Wednesday, July 1, 2015

The Truth About Jet Lag...And My Girls Trip To The Mediterranean

Everyone always raves about traveling.  I, myself, am joining the ranks of people raving about traveling - because quite frankly - it is totally bad ass. However, I'm late to the party to start blogging our journey because I've been trying for DAYS to recover from jet lag. In fact, I felt like such a whiner that I did some research on it, and I discovered for every hour you are off from your home time zone it takes a day for recovery. I'm on day 5 with 4 to go to feel normal again.  So far, I've felt no progress!
The thing about the Miami airport is I hope to never see it again. We spent HOURS waiting there for our connecting flight to Barcelona.  However, being transcontinental virgins, we had no idea what we were in for!
Turns out even if you are a peasant riding in the steerage (as seen in the photo of the two sexy ladies above), the plane gives you blankets, pillows, and it is so big you have two aisles and 9 seats across! You could even stand comfortably as long as you weren't over 6 feet tall.
Where that TV ends is where Jack's people end. After the TV is an entire other section of the plane where I would guess the maestros and musicians reside.  At the front of the plane is first class in style - I'm talking leather seats that become a bed for the 9 hour flight. Definitely for Rose's people only. The good news is that even the peasants get dinner!
It wasn't the most delicious food I'd ever eaten, but it wasn't awful either.  The ride over wasn't that terrible for adjusting. I was so tired from flying overnight to Miami and sitting around awake in the airport all day that I slept the whole flight after they fed us.

Arriving in Barcelona was fairly easy.  They stamped my passport on some random page in the middle, which always annoys me. Why can't those customs people go in order on the pages?!

We rode a bus right from the airport to the pier and were on the ship within minutes. Eating, of course, at the buffet, where I took these lovely pictures of the Barcelona port.

As soon as the cruise set sail, we had to start wandering the "plank" and getting the most fabulous pictures of all time.
At dinner we took a selfie and we 100% looked like sisters.
The first night of dinner was not the best experience.  We sat with these cranky old people who would not engage in any conversation with us, no matter how hard we tried. And seriously, if you don't find me funny and friendly, than there is something wrong with you. Ok, maybe that wasn't me I was talking about, but STILL we tried really hard and they were basically like hashtag #wehateamericans.  We were quick to discover they sat us at table 816 when we should have been at 916. What a relief! The next night we would have new dinner partners because hashtag #theseamericansareawesome! 

I had a migraine from all the traveling, the time zone changes and the altitude changes. I was done for. So like the old lady I am, I hit the sack by 8 p.m. Amanda is tougher than I and she went to the entertainment show that night with Lianna and Christy - which she reports as being incredible feats of acrobatics performs by the entertainment staff dressed like pirates. It was a great start, really.

The next day was the only "at sea" day we had the entire trip, so it could not be wasted. The entire day was spent by the pool where everyone else got lovely tans and I just gained a few more freckles.
Dinner was also a smashing success because the 4 of us thoroughly enjoyed our new dinner companions and at a table of 6 and had a wonderful time laughing it up while we ate risotto.

Early to bed that night, though, because the next day these ladies were hiking Vesuvius and Pompeii. Which really, when I write that blog, it will be a must read.

Of course, I couldn't go to bed without catching a beautiful Mediterranean sunset.