It was a nice trip - lots of sun, tremendous food, a fabulous trivia team and all the gorgeous, blue ocean you could wish for!
The trip from Boston to Ft Lauderdale was as nice a plane flight as I’ve ever had. In my row of seats, only mine had been sold so dad moved over, we pulled up all the armrests and were able to make ourselves very comfortable. Delta Song also has satellite TV so once we were en route, I was able to take out my knitting and watch the Food Network all the way to Florida. Now that’s the way to fly!
I did get a little over-enthusiastic about my yarn requirements. Have a look:
Slight overabundance of yarn...
I did finish the Dulaan scarf, start another and make some sock progress - all of which I will talk about in more detail on Wednesday. I also hauled out Elsebeth Lavold’s Viking Patterns for Knitting last night and played with an idea about which there may also be more on Wednesday.
The flight home was brutal, uncomfortable and exhausting and I have done very little but sleep since I got back, trying to catch up on the sudden time shift. By their respective clocks, we left Lisbon at 10:30 AM and arrived in Newark at 1:00 PM. Accounting for time shifts, that’s 7.5 hours of sitting still, crammed into a too small space. You know, I’ve always wanted to see the rest of the world but I seriously think that unless I can sail there, there isn’t a chance in the world. It’s all I can do to deal with a flight from Europe. I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to fly to China or Australia. I’d be completely insane by the time I got there.
Making sure I can’t get away again
‘Nonchalance’ is his middle name
I’m still getting things organized here, so forgive me for the short post. I’ve put up a web page with the trip synopsis. For any who are interested, click here: Cruise
As has been said many times, there’s no place like home :)
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Welcome home! 
We missed you.
Thanks Bron - Believe me, I was so ready to come home!
Hooray, you’re back!
I’ve knitted a whole pair of socks since you’ve been gone.
Abi - Good for you! I only managed to do one on my trip, but I’m working on the mate now :)
Welcome back! Definitely missed your posts while you were gone. I’m glad you had a good time (return commute exempted). You’re right - it’s always good to come home.
Abi, I finished a cuff-down sock, too & started my first toe-up sock. Not bad, but I haven’t gotten to the heel & gusset yet, either!
Welcome home, I’ve missed your posts. I will have to make up for it by looking at your cruise reports :)
Thanks Samina - Don’t let the toe-up sock scare you. You’ll work the heel exactly the way you do on a cuff-down sock. Nothing to worry about :)
Hi Pamela :) I’ve missed posting too, believe it or not. Being away always makes me feel like I’ve abandoned the blog!
I’m fixin’ to go see the Cruise but wanted to say Welcome home!
As for your trip yarn: the only reason you DIDN’T get stuck in a waiting situation was all that yarn. It’s sort of a talisman against that. If you hadn’t taken all that with you for sure you’d have been forced to sit idly for some reason.
I did that when I went up to my Mom’s over Easter. I took a ton of car knitting, even though I was the one DRIVING! duh! However it did keep me from being stuck waiting anywhere.
We are so glad you are back now.
Aarlene - What a sweet welcome home - thank you :) I’m sure you’re right about the talismanic aspect of all that yarn and will bear that in mind when preparing for future excursions!
Welcome back!
Re traveling across the Pacific to see Down Under, Qantas makes that LONG flight as painless as possible ... short of flying first class. I think there’s a bit more leg room in their coach seats. If you can get in the business class seats, it’s better. One neat feature of those flights is if the business class isn’t sold out, they’ll use the last three or so rows of those seats for coach tickets. I was lucky enough to get one of those in 2001 when I flew back home from a six-week trip Down Under. You leave the U.S. around 9 p.m., have dinner, watch a movie, they turn out all the lights and you take a nap. Somewhere over the Pacific, they show another movie, serve you a smaller meal, and you take another nap. When you wake up that time, they give you breakfast, you fill out the papers you need to land and there you are—some 12 hours or so after you left L.A. Since you’re on the East Coast, I’d recommend breaking up the trip, if possible, by flying to L.A., spending the night and leaving the next day. I did that in reverse on one trip coming back (I’ve been there several times visiting friends)and it made dealing with the jet lag much more bearable.
BTW, I haven’t been able to start the hat from your scarf pattern but maybe this weekend.
Hi Charlotte - That certainly souinds like the way to do it - breaking it up. I remember the Qantas ads when I was a kid. They featured a koala who mourned the influx of tourists because of Qantas’ low fares. “I hate Qantas” he would say unhappily.
welcome back! yep, the overnight stop in LA is a good idea if you ever visit these fair (aussie)shores
Good to see you back, Robbyn. Glad the trip went well. It’s a small world after all: my parents are off on a cruise of the Mediterranean next week on the Crystal Serenity, sister ship to the Symphony. Sounds like they should be in for a good time!
Nattie - I haven’t entirely given up hope of visiting down under just yet. You never know :)
Anne - How wonderful for them! I haven’t seen the Serenity yet but I understand she is fabulous. I hope your parents have a splendid trip!
