Travel

My First Cruise Day 2

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The 2nd day of our cruise was really the first full day.  It was also a full day at sea.  The weather was much nicer than it was in Florida.  The morning was laid back.  We had breakfast at the windjammer and then I had an acupuncture appointment.  I had always wanted to try it so when we did the tour of the spa I signed up for one.  M worked out a bit when I was in the spa.

We had a relaxing lunch and then hung by the pool a little and also explored the ship.  The Navigator was huge.  I read up a lot about it before hand since i am interested in cool technology.  This ship was impressive.

For dinner we decided to skip the dinning room and hit up the steak house.  It was for an extra fee but well worth the price.  We had a great time.

My First Cruise Day 1

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Off on my first cruise.  M and I are taking the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Sea’s to the Western Caribbean for 5 nights.  With the exception of rediculous traffic that was a close call to getting to the plane on time we had an uneventful flight.

The port was 15 minutes away from the FT. Lauderdale airport so it was a quick trip to the ship.  I was getting over a cold so they required that i be looked at by a nurse before we got on the boat.  I was fine so i breezed through that.

Right when we got on the boat we got our cards we could use to charge anything with.  What was cool was they took our photo so they can verify it is us anytime durring the trip.  I thought that was neat.  We got there a bit early before our room was ready so we headed to the windjammer for lunch.  The view was spectacular even though we were sitting in port.  The buffet was really nice also.

We brought our bags with us instead of checking them so once 1PM rolled around we were able to head down to our room.  We wanted cabin with an outside view but didn’t want to go crazy on cost so we ended up with a cabin on deck 2 with just a porthole.  It was ok.  I think we both imagined much worse.

Once we were settled in to the cabin we had several hours before ship left port.  We both wanted to schedule appointments at the spa so we went up to check it out.

It had been raining on and off all day in South Florida but when the doors opened on the elevator and we walked out onto the deck for the first time is a sight i wont quickly forget.  It was spectacular.  Just the open deck looking out on the water.  Even with the bad weather it was still a sight to see.  We did a quick tour of the spa and each scheduled some appointments.  M actually went right away and did something.  We just relaxed the rest of the day and had a great dinner meeting our table mates for the first time.

Atlantic City Weekend

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This weekend Jason, John, Phil, and I went to Atlantic City to celebrate John’s birthday. I personally haven’t been to Atlantic City that often. is actually my third time going. The last time was actually for John special party. Jason or John I can remember Alan that New Jersey transit has a train that goes directly to Atlantic City. The Atlantic city express service or a ACES was pretty cool. All us decided to take the train and we went first class since it wasn’t on the former. The train was basically a modified New Jersey transit double-decker train that makes one stop in Newark and then goes express all the way AC. We got there in the afternoon played a little then grab dinner at the same restaurant that Sean has battled party at since he liked it. Our plans to do a torment got messed up since dinner took way too long we had a good time.

after dinner. After dinner we ended up playing at the hotel we’re staying at. Jason played slots most of the night. I played video poker and some slots with him. Then I play roulette with John and Phil for a while and now my own. I decided one I won by betting on 21 straight up that was probably a good idea to stop. At that exact point several peoples who are smoking decided to sit down, and I almost made my money back. So in the end mice travel costs food the hotel etc. I was only down $15 gambling. The good news when I was after several hours of flying, so for me I consider that money well spent on entertainment area

Jason John and I ended up at a 24-hour diner for dessert word breakfast depending on who you talk to before we ended up turning in around one or two. We got up early the next morning had breakfast since we had a relatively early train to catch. I was actually very happy with the train service especially since I was home by 2 PM.

Overall it was a great weekend away.

St Louis Day 3

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I am on my way home from St. Louis now. I got a bit delayed getting out, but thankfully it wasn’t more than an hour. A bunch of us got a ride to the airport from the one person from NYC who had a rental car and was leaving today. I was on a different airline than everyone else so I couldn’t hang out with anyone else. They were in a different terminal. I hit the Chillis Too for dinner and then went to the American club before the flight. Flight Tracker and the FAA weather app’s on my iphone were invaluable for this trip. Both kept me better informed than the airline was.

Other eventful things today was we went out as a large group to Mongolian BBQ. I was skeptical about it but overall the food was pretty good and there was plenty for me to eat so I was happy.

St Louis Day 2

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Day two of the conference was good. We got a lot done. I did my big presentation. I think it went well. After work I was going to avoid the team dinner since I was really tired, but I got strong armed by two guys on my team and another guy who we work with and I ended up going with them to the shooting range. One of the guys from NY really wanted to do that so 4 of us went.

It was a lot of fun. I got to shoot an AK-47 and an AR-15 for the first time. I also tried a really big revolver like the Dirty Harry gun. I didn’t like that. After that we went to dinner at this place that had fantastic burgers. Thankfully I was back at the hotel at a reasonable time. I was still glad I didn’t goto the other event since they were out much later.

Overall a really good day.

St Louis Day 1

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The first day of the conference went well. I also got to spend some time with my team that is in St Louis. For dinner another team manager was in and most of her US staff with her so we ended up combining our team dinners and had one big get together. We work closely with each other so it was nice to get out of the office for a bit. We almost never do this so it was a lot of fun. One of our head architects was also in town so he came along. All in all it was like 9 people. We went to a decent steakhouse that several people have been to before. Compared to NY it was super cheap and tasty!

The night wasn’t too late since we all had to be at work at normal hours. Overall it was a great first day in St. Louis!

Off to St. Louis

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I am on my way to St Louis for a few days. It is a work trip. There is two events going on there this week. My team is involved in both, but I personally am in a conference. A few other people from NY including another person on my team is going.

Thankfully getting out of NYC was uneventful. My other teammate picked me up at the airport. he got a rental car and i didn’t since i didn’t think it was worth the expense. We went to Friday’s for dinner and ended up meeting up with one other person who is in town for the week.

Technical Difficulties

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My luck wasn’t going very well this weekend. I got home and started settling in and suddenly my cable modem died on me. That was the final straw on my decision to get a MiFi. Before being stranded in the Bahamas I was pondering the wireless broadband device the Novatel MiFi. After the day in the Bahamas airport I really wanted one even though I knew that it wouldn’t have worked in the Bahamas. When the cable went out I decided to head out to Manhattan before it started snowing to pick up one of the nifty devices. I didn’t want to spend an unknown amount of days in a blizzard without internet. I am brave, but not that brave.

Thankfully the store was empty and I was in and out in 20 minutes. Let me tell you the Mifi is really easy to setup and it works exactly as advertised. RCN claims they will be out tomorrow morning to look at my Modem but I tend to doubt it since it is still snowing.

Finally Home

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The trip home today was uneventful compared to yesterday. I didn’t wait for the shuttle buses that Jetblue was going to provide since I didn’t want to get stuck in a huge crowd so I grabbed a cab to the airport on my own dime. That choose was worth it. I got my ticket in 5 minutes, and was glad I got a head start on the customs line that was pretty long. We got out of the Bahamas without any other incident. We landed in NY a few hours before the storm started. I was thankful to be home even though I enjoyed my vacations.

Looking back on the incidents of yesterday I can say obviously no one likes being stranded. Jetblue did the right thing by putting us all up for the night, but overall the entire process was horrible. There was very little to no communication about what was going on. It looked like Jetblue staff wasn’t communicating to each other because no one had the entire picture of what was going on. In the end things worked out but during the entire situation it was frustrating not know what was going on. So they get mixed grade overall.

Groundhog Day

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My return trip home was not as uneventful as the other legs of my trip this week. Actually so far it has been a disaster. I got to the airport over two hours in advance like the resort and the airline suggested. I got through customs and security pretty quick, even if security had me take my belt off and swapped my entire bag. The lines werent horrible. Then I sat. There was no free wifi like the Jetblue site suggested there was and I couldn’t get the pay WIFI point to take any of my credit cards.

This is where the fun began. My flight got delayed. At first just an hour. Then that hour past and a flight that was supposed to leave at 2:10 got moved to 6PM. They claimed that they needed a part from NY that they had to fly in. This would have been ok if there was a place to eat (I don’t count a skeevy cafeteria that only looked like it had fried chicken and rice) and the fact that they are doing construction in the small terminal. That mean drilling and other loud banging sounds all day. Top off the no WIFI, power outlets, and the terminal was packed. it was not pleasant. Then we hear the flight was canceled. There would be no flight until tomorrow morning.

Thankfully they put us up at a decent hotel. Unfortunately getting to the hotel was not fun. First we had to wait on line to get travel vouchers. Then we had to wait for luggage while the bus drivers waited to take us to the hotel. For about an hour no one knew what was going on. Then the luggage shows up and we have to claim it, then put it on a van for the hotel. Thankfully I got a seat on one of the first bus’s. Then it was waiting at the hotel for a room. Thankfully again I walk fast and actually got to the head of the line for rooms. I have been in this situation before and kinda knew what to do. After a wait for my luggage to show up I headed to dinner.

There was a decent steakhouse in the hotel so I went there and had a nice filet. Half of it was paid for by Jetblue. On the plus side at the restaurant there was an acapella group from stanford that held a small performance for the guests. It was pretty good and something nice to break up the crazy day.

My luck didn’t hold out and I walked out of dinner without my Kindle. I didn’t realize it until I was back at my room. I ran back to the restaurant and thankfully the waiter found it and held onto it. That would have been really bad if that was lost too.

I took a quick shower and am getting ready for bed now since I need to be up at 4:30AM to catch my flight. Apparently Jetblue is flying out a plane for us and we can leave tomorrow morning. I am not happy about the events of today, but in context it could have been (and still may become) much worse. Right now I am worried that we may be delayed again and have problems getting into NYC since a storm is supposed to be on its way. We shall see what happens. Right now I am thankful I have an extra change of clothes for tomorrow.

No one likes being stranded. Jetblue did the right thing by putting us all up for the night, but overall the entire process was horrible. There was very little to no communication about what was going on. It looked like Jetblue staff wasn’t communicating to each other because no one had the entire picture of what was going on. In the end things worked out but during the entire situation it was frustrating not know what was going on.