Day One - Travel Day

I was up early to finish packing, get the last of the laundry done, pick up breakfast for the girls and take Piper to the kennel. That dog will probably never forgive me!

By 9:30 everything was done and our Uber arrived for the trip to O’Hare. The news said it was the busiest travel day of the holiday season and I was worried that TSA would take forever. Thankfully, we all had TSA pre-check and it took us a whopping 4 minutes to get through security.

The flying tin can of sardines took off and it was an uneventful flight to Tampa. We landed around 3:45 and my parents and cousin (she’s an air traffic controller at TPA) were all there to greet us! After picking up our bags we made our way to my parents car where Lauren, my cousin, gleefully announced to the girls that we’d be having company on our cruise. Grammy and Poppy would be joining us. The worst kept secret in history was finally, fully, out of the bag.

We were staying at the Holiday Inn, Westshore. A 6 minute ride from the airport and 7 minutes from the port. A Walgreens on the corner and a mall .03 miles away. Location, location, location.

We headed over to the mall to PF Chang’s for happy hour and dinner. There, we were met by our life long friends, CJ and Tommy. We’ve known them since the late 70’s, and hadn’t seen Tommy since 1981. Tommy brought his daughter, Lydia (19) and we had an amazing time. Lots of booze, lots of food, lots of laughs. My favorite place to be is surrounded by those I love the most!

By the time we got back to the hotel, we were toast. I’d been up since 4:30 and was EXHAUSTED. I think I was sound asleep before 10:00.

And tomorrow is CRUISE DAY!!!

Thanks for coming along!