#4
. . .  and beyond

The day for our departure FINALLY  arrives.  Our friends drive by our place at 9 a.m. and we start out for Syracuse airport.  One regular suitcase and a carry on.  That's more than enough luggage for a one week Caribbean cruise.  Sandles, swimsuits, a couple of outfits for dinner, what more do you need?  I fit enough clothes, and shoes, for the week into this 21 inch carry on.  The dressy clothes for the formal dinner had to go into Mike's suitcase, but I usually find that I need about half the clothes and twice the money for any holiday.

Check in was a breeze and we boarded the plane on time for our 2:30 takeoff.  We had a short stop over and plane change at Washington D.C. but were scheduled to be in Orlando before 8:30 that night.  The operative word here is "scheduled" because it wasn't the fact.   We hit heavy turbulence with thunder storms and lightning about an hour out of Orlando.  Our pilot announced that we would be in a holding pattern until further notice.

We landed late, but we were all alive,  What more could you ask.  By the time we got our luggage and took the shuttle to our hotel, it was almost 10:30 and we hadn't had much food that day with all our travel.  How about dumb luck . . . there was an Italian restaurant right across the road from our hotel, and it was still open.  We dined a little late that night, but the pasta was more than delicious.