We're off!!!!

We had a great Bon Voyage Party Wednesday night at the beach given by our friends Tom and Karen. The trip suddenly seemed very real! It was great to have such a nice send off.

We went home and I was back to a night of almost no sleep. I kept jumping up to add to my lists on the counter. I finally got up for good at 2:30. Those of you that are following my suitcase tally will now be happy to hear that we are now up to 13 suitcases. My bag weighed in at 44 pounds and then I added all of the things I thought of during the night. Then it weighed 62 pounds. I needed to add one more bag to get the weight down to 50 pounds. I guess I forgot the "travel light" part (see above).

The bags that we took to New York are 1 large suitcase, 1 small suitcase, I garment bag, 1 backpack, 1 large red tote bag (the new one) and my computer case with all of our itinerary details for shore trips etc and of course the computer. I have gotten many questions about the luggage. On Monday, Jeff and Errol hauled all of the extra luggage (7 large pieces and my straw beach hat) over to Ft Lauderdale and put it into storage. We will pick it up when the ship stops in Ft Lauderdale as our first port.

The cab came to pick us up and we were off to New York! Errol and Cheryl came to see us off. Cheryl and I had big hugs and a few sniffles, but we did make it without blubbering. I had just finished saying good bye to our daughter Ellen on the phone and hadn’t quite recovered from that.

We arrived in New York and walked around Times Square and then headed off to Little Italy. One of our favorite restaurants in New York is a hole in the wall place named La Mela. If you want a fine dining experience, don’t go there. If you want a unique little place with a lot of character, give it a try. Order the family style meal, which is a set menu. The walls are a high gloss bright yellow. They used to be orange. We have had a lot of fun here over the years. We had a great meal and then hopped on the subway and headed back to the hotel.

It is great to be back in New York!