Two Seniors On The Move Again

After two years of planning, and jumping over a couple of last-minute hurdles, the day finally arrived when the alarm clock went off at 2:30 am. It was time to catch our flight to Ft. Lauderdale, where we would board Holland America’s Zuiderdam to begin our Grand World Voyage.

Getting Ready

Medications

I’ve been asked, “How do you prepare for such a long trip?” The answer is, I make lists of what to pack and the amounts of medication needed to last until we get home. Even though cruise ships have extensive medical facilities to manage routine and emergency needs, however, refilling medication  is not part of the routine service. The best advice is to develop a relationship with your pharmacist. Our pharmacist has helped us every time we go out of the country ensuring we have all the medication we need to travel.

Packing

One of the perks of this trip was to have our luggage picked up at our home, delivered to the cruise ship, and delivered back to our home when the trip ended. That sounded great at the time we booked the trip. When we made the arrangements with the luggage service, we learned they would pick up our suitcases on December 14th — our cruise started on January 3rd. Complicating matters, we had tickets to a concert out of town on December 13th. We got home from the concert on the 14th around 1pm, and the luggage was picked up at 2:30pm. Whew, a close call with a happy ending. By the way, all 4 suitcases arrived and were waiting for us in our cabin on the ship. Unpacking was like Christmas day, we had long forgotten what we packed.

Travel Day

We love the fact the airport is only 20 minutes from our home which makes 6am flights bearable. Because it is not a major hub, it usually involves a minimum of 2 flights to get anywhere. Our first flight was to Atlanta. Smooth flight. After settling into our seats on the next flight the captain announced that only 2 out of the 3 gryos were working. The Captain told us he recommended that all 3 should be in working order before take off. We all agreed!  Within 20 minutes, it was fixed, in record time for airplane mechanical issues to be resolved. However, it was not fast enough for air traffic control, and we lost our place in the queue. About 30 minutes later we took off. 

During the flight, the pilot announced that Ft. Lauderdale air traffic control advised him to reduce airspeed because the airport was backed up. He chuckled when he passed along his observation that the trucks on the highway below were going faster than we were. Finally, we landed about 90 minutes later than scheduled. It didn’t matter to us, since we flew down the day before the cruise departed. That was not the case for several people on our flight. They had tight time frames to get to the cruise ship terminals before their ships set sail.

Things Really Do Happen In 3’s

 We had tried to minimize what we had to lug through the airports, so we had 2 checked bags. At Ft. Lauderdale, only one of the bags came zipping around on the conveyor belt. The lost luggage agent verified our missing bag was indeed somewhere in the airport. That was good news. After searching each conveyor belt, we found it hidden in the oversized luggage area. Just for clarity, the bag was the size of a carry-on.

Now we had everything we needed to go to our hotel for the night. The next day we got on the cruise ship to start our adventure. This cruise is our 30th wedding anniversary gift to each other.

Scarborough, Tobago

Tobago’s Turbulent History

Fort King George Identity Crisis

Originally built in 1777 by the British Governor General, Lord George Macartney, on Scarborough Hill to house two companies of soldiers. In 1781, Tobago fell to the French and by 1786 the fort was renamed Fort Castries. That was short-lived because in 1789 it changed to Fort Republique followed by Fort Liberte in 1790. The British then recaptured the island in 1793. By 1801, Tobago was once again a French territory. Another short-lived tenure, the British recaptured the island in 1803. The Fort was once again Fort King George.

A hurricane in 1847 damaged most of the buildings. Today it is being restored and will eventually be Fort King George Heritage Park.

Folkloric Show

Here are a few pictures of a Folkloric show. The show was fantastic with lively music and dancing. For the finale, the dancers asked for volunteers to come up and dance. Several of our group were brave enough to give it a try.

Just A Few More Photos

In an attempt to make it easier to identify the photos, I assigned each one a number. The order changed during the upload — so I will identify them from left to right.

• 6. Local man at the beach ordering a drink. It was a hot day.
• 4. Local craftsman. 
• 3. If there is a cannon, we always get a photo with me near the cannon.
• 5. Kiosk at the beach, these looked like they would be fun in the water.
• 1 (is right below #5) This was our tour bus. During the week, this served as a school bus.
• 2. This is a rare photo of the two of us together. The tour guide took it for us.