One week and counting (a short post)

 

One week to go.  The countdown has begun.  By this time next week, I'll be sailing to Bermuda. And you'll be reading this after I've returned from the cruise. (Sorry, I never post in real time anymore.)

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Until today, I didn't give the task of packing for the trip much thought.  But, having to take RQS home along with my large suitcase made this cruise seem a little bit more real to me.  So, I printed out a packing list to make sure that I didn't forget anything.

I plan to keep presenting as Marian until I leave for RQS's place next weekend.  And then, I'll present as Mario for about a week and a half.  On a ship where most people still get dressed up for formal night, I'll be envious of RQS, as she has the freedom to dress in a way that makes her look her best, while I'm stuck wearing clothing which doesn't let me feel my best.

When we go to the cruise terminal, we may have to deal with traffic jams caused by NYC's "Tunnel to Towers" race.  Our arrival time at the terminal is scheduled for 2 pm.  However, we plan to get there early enough to deal with the expected long lines at the terminal.  (Brooklyn's terminal facility is not known for speed, and it handles large passenger volume poorly.)  The last time I cruised out of Brooklyn, it took me over an hour to pass through the gauntlet to reach the ship.  Hopefully, by getting there later than last time, I can avoid the early bird processing jams.

One week and counting.  Hopefully, RQS and I will enjoy this trip....

Packing is such a pain in the ass - a short post

 

If only I could fit enough clothes to last me for 17 days in a small backpack.  Sadly, this is not doable.  Instead, I packed 45 lbs. of clothing into a large suitcase and left it at RQS's place.  However, I still have to manage packing a carry-on bag and a personal bag before my cruise.

RQS noted that if we were going on a cruise out of New York, this would not be a problem.  We'd load up both carry-on and large suitcases and bring them to the pier.  This is not the case if one wants to fly across the Atlantic.  One has to worry about luggage limits imposed by one's airline of choice.  Since we're flying on Virgin Atlantic, we had to look up their rules for luggage (carry-on and checked bags) before the trip.  This is a pain.  But then, I hate air travel....

What happens if they give us trouble with carry-on bags?  What about "hand luggage"?  There are so many things to think about when one doesn't fly that often.  But once we're accustomed to flying across the Atlantic, this will quickly become second nature to us....

Going to RQS's place to drop off luggage for our trip.

Since we will be leaving for our cruise next week, I decided to bring my luggage to RQS's place so that I don't have to handle two rolling bags, a CPAP machine and a small backpack on the subway the day before our trip.  And this is where my apprehension kicked in - I am a little nervous about flying overseas and going through customs in a foreign land.  To make things a little worse, I fear losing my travel documents (and other important things) while overseas.  Yes, I am a little out of my comfort zone.  But it takes a willingness to leave one's comfort zone in order to grow.

I called a cab to take me to the train station, then headed down to Manhattan on a local.  (I prefer express trains, but I didn't want to wait the extra 20 minutes and arrive within 5 minutes of the first train.) And then it was a descent into the bowels of the NYC Subway.  The MTA says that Union Square is an "accessible" subway station, but it is not so if you are traveling on one of the numbered lines (4, 5, & 6). There was no way that I was going to hump a 50+ lb. suitcase up a flight and a half of stairs to make a connection there.  So I made my transfer at Bleeker street.  I'm not sure if this was a mistake, as I ended up standing for my entire trip to Queens.  Luckily, the bus arrived within 5 minutes, and I was able to make to RQS's within 2 1/2 hours of leaving home.

Shortly after I got there, we went out to eat.  This was one day that I wish I had been able to do out as Marian, as it was a perfect day to wear a nice dress.  When we got home, RQS joked (but was half serious) that we're getting to the point where she's comfortable seeing me in a dress all the time.  Wow! Who'd have thought this 2 1/2 years ago?!?!

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The next day, we decided to go into Manhattan to see a play at the Irish Repertory Theater.  But first, we had to go to the bus stop.  On the way there, we saw a resident of this apartment building putting this sign up as a protest against the building's owners.  (There was a commotion at this building that made the news from what RQS said, and that the 2 owners come from an insular section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn where ethnic bonds are very tight.)  RQS is grateful that she has a harmonious relationship with her landlord, even though he lives at least 2 hours away from her.  But I digress....

Molly Sweeney is a 3 person play about a blind woman, her husband, and the doctor who allows her to see for the first time since she was 18 months old.  The actors were fantastic, and the play was moving.  It is tragic, as giving this woman sight ended up removing her from the world in which see without the benefit of eyesight.

After the play, we stopped into the above hot dog joint for a bite to eat before returning home.  While there, a bum started hassling the owner, demanding food and creating a nuisance of himself.  It got so bad, that the owner had to chase the bum away by swinging a 2" x 4" at the bum.   When the bum was gone for a while, the owner noted that the police don't bother coming to chase these people away anymore.  Store owners in the area are helpless, and have to defend themselves against these crazies who return on a daily basis.  A few minutes later, the bum returned and started hassling a lady.  Luckily, the bum stopped bothering her.  But if he had laid a finger on RQS (or myself), I would have slammed him to the ground, stomped on his balls, then make sure that he needed medical help before calmly walking away from the scene.

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The next day, it was time to go home.  In one sense, the return home was uneventful save for 2 things: 

• I made the mistake of going to White Castle and ordering the wrong food.
• My belt buckle broke, which rendered the belt useless. 

Why do I mention White Castle?  Well, I have loved "Belly Bombers" since I was young.  And this outlet was at the transfer point between bus and subway, a very convenient spot for me to indulge in a guilty pleasure.  However, Puerto Rican day was being celebrated a block away from the Castle, and several young children were getting in the way of the soda machine - which had run out of the syrups for the choices I'd like to have made.  The distraction of children near the order window caused me to order the wrong thing - 2 chicken sliders instead of the 4 burgers I usually get.  I also ordered clam strips - another mistake, since they were overdone and had no flavor.  (I should have gone to the local Mickey D's a block away.)  On the way out, I noticed that my pants were a little loose and found that the reversible buckle had broken.  Since I couldn't fix it, I had to toss it and go home with loose pants.  It would have been another perfect day to be out as Marian - especially if I could have been wearing a dress.  But I'll have to save that for tomorrow.

A day with RQS at her place as Marian, then going to my place for the evening

 

After 9 days away from home, it was nice to spend the better part of the day at RQS's place in Marian mode.  Unfortunately, I had to make it home, as I had an appointment at the bank as Mario, so that I could take care of some co-op business the next day.  So both of us trekked to my place to spend the evening together - something we haven't been able to do for a while.

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As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I spent the whole day in transit from LA, returning to NYC.  Neither RQS nor I wanted to get up.  So we lollygagged a bit, then went out for tacos.  One thing about the Ridgewood Taco Factory I can say is that its food is as good as any Mexican food I've had in California. And it was a better choice for food than the bagels RQS might have selected for our meal.

Once done with lunch. we went back to RQS's place, picked up our bags, and proceeded to the bus for our trip to Croton.  I had chosen a subway route which would allow us to use "Accessible" stations (elevators from/to street, mezzanine and platform levels), so that neither of us would have to use staircases with our rolling bags.  All went well as we transferred from the bus to the subway, and that's where the irritation started.  One of us used our transit cards to open the gate used by handicapped people, and a stream of 20 people entered without paying their fares.  We encountered some of those people again at the elevator, as these mothers with children took up the space on the elevator for two cycles.  Luckily, we still had time to spare before the train to Manhattan came.

We took the train into Manhattan, and got off at Union Square for the next leg of our trip to Grand Central.  And this is where we encountered another glitch in our plans - the elevator to the uptown platform was out of service until the summer.  So we ended up having to use a staircase after all.  I had no problem with the large suitcase that weighed over 50 pounds, but RQS was having trouble with the smaller suitcase that may have weighed 30 pounds.  Luckily, some good Samaritan helped RQS with the smaller bag, and we were able to make the train to Times Square, then a transfer onto the shuttle to Grand Central.

Finally, at Grand Central, we were able to take a break for 5 minutes.  I was already sweating a little because of my wig and my physical effort, and knew I'd need to take a break when we got to Croton. We ended up taking the local, then caught a cab to finally reach my apartment.  Although we later went out for a bite to eat, our day was effectively over, as neither of us had much energy to do anything else but watch reruns of old TV shows before finally going to sleep.

A Holiday Weekend with RQS (Part 1)

 

This was going to be a LONG weekend for us, as I planned to drive down to RQS's place on Friday, and then the two of us would return to Westchester for the rest of the weekend.  So, I made sure that I could get by on what I had left at RQS's place the week before, so that I would have room in my car to bring the remaining luggage from our California Cruise back to my place.

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As usual, I didn't get out of my apartment until 3 pm, and had few traffic problems until I reached Queens.  Then, I couldn't avoid traffic problems until I reached side streets that would take me to RQS's neighborhood.

Normally, I take the Whitestone Bridge into Queens, and then the Whitestone Expressway / Van Wyck Expressway to the Jewel Avenue exit.  From there, I usually take side roads to RQS's place instead of fighting traffic to reach the Jackie Robinson Parkway.  However, the first of the jams I hit was on the Whitestone - traffic on the Van Wyck wasn't moving.  So I decided to take the Grand Central to Jewel Avenue  - and hit traffic until I passed the LIE.  (For those not from the NYC area, I'm talking about major traffic choke points in one of NYC's outer boroughs.)  Then, I got off at Jewel Avenue with only a minor issue with street repaving going on. At this point, I was committed to taking side streets.  Since I expected a major traffic jam when crossing Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, I took an alternate route that brought me to Rego Park before heading inland to RQS's place.  This proved to be a fortunate choice, as I saved a bit of time in getting to RQS's place.  And even better - I found a parking spot in front of RQS's place!

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The next day, we woke up early, loaded up my car, and proceeded to my house.  While on the way there, RQS remembered that she didn't replace the litter in her cat's litter box.  So it was a quick call to her cat sitter, and we were lucky that he could make it over to her place on a day he was fully booked - the litter box was empty, and the cat wasn't happy about it. 

We were lucky to have started out earlier than RQS had planned.  Traffic was much worse than expected for a Saturday morning, and it took over 2 hours (minus time for lunch) to get back to my place and unload the car.  Once the car was unloaded and we had a chance to rest, we had a choice to make:  Do we go out to see some fireworks, and suffer in the hot and muggy air?  Or, do we go across the river to the historic Lafayette Theater to see the latest Indiana Jones movie, and enjoy a performance on the Wurlitzer Organ?  Comfort won out.  How often can one see a first-run movie for $6/pp and hear a performance on the Wurlitzer organ?  As much as RQS liked the movie, I felt that hearing the Wurlitzer again was worth the $6.  To me, the movie was a nice bonus for a live organ performance.

It's too bad that I couldn't upload the other video I had of this person's performance.  Given the film being shown AND the song being played in this clip, it's an appropriate way to end today's entry.

California Vacation 2023 - Debarkation Day

 

RQS and I knew that this would be a long day. However, we didn’t know how long this day would feel to us by the time we got home.

We awoke very early in the morning, and made sure to do our last minute packing before going downstairs for breakfast. RQS wondered why there were no tablecloths on the tables and why we weren’t getting any service. Unfortunately, we went to the wrong dining room, as the easy to reach dining area would be a room used to stage people for leaving the ship. So off we went with our luggage to the back of the ship where breakfast was being served.

Once done with breakfast, it was over to the casino where we were to wait until our debarkation time. When we were called, our group got off the ship and started the long walk to our luggage already in the cruise terminal. Finding our luggage, we passed through customs very quickly, as they are now doing bio-metric screening at this port. And then, it was time to board the bus to the airport.

The two of us checked our bags, and then proceeded to TSA scanning, where RQS’s personal lubricant set off an alarm. She packed an oversized bottle in her carry-on. Ouch! So this item had to be abandoned before we could proceed to the gate. And this is where our long waits began.

One of the bits of advice we heed is to plan to take no flights home scheduled to depart before noon. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 2:20 pm, so we had to kill 3 ½ hours before boarding took place. While we waited at our gate, we heard an announcement. The pilot of another plane to New York was flying his last run, and expected to be made a big fuss over upon arrival in New York. I hope this man has a very happy retirement. But this made us more aware that we were killing time.

Eventually, RQS and I got hungry, and searched for food. Unfortunately food offerings at this terminal were both slim and expensive. But we paid the high price for our food, some of which we brought on the plane with us, as we expected no food service on the flight. This was a fortunate act, as once the plane boarded, the pilot announced that there was a ground stop in New York.. This caused our flight to be delayed for 90 minutes, giving us a Midnight (Eastern) arrival time in New York.

Once the plane took off, we had an uneventful flight. I overheard one passenger talking with a flight attendant, and found out that we could get a snack box and sandwiches when cabin service started. So, I asked the attendant about this and bought a snack box for RQS and a Chicken Sandwich for me.

Landing in New York, it was a long trek to the baggage area. I figure that RQS and I must have walked a mile between our gate and the luggage carousel. Even then, the luggage had yet to be dropped on the carousel for pickup. We still had to wait for another 15 minutes before our checked bags arrived. And then it was off to get our ride home.

Once we left the air conditioned climes in the terminal building, we entered air so thick that one would have to dice it up before breathing it. It was 80+ degrees outside with almost 100% humidity. Yecch! Summoning an Uber, it took a couple of minutes before a driver accepted our summons. But we ended up at RQS’s apartment by 1:30 am - not bad for an overly long day.









PS: We were lucky. RQS heard that NYC area weather related ground stops were still causing flight cancellations after we got home. People on these cancelled flights won't be getting home for a few more days yet. If our flight had been cancelled, I'd have asked to be on a flight to another East Coast city, then take Amtrak home from that city. I feel sorry for those people stuck out West with connections through Chicago to the East Coast - they are getting a double whammy these days. Word to the wise - if your plane is cancelled AND they can book you to a different Major Northeastern US City, consider flying there and taking Amtrak to get home. It's not perfect, but it may keep you from being stuck away from home for an unknown period of time.

Hawaii Vacation - Day 04: Kualoa Ranch & Embarkation

The Kualoa Ranch.  It has been the setting for many TV shows and Movies.  You may recognize the scene above from movies such as the Jurassic Park franchise and the "recent" remake of Mighty Joe Young.  The ranch is beautiful, and well worth a visit.

But first....

Last night was my last night in Honolulu.  Packing my bags was an exercise for what I'll need to do a week from now when I return home from Hawaii.  And I didn't pack as well as I did when I was at home.  At least, I'll have more time to prepare for my next set of flights.  Next time, I'll have to pack as much as possible in my large bag without exceeding the 50 lb. limit - a task I'll dread the closer the time comes for me to do it.  At least, I have an accurate hand held scale to use while packing the bag.

Today, I knew what I had to do to have some food in my stomach before today's excursion.  To be safe, the night before, I had picked up a couple of bananas to eat if I couldn't get any food from the coffee shop in the hotel building.  And I was doubly fortunate that today's line was short enough to allow me to get a cup of black coffee and a breakfast turnover.  

So I left my large suitcase in the room for NCL to pick up and bring to the ship, then checked out of the hotel.  I was on the bus at 7:00 am, but we didn't get moving that early.  There was a "fun run" going on, and it got in the way of us going to the Kualoa Ranch via the normal route.  Instead, we had to go through an upscale residential district to get out of the Waikiki area and out of Honolulu.

The city of Honolulu is larger in area than I thought, and we made a stop at the Halona Blowhole Lookout.  This is a beautiful place to catch a view of the ocean.  But it was very windy there, as evidenced by the photo below:

I certainly don't look very attractive in this picture.  But I felt good, as people were accepting me as the female I wanted them to see.  

Our next stop was a Buddhist temple in the middle of a cemetery.  It was a pretty place to visit, but we only used it as an opportunity to make a pit stop for bio breaks.  Other than the small main area of the temple, there wasn't that much to see except for a bell that could be rung.

Of course, a chance to ring a giant bell is not enough to justify lingering at this place.  It was time to go to the Kualoa Ranch.  I wasn't sure of what to expect when I got there.  But I knew one thing - I'd get some beautiful pictures, like the one below..

One thing I've noticed in Hawaii is that almost every tour guide talks about is that few things on the islands are "pure Hawaiian."  In the case of human settlement, less than 2% of the people living in the islands are "pure" Hawaiian stock.  (Even the origins of "native Hawaiians can't be determined, as there were at least 2 waves of Polynesian settlers to the islands.)  In the case of plant and animal life, each group of settlers brought their own plants and animals to the islands (see images of "Canoe Plants" below) which squeezed out much of the native flora and fauna.

 

 
Arriving at the Kuoloa Ranch, we went through an "Educational Experience" about how outside plants and animals have changed the islands.  Sadly, I couldn't maintain any interest in the presentation, as I hadn't been able to have a bite to eat since 6 am and was falling out due to a low blood sugar level.  Luckily, the presentation was short, and a tasty box lunch was served a little bit before noon.  After this was the movie site tour of the ranch.

All too soon, our time on Oahu had to end.  We got back to Honolulu by 3:30 pm, and then embarked on the ship.  Arriving after the majority of people have boarded the ship allowed us to breeze through check in and security. At that point, we were able to get on the ship.

(Pardon the hokey picture.   I bought it to get a

discounted price on the pictures I really wanted.)

The Pride of America (POA) has an interesting history.  The cruise line that commissioned the ship went bankrupt.  NCL bought the unfinished ship, and had it towed to Germany to be fitted out for service.  Congress enacted a law to allow this ship (and another non American built ship) to sail as US flagged ships.  Although no other cruise ship sails under a US flag, POA does, and is able to make the 7 day Hawaiian Island round trip from Honolulu.

Once on the ship, the first thing one will notice is that the ship reeks of America.  The seal of the United States is on the floor by the grand staircase - which, itself has an "American" feel.

 

Now, it was time to find my room.  Although I was below the buffet area, I didn't notice much noise coming from above.  However, I did get a little upset that my large suitcase hadn't yet made it to my cabin. So, I ended up going to guest services to take care of this, finding out that my suitcase was in transit, and that it should make it to my cabin before we left port.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my dinner reservations taken care of at this time, as the crew was starting to get ready for the mandated muster drill.

 

Most of the ship seems a little bit dated, as this is a 20+ year old ship. Yet, everything is in good repair.  Unfortunately, the bathroom is a little cramped and does not have enough room to store a woman's toiletries.  (It must have been designed by an unmarried male.  No hotel designs bathrooms anymore without input from females.) Additionally, the shower stall is separated from the rest of the bathroom by a shower curtain.  Yet, I did not find that shower water would flow into the rest of the bathroom, unlike an accessible bathroom I stayed in at a land based casino/hotel complex.

After the muster drill, it was time to get comfortable.  By the time I was ready to eat, I decided to try out the buffet - a big mistake.  Unlike all other onboard buffet experiences, I could not find utensils or napkins at any of the tables - I had to ask an overworked employee for help.  Like cabin service, food service was understaffed.  In the "post Covid" environment, it's hard to find enough qualified American workers to staff this ship.

Around 8:00 pm, I had a decision to make: Do I go to the Solo Travelers gathering, or do I go to the LGBTIQ gathering?  I made the obvious choice: I decided to go to sleep for a while.  And sleep I did, as I didn't wake up until 1:30 am....

Lost and found

In the run up to my upcoming Hawaii trip, I have been buying things that I can use on my earlier cruises and on my upcoming Hawaii cruise.  So far, I have been already able to use a few of these items, the cruise power strip which has NO surge protector.  The Tile Item Locator proved its value on my recent cruise, as it saved a lot of time for me in locating my luggage at the pier.  And we enjoyed having the motion sensitive night light available when our cabin was dark.  Yet, there are still some items that I haven't used yet, one of them I almost bought again....

To prepare for Hawaii, I have started "packing" some of the above items, to make it easier when I have to load everything into my suitcases for the trip.  One of these items is the black carry case above, in which I plan to store a cell phone charger (with cable), a wired set of ear buds and a few other electronic gizmos. And it is this item that got lost in my apartment.

I've been looking for this carry case for a while, as it vanished without a trace.  No matter whee I looked, I couldn't find it in the several weeks since I first put stuff inside of it.  Since I would need these items when I traveled, it made sense for me to order replacements before my Hawaii trip.  But as luck would have it, they mysteriously appeared in the dark cavern between my mattress and the foot-board of my bed.

The moral of this story:  “Everyone has a photographic memory, some people don’t always have film!”

I keep ordering useful things from Amazon

Toothpaste tablets.  Why would I buy them?  Given that I'll be flying to Hawaii soon, the less I have to put in a special liquids bag, the easier my trip through the security checkpoint will be.  This is only one of the purchases I've been making lately, as I have to prepare for travel in a way I haven't done in over a decade.

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Lately, I've been buying things such as auto-on, rechargeable motion sensitive night lights, a cruise power strip (no surge protection), a clear sling bag (for use at Pearl Harbor), and a selfie stick (for taking pictures of me on my upcoming trip.).  I would never have bothered buying much of this stuff had I not been planning on a trip to Hawaii.  Given that I will likely be doing more travel in retirement than I did beforehand, I will be fleshing out an appropriate travel kit, something that can last me from 2 to 20 days as needed.

I understand how easy it was for my wife to become a spending addict.  Click on an item you want, and "by magic" it appears by your door.  You do not handle "real money".  Instead, you authorize a debit to your account (which you must fund), and lose the tactile feedback that paying with cash provides.  It is much easier to know that you are spending too much when you both see and feel less cash in your wallet.

Part of my spending spree has been to replace both a 20" carry-on suitcase and a 28" suitcase.  It cost 75% more than I planned, but I wanted to get something that would last a decade or two. I'm grateful to be able to do this, as I have a decent amount of money in my bank account from 40 years in the work force.  (If I didn't also have a good 401k and pension, I'd be in very bad shape right now.)  But this spending can't last.  Right now, my 401k is down 30% from its high point, and the yearly distribution I was planning on taking may need to be reduced.  I want to preserve as much capital as possible for now, and still want to enjoy living my current life of leisure.

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Last night, I met up with a transgender person for dinner.  If I weren't lucky enough to have been employed by a top-10 bank for 30 years, I might not have had the discretionary cash to afford this dinner.  I also might not have had the cash to have afforded the voice training, laser treatment and second wardrobe I need to go about in the world as Marian, some of that wardrobe coming from Amazon itself.  I only wonder what my late wife would have thought of the way I live my life today.