So, I have come back from a seven-day party in paradise where anything and everything goes. I am going to give you a day to day break down, and if you don't care then quit reading now.
Day 1: Sunday April 23- My dad picked me up around 1230 and we headed to Toronto to visit my Aunt Lisa. We caught up with her at her apartment on Queen street and then the three of us went out for dinner at a cool Italian place just down the street. It was raining pretty hard and was starting to get dark so dad and I left to search for our hotel. We booked the hotel so we could wake up at 3 and just go as opposed to having to get up at 1 and driving.
Day 2: Monday April 24- Awoke to our 3 am wake up call. About 430 we met one of dad's co workers and her husband infront of the hotel (they drove in on Sunday night, too.) We called a taxi van (because the shuttles didn't start running until 5) and by 450 am we were inside of Pearson Airport. We found a bench and made sure we had all our documents, and finished putting the tags on our stuff. We then went through customs and whatnot, which took all of 15 minutes. We were sitting, waiting in the terminal by 515. We had an hour and 30 minutes to kill, which I spent eating a muffin and staring off into space. We boarded the plane at 645 and sat there until 7, at which point we took off. I had the window seat on the way down. We arrived at Miami International Airport at about 930, looked for baggage claim for awhile (that airport is set up really strangely), and then we found the Maple Leaf tour guys with their signs. Once we had everyone (there were 104 in total) we got on a bus. We took a short tour of part of Miami, then we headed to Bayside Market which was really cool; we grabbed some lunch at this point. Then, around 12 we got back on the bus and it took us to Port of Miami where the Carnival Cruise Funship Imagination was waiting for us. It waited a long time; We had to go through immigration, and that took forever. It was the longest line, and the line that was moving the least. Then, once we got through immigration, we had to wait in another line to get our keys. THEN, we got in another line in which was supposed to take us to get our picture taken on the plank, but some nice fellow snook (is that even a word?) out of the line through some gates. We boarded the ship and we were given credit cards; mine was useless, as the only thing we had to buy were souvenirs and booze. Mine was a childrens card so I couldn't buy booze, and I only bought one gift. After we unloaded our stuff in our cabin and chilled out for a bit, we met up with a couple of dads co workers and their invitees. We went up to one of the sun decks and watched Miami as we sailed away. The booze was just flying on Monday. The first tropical drink was something like 6.99 but after that they took a dollar off. Well, the guy managed to sell my dad 6 of them, 5 at 5.99 and one free. Then we had to go get ready for a formal dinner. After that dinner dad and I just headed back to our cabin, we had been up for 20 hours.
Day 3: Tuesday, April 25- Day at sea. Basically this day was spent tanning, hot tubbing, and meeting new people. By the end of Tuesday there were 8 of us who were basically doing everything together: Me, Dad, Arlene, Jim, Josee, Johanne, Simon, and Dave (who is the funniest guy I think I've ever met). There was the 'Captains dinner' that night so we had to get all dressed up. The captain didn't show. Apparently he was at the early seating (530) but not at the late one (830). Every night the waiters got up and danced. Most of them were from the Asian. They sung and danced the Macarana that night. Then we went and watched a magic show and juggling in the Dynasty Lounge (in which they played Dave Matthews before hand, which made me incredibly happy) it was about 1130 when that was over so dad and I just went back to our cabin. I forgot to mention that on this day my feet got so incredibly sunburned that the next day I almost couldn't walk.
Day 4: Wednesday, April 26- Cayman Islands. We got up about 7, and then we got on a boat around 8 that took us to the island. There is a time change there; the tour guides forgot, so we really got on the island at 7. We had an hour to kill, so we basically just toured around. Then at 8 we boarded a bus that took us on a little tour (past the Ritz, a condos which ran between 2 million and 40 million dollars [if you took the 40 million one they threw in a free BMW), and 7 mile beach [which is only 5.5 miles], etc.) Then we boarded another, smaller boat. We were on it about 30 minutes, and then we stopped to snorkel. We snorkeled with the tropical fish, it was amazing. Then we got back on the boat and it took us to the barrier reef which we snorkeled at for about half an hour. We got on the boat once again and it took us to a place called 'Stingray City.' Basically, it's a sandbar in the Caribbean sea in which there are stingrays EVERYWHERE. The water only came up to my waist. At first I was afraid of them, but then I pet one and I was cool with it. The captain of the boat put one on my back and it slithered around, then I held one. It was just like wet rubber, but heavy, like a car tire. After that we got back on the boat and it took us back to where we got on the bus again. It dropped us off where we left off (but not before we got pulled over by a cop.) In the Caymans, there are Western and British cars, so they are driving the same direction down both sides of the streets, it's nuts. They haven't quite grasped the driving concept yet, I don't think. Anyways, we then went and had lunch at this place and our waiter was from Saskatoon. From where we were seated we could see the line to get on the shuttle boats. It was massive, so we just sat up there and waited. Once we got back on board the ship I fell asleep and didn't wake again until 7, at which point in time I had to shower to go to dinner. I had to take cold showers for the rest of the week because I was so sunburned, especially my feet. We went to dinner where our waiters sang the YMCA and then we went to a musical.
Day 5: Thursday, April 27- Jamaica. We booked an excursion which started at 1030 (we being dad, me, Johanne, Josee, Dave and Simon..and 2 drunk guys from N. Carolina who didn't go to bed and insisted on being obnoxious fools.) We were driving down the highway (which was a dirt road) but there was a detour so we just did a u-turn on the middle of the highway. Crazy driving here, too. So, the detour took us through a town which was very poverty stricken. After about an hour and a half we approached the bottom of a mountain. All was going well but then the 2 lane road turned into a 1 lane road and the turns because very sharp. I thought we weren't going to make it to the top of this mountain, but we did. Once up there, we all said a little prayer, and then 2 guys put harnesses on us. We then walked for about 10 minutes and then we came to our first zip line of many to come. We just zipped from tree to tree. All was going well but then we came to one that was
almost vertical. I did it, no sweat, but Johanne was afraid of heights, so she had a little trouble. Then we went through some that were ridiculously fast and ridiculously long. Then we came to one that WAS vertical. When I went down it my stomache jumped into my throat and I screamed my lungs out, even louder than Johanne. After that it was smooth sailing. All the Jamaica guys who were running the zip lines kept calling me 'pretty girl.' It was awesome. Then, in true Jamaican style, when we were at the bottom, we were given rum punch. Then we walked back to the bus, saw some peacocks, then got on the bus for about an hour. We almost missed the ship, we were so late. We got back on the ship and went to our little drinking spot and met up with the other two. Pretty much everyone was hammered. Then we all had to shower and go to dinner, and I don't remember what we did after dinner.
Friday, April 28- Day at sea. This was spent laying on the deck soaking up rays. about 4 in the afternoon we went to our drinking spot, but not many got too drunk. Then we went to the final dinner. After that, it was 11, and we had to have our things packed and outside our door by 12, so dad and I went and packed quick. Then we planned on going to the Pinnacle Club for our last night on the ship, but I decided to stay behind. I watched a bit of Walk The Line then I called it quits.
Saturday, April 29- 6 am wake up call. We were told that we would all be off the shup by 8. This was a lie. Got up at 6, showered, met the others at 7 for breakfast, and then we all sat around the table until about 1015 in almost complete silence for so many were hung over and drained. Finally we were called. I needed my credit card to get off the ship, which dad realized he had conveniently misplaced. So quick we ran and got a replacement, and off the ship we were. We were in some warehouse deal where our luggage was; I couldn't find mine. I was freaking out a little bit, but, Simon found it for me. Then we had to go and get in another immigration line. Believe it or not, this one was longer than the first, and moved even more slowly than the first. We got close to the tables and were told that 'non American citizens had to move to the outside line.' We happened to move into the line with the chick who had just been trained and didn't know what she was doing. The line did not move for over 15 minutes. Finally the people told us that we could move into the other lines, which moved more quickly. The immigration officer didn't think my passport photo was me, but we worked through that. Then we went and found the guys with the Maple Leaf signs again, and then we boarded another bus. The bus took us to Miami International, where we got confused. We were instructed to put our luggage in track number 2. Well, Arlene and Jim put theirs there, but some officer told dad, me, simon, josee and johanne to put ours in number 3. so we did, but we noticed this was under 'British Airways'. Ha, neven thought I'd see my luggage again. Dave randomly decided to put his under number 6, and miraculously he got his back, too. Then we went through the metal detectors and the explosive detectors, grabbed some food, and then it was time to board our plane. It was about 130 pm. I had an aisle seat which sucked because it was a 3 hour flight, and the movie playing didn't interest me. I pretty much read and listened to music the entire time. When we landed Jim, Arlene, Dad and I got our luggage, but we lost Dave and Simon, so we really didn't get to say goodbye (Josee and Johanne were on a different flight going to Montreal so we said bye to them at the airport.) We got on a shuttle that took us to our vehicles and home we were headed with Jimmy Buffett playing at an ungodly level. I arrived home about 8. No one was home, so I fell asleep on the couch at I think 9ish. Mom came home around 1130 and I told her all about it, then I went to bed.
That was my trip! Hope you enjoyed reading about it.
Sunday I went to Mitchell with the intention of going out to breakfast with Kiersten but I was really late so she ate without me. We instead watched Wedding Crashers. Mom picked me up from Tim Hortons at like 3 and then we came home. My cousins Theresa and Byung Nam came to dinner (chinese food:)) and afterwards I did absolutely nothing (i think).
Monday was back to school, nothing interesting there I don't believe. Tuesday I resumed my spot with Kiersten on the announcements, and Jordan and Nora stopped in for a visit. Wednesday was filled with nothingness, and today as well.
Sorry this took so long, blogger kept telling my that my password was wrong. Turned out I forgot my username, haha.
Anyways, hope you're all well, maybe I'll run into one or all of you now that you're back in Stratford.
Meghan the Wonderful
(PS mind the spelling mistakes, I'm not reading all that)
