We Did!

Wednesday morning, January 5, 2022 our sailing life returned to the New Near Normal! Carol in Orlando and I in Powder Springs rose in seeming unison to make our way to the airport.  My friend Angie happens to also do airport runs.  Angie arrived early but I had forgotten to turn off the overnight Do Not Disturb on my phone.  I didn't know she was in my driveway ten minutes ahead of my 5:30 AM scheduled time.  The drive was quick and easy since not many people are on the road at that time even out in the boondocks where I live. 

 Angie dropped me right at the TSA Pre-Check entrance to the Delta terminal.  I checked my bag at the street checkin and Wally fixed the issue with Delta not recognizing the credit card as one allowing for free service.  Bag checked for free - done!  Inside I asked the lady at the TSA line if I coud use it although it wasn't marked on my ticket.  Even though I had my Global Entry card with me she directed me to the Agent Assist line where, after a short wait, Gloria reissued my corrected boarding pass. The rest was easy and glitch-free. After arriving at the airport about 20 after 6 I was seated at the Gate A25 by 7:00 AM. 

 Nice people surrounded me, one lady gave me the book she had just finished after we chatted about what we liked to read. Another approached with a Cat-in-a-Bag and quickly moved to another bank of chairs when someone said they were allergic.  A couple from Hawaii were returning home from a holiday vacation in North Carolina where he put his carpentry skills to good use doing some repairs around his brother's home.  Why wouldn't a quick comraderie form? After all, we were all beginning a journey to somewhere we wanted to be - sunny California or even better Hawaii.

  The time passed quickly and boarding began just before 8. Taking my window seat in row 15, I quickly arranged my carry on for comfort and easy access.  The aisle seat was taken by a pleasant man who was ready to entertain himself on the nearly five hour flight with his video game controller linked to the back - of - the - seat monitor.  For the middle seat came a very nice young man of 19 who was a welder, like his Dad and Grandfather before him.  Since he was from Thomasville I asked it that was near Cairo and if he knew of the TV show about the Plath family.  Yes he did and was a friend of one of the sons.  This nice kid must have weighed at least 300 pounds!  Middle seat!  Domestic flight.  He never attempted the seat belt.  He quickly fell asleep and his giant girth spilled across me, pretty much pinning my left arm to the seat for the rest of the flight!  But a nice kid.  I wish him luck. 

 LAX was busy as the hour was now 10:30 AM.  The crowd swept me along to baggage claim.  I was surprised my suitcase was one of the first off despite being perhaps one of the first loaded in Atlanta.  While at the carrousel I met two fellow Viking cruisers.  We had all dutifully attached our bright red circle stickers to identify ourselves to the Meet and Greet folks.  It was a strange thing to walk through a tunnel area from our plane to our luggage and then go outside and walk back to the original terminal to meet the bus.  Janice, the greeter, called the driver when we were in place and the bus quickly arrived.  It stopped at two more areas for more passengers and off we went to The Port of Los Angeles.  Sunny skies made for a promising start ot our trip.  Light traffic soon had us at Pier 92 after driving past the Battleship Iowa permanently resting in the warm California sun.

I turned my suitcase and roll - aboard over to the porter and completed another health questionaire, fourth one for this trip.  My temperature was taken, another health questionaire had to be completed and then check-in was easy. Along with my key-card I was given a red lanyard with a white tracker to wear.  It must be popullar jewelry because evryone on board is wearing one!  I actually keep mine in my pocket.  It is part of the Health and Safety protocol, together with a daily morning spit test!  My first test was waiting as soon as I got to our Stateroom 6098.  Carol and the test tube were both waiting for me! We figured out how to do yet another health questionaire on the TV and spit in the tube.  Sebastian, our steward, took the sealed tube to the onboard lab.  All passengers were confined to their cabins for up to five or six hours until negative results were reported.  We unpacked, caught up on our lives, and scheduled our shore excursions using the interactive living room television. Our first stop upon being sprung was World Cafe! Our evening was an uneventfully slow conversation of catching up - and planning -while we reacquainted ourseoves with one of our favorite places - a cruuise ship, and one of our favorites of those, Viking, this time the Orion! (Currently I am unable to attach photos but will do so when I have resolved the issue. In the meantime hear is a video link you may enjoy.)