Viking cruise, trip home

Viking River Cruise - - Trip Home

I set my alarm for 5:50, but was up at 5:45. I put our bags outside the door and took my last pitch black shower. I would love to do another Viking cruise (maybe with Richard next time), and if I do, I will be bringing some kind of portable light to use in the bathroom.

We went up to the restaurant for our last breakfast, our last meal on the ship! Dianna and Tom were there, and Teri and Bob showed up a bit later. It was a nice surprise to share one last meal with them. I had my usual line-up: scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, cheese, toast with jam. A final goodbye with Moises and Georgeta.

We cleared out of our room, hung out in the lounge for a bit, and boarded the bus. We were told to be on the bus by 7:15. Janna came down the aisle and checked each couples' room number, to make sure we were all on board. One couple was missing, and you'll never guess who it was: God's Gift To Women and his wife. Mom and I both rolled our eyes.

It took about a half hour to get to the airport. We printed out our boarding passes, went through security, and were at our gate an hour and a half before our departure - - perfect.

Our flight to Munich was only 20 minutes in the air. Security was much tighter than it had been on our arrival, probably because on our trip there we were boarding a domestic flight. We had to go through three passport checkpoints to get to our gate. The other notable change between flying internationally rather than domestic from the Lufthansa terminal in Munich: no free coffee when you're flying internationally!

Our flight was a long eight hours. I watched three movies: *Magic Mike XXL* (amusing, but not as good as the original *Magic Mike*), *Spy* (hilarious, brilliant), *Dior and I* (wonderful, a documentary about Raf Simons taking over as designer for the house of Dior, and having eight weeks to create his first couture collection). I knew they had wifi on the plane and had hoped to work on my blog, and hopefully post some photos, but I didn't know that you have to PAY for it - - $9.99 for three hours. Please.

A little kerfuffle when he arrived in JFK. We made it through customs without any trouble. We had ordered a Carmel car to pick us up, and they require you to call them when you have your bags and are outside waiting for them. The problem was that Mom's phone wouldn't turn on, it was out of juice. And as I learned in my last experience at JFK, they no longer have pay phones at the airport. Anywhere at the airport. Can you believe it. So we stood on the curb for a half hour, hoping our car would drive by. It did not. We stopped two random Carmel cars and asked if they could help us, with no luck. We gave up and took a cab, probably what we should have done all along. Ah well, live and learn.

It felt so good to get home. Richard had made quiche the night before for our dinner that night - - he was on his way back from Long Island when we got home, so I put it in the oven a half hour before he was due to arrive. It was delicious, and even more delicious to see Richard again. The three of us had a lovely dinner, told Richard all about the trip. Mom and I were in bed by 8:30, which felt like 2:30 AM to us.

I woke up in the middle of the night and was very disoriented - - but I figured it out and went back to sleep. I woke up for good at 4 AM and had over three hours to myself before Mom and Richard got up. I added photos to my blog and watched *Scream Queens* and the season finale of *The Strain*. Mom got up, we had breakfast - - Richard got up, and before too long her car arrived to take her to the airport. Here's a couple photos from our elevator:

LOVE, Chris