Leaving and Arriving

If our leaving Phoenix and arriving in Nassau is any indication of what lies ahead, we are going to have to be very patient and very flexible.  The car picked us up at 9 pm after Delta told us that we could leave at 1 am instead of 4 am.  We arrived at 10 pm with our 4 rolling duffle bags (so they could fit under our bed), got through security, went to the gate.  About midnight, the gate advised us that we shouldn't go to Atlanta because the plane to Nassau wouldn't be able to leave Atlanta because of the weather, ice and snow.  So we changed to another flight to Atlanta later in the morning.  Had to switch our bags.  Then we were advised that no planes were landing in Atlanta and Delta booked us through Detroit, Fort Lauderdale to Nassau.   Had to make sure our bags got on that flight.  Slept ? in the airport all night. Everything went well until we got to Fort Lauderdale when the ticket agent wouldn't approve our entering Nassau because we had one-way tickets! Had to produce letter from SAS declaring that we were  "in transit", plus another student, and finally we were allowed to walk up steps to a twin-engine prop Bahamian plane.  Our departure from Nassau this evening, Wednesday, was delayed because several other students could not get here because of bad weather.


We stayed Monday night at the Wyndham Resort in Nassau which is gorgeous.  I was going to watch the Auburn/Oregon game but fell asleep (with my glasses on) until 8 am the next morning.
Boarding was hot and humid and we were finally on the MV Explorer. Our cabin is great, has a balcony, a hide-a-bed for visitors and a bathtub.  Tuesday was spent unpacking and going to meetings.  You know universities!  Today was more meetings of the Life Long Learners (LLLs) the group we belong to and group meetings to meet faculty, ship captain, etc.There are 600 students, 60 LLLs, crew of 200 plus faculty and staff.  Students are from 120 different universities, 60% female, 40% male - which means they have it made I guess.

I think my phone no longer works without paying so please log on here or e-mail us at Rick's address 1schlieb@gmail.com or me at rschlieb@juno.com. It's getting a little rough and we just advanced our clocks an hour so it's time for bed!  We are excited to sail to Domenica.