Day 6: The Fiasco Getting Home

Day 6 we woke up in Miami.  We were assigned a 9:30 am check out for the ship.   We went thru customs quickly and we were up in the air as what to do because our flight didn’t leave until 1:30 but since we were loaded down with luggage, we just went straight to the airport, which I’m glad we did because we stood in a ridiculous line for security that moved so slow.  We definitely didn’t have much time to waste after going thru that. 

Skipping topics quickly, I did get motion sick on the ship.  I had the prescription patch (Transderm Scop) that goes behind your ear, supposedly the best stuff.  Okay, suppose to stay on when wet and it doesn’t.  Then my neck started to get real itchy as well as my throat was drying out real bad.  I think it was too strong and was having a bad reaction to it so I switched over to Meclizine (pill) that made me drowsy and somewhat dizzy.  Again, I think too strong.  I think I would have been best off with just over the counter Dramamine.  I think changing between different forms of remedies was not helping me out either.  Overall the motion sickness was bearable, I was able to still enjoy vacation but 4 days on the ship was my max this go around.  

So back to the airport, I’m still pretty motion sick and we got to Orlando and it's a zoo. 

I’ve never had to go thru security twice and in Orlando they made us go back thru security to get to our next gate.  It was chaotic, kids everywhere with Mickey Mouse ears on and I just wasn’t in the mood for a gazillion 5 year olds bouncing off the walls, boggling down the line. But I was getting a kick out of the stuff these kids had… the kid in front of us had a Harry Potter plastic broomstick and I couldn’t help but think what a sucker his mom was for buying this broomstick and now she has to carry it on and take it thru security.  I was also thinking that broom is the real deal; I’m sure as a kid that is pretty cool stuff, his mom probably spent $100 at Disney when she could have bought it online for half the price.  I bet that broom ends up in that family’s garage sale next year for $15.  Some insight into my disgruntled thoughts as I was impatiently waiting in line.       

 

 

Then, right before our flight was to take off; it stormed causing an hour and half delay.  We sat on the tarmac forever and had to shut the engine down to conserve gas because the runway was so backed up due to this storm.  Then we got in the air and were heading to Memphis and I’ve been in turbulence before but this was bad.  Even Aaron, who never is uneasy agreed.  Well while we were in the air, we missed our connection home.  Probably best we missed it, I was so sick from that flight that I don’t think I could have made it thru another one.

 

 

So staying the night in Memphis it was!  Not only did we miss our flight and have to stand in line for an hour to figure out arrangements, we then had to wait another hour for them to find our luggage and then another 30 minutes for transportation to our hotel and then of course, delivery time for a pizza was going to take an hour as well.  By 10:45 pm, I comfortable in the hotel bed, eating pizza.  I rearranged our plans to have Charley boarded longer and was absolutely exhausted from our day’s travel.  But on the positive side, our flight landed safely and Delta set us in a nice hotel with a comfy bed.  And was thankful this fiasco happened on the way home and not at the beginning of our trip, wheew!

 

 

The next morning we got up and got home on a direct flight, no problems, got home just after noon. 

 

 

My overall thoughts on the cruise – loved it!  The motion sickness part was the only downfall and a lot of people assured me that I wouldn’t get motion sick so I was really surprised by how much it did affect me.  Aaron on the other hand, was really unaffected and did not experience any motion sickness and did not take any preventative medication. 

I do wonder though if a longer cruise would have been better… Hear me out, many of the longer ones have a full day at sea, I could have used a day at sea where I just slept in and got a really good long nap in, I think my major lack of sleep didn’t help out the way I was feeling.  Just a thought, not sure if it would have made any difference or just added to the problem.  Although a longer vacation really wasn't necessary, being gone for a week was plenty of a vacation for us, we were ready to get back to the comforts of our home. 

 

 

I thought the cruise itself was great and I would definitely recommend Royal Caribbean anyone!  We would definitely consider a cruise again in the future!