WorldTravelReynolds

We are sporting our new shirts to show our support for the World Cruise coming up next year!

We are finally embarking on our adventure through the Panama Canal. We have waited over 3 years to take this cruise. It has been canceled several times. So, we are very excited to finally be able to go even though we almost didn’t make it here thanks to hurricane Ian. When we found out about Ian, we booked another flight out of Tampa on the day of the cruise. We made it refundable so that we could cancel at any time. As it turns out we didn’t need the second reservation and was able to cancel with no worries. 

Our flight from Tampa to Los Angeles was non-eventful itself except for the bad luck that comes in threes, leading up to the flight.  We got out of Johns car, our driver and walked to the ticket counter. First thing I realize is that my glasses are missing. Keep in mind it is about 5 am. and I’m not awake yet. Chuck stayed with the luggage while I went back outside and looked for my glasses among all the hundreds of cars driving through. While I’m outside, Chuck calls John and asks him to drive back through. I looked his car over and couldn’t find the glasses. (That’s 1) So, next we moved over to the check-in machines at Delta and proceeded passed the enormous lines at the Delta baggage to attempt to print our baggage tags. Now we find out why the line is so long. The machines didn’t work. An hour later, we get to the customer service agent to get our tags and find out that the machines are new and don’t have paper yet. What? (That’s 2)

I liked these stairs. Better than walking up them. Our room was on the first floor thank goodness!

Anyway… we get that done and get to our gate area. Since it was so early in the morning, we decide to get some coffee and a pastry. While shopping around the shop, I must have dropped my jacket not realizing and it and when we get on the plane, I realize it’s not there. And that’s 3! So, although the flight itself was nice and smooth, all other things considered, it was good day. After arriving in Los Angeles, we looked at getting an uber to our hotel which as in San Pedro. The cost of the Uber from the airport was about $80-$100. Unbelievable. I started looking at shared buses and same price. Then I looked at Lyft. For some reason the price was about $30 cheaper. So, I signed us up. But the difference was it had us get on a bus and go to a LAXit site just off airport to access the ride. The instructions told us to go to this place by shuttle and then request the driver again. Once we arrived, we found this amazing parking area that had all the taxis, buses, and shared rides in one area, easily marked by a letter and number. I looked at the Uber and Lyft again and found Uber was closer and was only about $25. He was there in 5 minutes and great! A nice ride and so simple once you know what’s going on. We haven’t been to the LAX airport in many many years. This was pleasant surprise.

Anchor Pointe Inn

We checked into our small hotel room. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but everyone was so nice, it was clean, and it was safe. Only a few rooms had a bathroom inside the room. Most of the rooms had to walk outside their room and share a bathroom with others. I noticed this when I booked the hotel. Hotels were so hard to find since I waited so late to get one. During the pandemic and the last year, we haven’t booked ahead like we normally do, and costs are so much more. We spent the night here and got up early and called another UBER to pick us up for a ride to the Cruise ship. A brand-new TESLA picked us up. It was really nice, but the driver was lazy. He didn’t even open the door to get out to help us at all. Just popped the trunk. It was a really nice car, but I sure wouldn’t be using it for a taxi. What was so funny to us was the receipt showed a fuel surcharge. Why? Still trying to figure that one out.

Another hurricane headed in our path!

We are finally on the ship, and we can relax. Time for a nap!

May God bless you and keep you safe!

Lea Ann & Chuck