloween Party next year (2012) without any kids so everyone can enjoy the fun! Our time at Disney was amazing, as was the company!! We certainly look forward to going back again as soon as our pocket book will allow! 

Such an incredible castle!

Hanging out at the gallows. 

Mickey and Minnie!

The park transforming for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. You can see some of the guest in their costumes. 

We left the hotel around 10am on Friday morning to participate in all of the wedding festivities. The rehearsal was Friday afternoon, followed by the rehearsal dinner. We went out to a few bars after dinner to celebrate before the big day. The wedding was Saturday afternoon, officiated by Carl - one of our officiants, and we had a great time catching up with old friends. We took a few people to the airport on Sunday, spent the evening in Mims with Scot and Lisa, and flew home early Monday morning (Halloween). It was a great week!

Long-time friends! Tony, Kevin, Molly, Carl, and Derek. 

Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong around 3pm on Friday, October 21. Our hotel was in a new area so rather than exploring that evening we decided to eat dinner at the hotel and call it an early night.

We left the hotel around 2pm on Saturday and took a 16 passenger bus to the closest metro station. The small buses are the public city buses in Hong Kong. It was a new experience for sure! Right near the metro station was a huge mall where we had some Thai food for lunch. Our hotel was on Kowloon island but we decided to go over to Central Hong Kong for a couple of hours. The last time Kevin was in Hong Kong, one of the Sports Supervisors recommended a new place to check out, complete with tons of bars and happy hours, so that is where we started. This new area we explored was called Lan Kwai Fong and we were pleasantly surprised. It was about 3 city blocks full of "Americanized" bars and restaurants. Kevin decided to sit down at a bar with a middle eastern theme so he could smoke another hookah. I just got a drink and enjoyed the atmosphere and experience, but did not choose to indulge in smoking. We stayed there for about an hour and then went to find some bookshops. The first bookshop we went to had closed 5 minutes before we arrived, so we tried one more in another huge mall and were successful! We went back over to Kowloon island around 10pm, walked around the Temple Night Street Market and then went to a sushi restaurant for some dinner. We ended up back at the hotel around midnight and had a really hard time falling asleep. We ended up only getting about 3 hours of sleep before we had to get up and go to the ship.

There were some awesome murals around the new area. 

A huge hookah!! Unfortunately this was not the one Kevin got to smoke. 

The Night Market was hopping on a Saturday night!

Actually eating sushi! Still not my food of choice, but I do enjoy it from time to time. 

The sushi damage. Each plate was only $2-$4 and included 2 pieces of sushi. Cheap, Cheap, Cheap. 

On Sunday we went to the ship to do our scheduled inspection. The inspection lasted about 2 hours and then we went out to lunch with the Sports Supervisor and his girlfriend. We had Indian food for lunch and then went back to the hotel to take a nap! We were exhausted after the lack of sleep the night before! We woke up around 9pm and went back to the Night Street Market for some more shopping before heading back to the hotel to pack for our early flight the following morning.

Overlooking Hong Kong Island from the ship. Such an incredible skyline!

Scaffolding made from bamboo. This is all over the city. 

My new bag from the Night Market! I absolutely love these "map" bags! 

On Monday morning we flew from Hong Kong to Detroit, Detroit to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Melbourne, FL. We traveled for about 28 hours and finally made it to our destination around 10:30pm. We traveled to Florida for a wedding the following weekend and decided to spend a few days at Disney World in between. Stay tuned for the Disney post!!