My family just returned from a vacation with some dear friends and I want to share some of the high and low points of our trip. I wasn’t sure whether to call it an epic adventure or a harrowing tale, because it was kind of both. There are several additional characters in this story who played important roles including the weather. Without the kindness shown to us by several key players, our story would have ended very differently. Fasten your seatbelt and keep reading.
Our friends invited us to join them on a cruise, and we decided it would be nice to try cruising for the first time and take our son to Mexico as a graduation gift. We were looking forward to our much-needed Caribbean vacation, and then the week before departure, the forecast started looking problematic. Our plan was to fly to Orlando on Monday and rent a car to get to the ship at Port Canaveral. Well, it started snowing a LOT on Sunday and kept snowing and covering the roads faster than road crews could clear them. We tried to run an errand for our son while he was at work Sunday, and had to turn around without completing the errand because we were slipping and sliding all over the roads. We encouraged our son to leave work early and try to make it home before conditions got any worse. Thankfully, we all made it back home safely and decided(even though none of us wanted to get back out on the slick roads) that we would try to get to the airport that night and spend the night in a nearby hotel rather than waiting until the next morning when there would be even more snow on the ground. We discovered that my car’s tires were not even able to get us out of our neighborhood(or back up the hill to our driveway), so we ended up leaving my car parked on the street. We transferred our luggage to my son’s car because he has the newest tires and because he assured us that his car was handling the snow like a boss. Even his car had some trouble getting up the hill to exit the neighborhood, so fortunately some strong and kind neighbors who were out shoveling gave us the push we needed to successfully launch on the first leg of our journey.
We pulled into a Holiday Inn near CVG airport late that night hoping to get a few hours of sleep before catching our flight. The lovely woman at the hotel desk offered to give us a discounted rate on the room and informed us that we could leave our car in their parking lot for the week at no charge and they would shuttle us to and from the airport. I almost hugged her! I thanked her for making our day, and she said that me thanking her made her day— and then handed me free water bottles. I didn’t get her name, but she was definitely an important character in our adventure. The next morning, we arrived to the shuttle a couple of minutes late and found out it had already left. They ran the shuttle every half hour, so we waited patiently since it was our fault we were late. As the driver was taking us to the airport, he mentioned that his shift was ending and the driver who was supposed to be relieving him wasn’t coming to work. He had agreed to take us but wasn’t going to be making any more runs. We were so grateful that he was willing to make one more trip across the slick roads after a long night of driving back and forth, even though it was our fault that we missed the 6:30 run. So a huge shout out to the kind humans at Holiday Inn Cincinnati Airport!
Our flight was delayed, of course, because of the weather and it was more than a little concerning that they had trouble pushing the plane away from the gate and that the air and ground was completely white. After going through the de-icing process, we finally made it to the cleared runway and into the air a few hours later than scheduled.
It was a huge relief when we landed safely in Orlando an hour and a half later. We found our rental car and realized that we had very little time left to get to Port Canaveral, return the rental car and catch the shuttle to the ship. I called the car rental company en route to try to confirm that they would be able to shuttle us to the ship as soon as we arrived. Unfortunately, I was unable to connect with a human by phone and their recorded menu said that they had shuttle service every 25 to 30 minutes. We arrived to drop off our rental car only 15 minutes before they were supposed to stop boarding our ship and we were informed that the shuttle service was no longer available for the day. They recommended calling Uber! Without hesitating, we started walking/running towards the ship we could see about a mile away, using Google maps for walking directions to Royal Caribbean. We were texting and calling our friends on the ship and they were trying to help us. They talked with the ship staff and security who said they could hold the ship about five or ten more minutes. Well, as we thought we were nearing the ship, we were informed that the correct ship was actually at a different terminal farther away and we might still be able to get there if we ran the whole way. We changed course and began trying to find our way there as fast as possible but were beginning to lose our breath and our hope of making it. Suddenly, a man in a white truck pulled up to the curb and asked us where we were trying to go. We told him and he agreed to drive us there. He was coming from his business nearby and noticed us looking very lost. We could not thank him enough and he refused to accept money for his help, so I want to give a huge shout out to our hero on a white horse(truck, same difference) who literally saved the day. Without him stopping to help us, we definitely would not have made it to the ship before they had to set sail. Ironically, his business is called Lifeline Marine Safety Services! He threw us a lifeline and saved us and our vacation.
Once we were onboard the ship, our blood pressure, breathing, and muscles eventually relaxed, and we were able to enjoy the shows, the food, the sights, the food, the activities, the food, and the ports of Cozumel and Coco Cay. The weather was much nicer than back home and the rocking and rolling didn’t make us too seasick. We don’t know if we are going to be repeat cruisers, but it was a fun item to check off the bucket list. Our trip home involved another flight delay and a very late arrival to greet our cat and our own beds, but we survived and are now getting back to our usual routine and bundling up to endure the rest of this frigid Ohio winter. We are also determined to pay the kindness forward that was shown to us on this trip.
****If you would like to plan an epic adventure of your own, my friend and travel agent extraordinaire Shelly would love to help you: contact Shelly at Horizon Dream Travel.
Finally, I want to pay tribute to a beautiful human who served as our 39th US president: Jimmy Carter. We are grieving him and remembering his legacy this month. I watched a couple of documentaries about his life and presidency this past week, Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President and Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains. I have learned a lot about him since I was but a young girl during his presidency. Last February while visiting the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, I saw the following quote from Jimmy Carter: “The best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.”
Please take a few more moments and read Dan Rather’s Steady article honoring Mr. Carter:
Thanks for sharing your adventure! It gives me hope for the future of our nation. Dan Rathers article was awesome as well. Stay warm! 🥶🥶
Omg. What a bundle of mishaps and awesome work-outs and great kind people of a trip! Welcome home and thanks for sharing.