Mixed Emotions

Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Denver, Colorado, United States
(gloria here...last night was both great fun and bittersweet. As Mark put it...we have been institutionalized. I for one would take that for at least another segment of the cruise as she sails through the Panama Canal on the way to Florida. On the one hand we are so lucky to have met and become such good friends with our merry little band. and on the other it is sad to think they live so far away and while we know for sure they are in our lives permanently from now on, I shall miss the zaniness and belly-deep laughter we shared each and every day. So last night, we gave out tips to servers and sundry people that deserved that much "extra" than the tips automatically added on to the general bill. Hugs here and there, heartfelt goodbyes with "hope to see you agains", and ultimatiely the goodnight for our group. We weren't positive of a breakfast get together, but as luck and good timing would have it, there we were one last time...table for five please. We divided, to each conquer our own travel plans, and to reunite at a later time. Goodbye Queen Elizabeth, goodbye Gira, Goodbye Mark and Keith ( hope you found your fifth mask on your Southwest airline seat, it took a lot of arranging to make that happen. Hello Denver, hello Lily, hello Arnolds... hello reality. Good thing I love that tool)

 
We docked in San Pedro Harbor (Los Angeles) at 6:00am, a half hour before the "time to get up" alarm on my watch went off. The idea of having an alarm is alarming.

We met--for a final time--the "group" for breakfast. Our bags are somewhere in transit to the pier and we are bidding our friends farewell. Gira is off to LAX to await an 8:00pm flight to London. Keith and Mark and being picked up by a friend who is taking them to LAX for a Southwest flight to Fort Lauderdale. Gloria and I are to be picked up by a car service which will deliver us to John Wayne Airport--Gloria says it is Orange County Airport--where we will hop a Frontier flight to Denver.

Rick checks us in four hours early and we chat at length. There is nobody else around except for one other couple who has also come from QE to fly to Denver. The five of us chat about travel. The man says he was very disappointed in his Princess Grill cabin size on the QE. Rick says he is used to getting the airline discount for suites on cruise ships. It is surreal. LAX would not be like this. Go Orange County Airport!

WiFi is free and I can finally upload the last two blog entries--one from Kahalui and one about steaming from there to LA. That's it for the fun part. Except, of course, for the amazing fun of seeing Mandi and Bill and Henry and Lily in Denver and then Megan and Eric and Miles in Kansas City. We long to hug our families but if there had been an open cabin continuing on QE from LA through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale, we just might have taken it.

On time, no hassles and free checked bags because we bought a Plus Ticket, Frontier delivers us to Denver where Mandi picks us up and delivers us into the paws of Lily who missed us for sure. Henry has discovered Star Wars and is "singing" the Darth Vader theme. We have a very light dinner and I talk to Megan and Jan but am too late for Cianan. Tomorrow we will catch up.

The plan is to drive to KC on Thursday. Maybe sometime tomorrow we'll get on the web and see what cruises are on sale.
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