09/14/13
All Aboard
The bellman knocked on my door at 7:30 for my luggage,
although the bus would not arrive until 9:00 to leave the hotel for the
ship. I had breakfast in the hotel, and
I had a feeling of elegance having breakfast in such an ornate dining
room. The eggs Benedict were wonderful. After breakfast the wait was brief until I
boarded the bus for the ship. As the
driver pulled the bus away, I asked him if everyone was on board. He suddenly stopped the bus and made a head
count, and said, no, everyone is not here.
Soon some others arrived and we were off. If I had not asked him my question, I guess
they would have been left behind. The
ferry crossing was uneventful except for one thing -- I decided to pay $12 to
sit in a luxury section with comfortable chairs and snacks provided. It was well worth the price. After leaving the ferry, the driver took us a
different route back downtown to the pier where the ship was waiting, and it
was very interesting to see a different part of Vancouver. It is a very pretty town, and so orderly and
clean.
Boarding the ship was uneventful; although the lines were
quite long the process moved quickly.
When I arrived at my room, I felt “at home”. A feeling of comfort, both physical and
emotional, came over me. I freshened up
and went for a walk and a bite to eat at the cafeteria on the top deck while I
waited for my luggage to arrive in my room.
At 4:00 p.m. the ship held its mandatory safety drill. I discovered that somehow my dinner
reservations were “free style”, which means any dining room at any time. When I went to dinner at 8:00 p.m. the lines
were long at the first two dining rooms, but when I arrived at the Santa Fe
dining room , I was seated right away with a very interesting elderly couple
who were originally from Uzbekistan.
They came to America in 1991, after the fall of communism, and lived in
Pennsylvania until a couple of years ago, when they moved to Florida. They told me about living in Uzbekistan,
which they loved until Stalin came to power.
After that they said that living was very hard. They had relatives in the U.S. but they were
not permitted to visit, or ever to leave the country together; the thought was
that if one was left behind, the other would return, too. Eventually, they were permitted to immigrate
to the U.S. and they have been very happy.
One of the great things about traveling is the interesting people one
meets.
In the evening, I skipped the comedian, and went to sleep
early.
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