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February 20, 2017 - 12:45 a.m.
"debarkation" or "miami tour"

Hey Journal!

Well, today has been a LONG day and I'm really looking forward to getting into bed to get a good night's sleep!

This morning started out EARLY at about 7:00 when we got up to be drummed off the ship. It was depressing, as always. We went up to the Lido deck and the minute you walked into the restaurant there was this somber mood. It's so weird how the whole atmosphere changes on the last day of a cruise.

We had our breakfast and then trudged back to our room, got our belongings, and made out exit. Our excursion was supposed to meet at 7:45 and we were the first off the ship. We made our way to the luggage area, collected our bags, and then headed on the line for reentry into the US!

The lady we got was very nice. She glanced at our passports and then welcomed us back to the country. No questions, no slowdowns. Expedited!

Outside, we dragged our luggage over to the tour bus. We had the Miami Sightseeing tour. Neither of us had ever been to Miami so we figured this would be a good way to see what goes on around there. We waited a long time for the bus to get going but that wasn't so bad. The nice ladies whose cabin was near ours, who we had met on the first day during the muster drill, were also on our bus! What a coincidence! They were really nice and we talked to them for a while.

Once we started, we had to turn right back because they needed to pick up someone else from another cruise who had missed the bus.

Then, we started by touring Miami Beach. Miami Beach was the nicest of whole tour. Even so, it wasn't anything I really think I'd ever need to see again. I feel like I got a good taste of it and I'm ok now.

Our tour guide was really wild. He was very nice but he had the strangest accent. He kept saying things in the worst way AND his favorite phrase was "so there is that." He said it over and over again!

The bus looped around Miami Beach and then back to the station where it changed to a different route and we saw other parts of the city. We stopped in Little Havana for a while, walked around, then the bus headed back.

There were two more loops but we didn't really have any desire to do them. I think the craziest part of the tour was that there were lots of low hanging branches and everyone on the bus had to keep ducking to make sure we didn't get hit in the face. One older woman in front of me got a ranch to the face! it didn't look pleasant! I was a lot more alert after that!

We got off at the main terminal and that was at about 12:30. Our bus for the airport didn't leave until 5pm so we had a lot of time to kill! We walked around this little marketplace but it was a zoo and we were exhausted and ready to be home.

Why did we ever think it was a good idea to get an 8:30 flight! Yikes.

Anyway, we waited impatiently for 5:00 to roll around and we got on that bus and headed for the airport! I was so excited. There's that point when a vacation is over and all you want is to be home!

We talked to a couple on the bus who had been on a different cruise ship. They did the same thing as us and mentioned that they were underwhelmed with the tour. We agreed. They were nice and seemed about our age. They were from Toronto.

As it was time to get off the bus Dan got a real streak into him. He pulled the "stop requested" wire and made the light come on on the bus! I was trying to stop him but he did it anyway! That was kinda funny, but he followed it up by releasing the luggage strap and almost belting me in the face with it. THEN, he left the garment bag on the bus and had to go running back! So embarrassing! In retrospect -- it was all kinda funny, but at the time it was ridiculous! lol

They're redoing the Ft. Lauderdale Airport and it's a mess. It was a real disaster area. I went into the bathroom to wash the sunscreen off my face and somehow managed to go in the women's room. I realized it before anyone else saw me so I scurried out and corrected my mistake.

We got in the terminal and waited and waited for our flight. I had a problem with my phone -- ever since I got off the ship my phone can't get a data connection. It's really annoying. I was trying to fix it to no avail. I don't know what could have possibly happened. When I swapped my SIM card for Dan's it started working again! Wahoo. At least I know what the problem is. They said I can go to the Verizon store tomorrow and get a new one when I called earlier.

So, our flight was really good and I made it a point to get up a bunch of times for my leg. I made it home without much pain there. The plane was nice and new, too.

When we got off, we got our luggage, my mom picked us up, we come home, and now here we are. I got a load of laundry in the machine and set to start tomorrow. We have so many clothes to wash! Ugh!

Anyway, we had something to eat, watched some TV, and now we're off to bed.

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)