Leaving Tampa

Well, the big day finally came and it was time to head to Europe for our Disney Mediteranean Cruise! As you can imagine, the boys were very happy to get out of school a bit early and Michele and I were ready to leave our hectic schedule behind as well. With the boys playing both hockey & baseball this Spring, I have been feeling like a taxi driver / equipment manager lately! We paid a final visit to Dad in the hospital last night to say goodbye and spent most of the day packing and getting ready for the trip.

Surprisingly enough, we ended up being all ready a bit early (at 12:15pm). We were supposed to meet the rest of the group at the airport at 1pm, but we decided to go on instead of waiting around the house for the appointed hour. It worked out pretty well, because Kent & Pi’s families were early, too!

The seating assignments were a little screwed up for our first flight from Tampa to Atlanta, but it was just over 1 hour flight, so we managed with some in First and some in coach. Everything went pretty smoothly with our connection and by 6pm, we were all settled into our business class seats for our 9 hour flight as the big jet took off. We set our watches ahead 6 hours to Barcelona time and we began our journey in earnest.

Thanks goodness for those little TV’s! The boys napped a bit, ate a few bites of dinner, and then settled in for a marathon session of watching movies on demand in the seats. After dinner, I watched “Hurt Locker” (so-so). They dimmed the cabin lights and I kept thinking that the boys would drift off to sleep, but I don’t think they ever did. I think I got about an hour of zzz’s after the movie, but I never really sleep well on planes (I am a side sleeper).