Sharon in AZ

Good afternoon! Thank you for the Fleet Report Rich. Thank you everyone for sharing on the Daily. I have missed a few days, lots of appointments to catch up on after being away so long. I wanted to say hi today and welcome to my second favorite month—July (my first being June). I have made today’s meal suggestion before and used Ina Garten’s recipe. It comes out really good but a little on the thicker side because I don’t have a special knife like you really need to get paper thin slices. I need to read the Daily to see what recipes Debbie posted. Well, the day has finally arrived, today is Craig’s first official day of retirement. It’ll be a huge adjustment for him. He’s going to miss teaching (things like Excel and PowerPoint). It’s also his birth month so we have some celebrating to do. After DM’s appointment today we went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch and got my favorite BHB wine. Remember Joy?@Seasick Sailor. DM loved it, said that she liked it more than Kim Crawford. Have a great day everyone!

Love the blonde! Oh dear! Like Debbie said this makes me tired. Keep us updated. Thinking of you.

Yes they did and we even were in Business class ourselves but never saw that particular security line until we were right upon it and when we checked in and checked our luggage no one explained it to us. Like I said earlier, the signage is confusing, it’s very difficult to see where you are actually going, the area is huge, the line is long and with the crowds and hoards of people we just decided to stay where we were. If I had do-overs I would have suggested that one of us go check out the front of the line. Thank goodness we were early enough that it didn’t matter.

Yes, thank you for reminding me about the two different security lines. Unfortunately, we were in the longer looking line like you because we were flying to Heathrow. A tip—make sure to check your bags first. The signage is confusing and with the way the airport is laid out it’s easy to miss the check in area. I felt really bad because we saw a lot of people with their luggage in the security line, and then moving out of line. I think an employee was walking the line asking people but that line is so long you could easily stand there for an hour and not realize.

I’m not VMax1700 but it took us 45 - 55 minutes to go through security on June 19th in Venice Marco Polo airport.

We had the last bus going from Trieste to Venice Tronchetto on June 13th. It ran smoothly. I’m fairly certain that transfers will be available, just not sure if it’ll be complimentary or for purchase, depends just like @Torquer said. And @VMax1700 is right- be prepared for the security line! It’s quite long.

Good afternoon everyone ! Thank you for the Fleet Report Rich. Thank you to everyone who contributes to the Daily. I love today’s meal suggestion and thank you for the recipes Debbie @dfish. I have made a similar recipe that I really liked. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/meatballs-with-garlic-yogurt-and-chimichurri-5660355 Spinach isn’t in the title but it’s definitely in the recipe. I used chicken but the recipe calls for Turkey. I didn’t make the chimichurri, just the yogurt sauce and it was so yummy with the meatballs. I like it because it’s different and doesn’t use pasta. Reminds me that I need to add this to my menu planning. Bruce @aliaschief — my DH loses everything and never realizes until long afterward. I could go on and on with what he’s lost. Most recently he left his EarPods somewhere on the Oosterdam when we were in the Bay of Kotor, never found them. Then his man bag on a water taxi in Venice and didn’t even realize until the hotel asked him about it. That cost €60 to return. So those keys just may never turn up. 😉 Joy @Seasick Sailor — prayers for your friend. @St Pete Cruiser — yikes on your sudden surgery during your travels. I hope you are recovered and book a replacement cruise soon. Have a great day everyone!

Good afternoon! Thank you for the Fleet Report and Daily Rich. Thanks to everyone who contributes to the Daily. DGD spent the weekend and I made all her favorite foods, including strawberry ice cream. It turned out extra good. DM had a doctors appointment this morning, then we went shopping and then lunch. Annie @marshhawk, we also went to Red Lobster mostly because I had a free dessert for my birthday I wanted to use. All was good, saving my dessert for later—I got the cheesecake. It was hard getting back into the groove with DM, I haven’t seen her in a month and she had a lot of stuff for me to do for her. It’ll get done but I haven’t even caught up with my own stuff yet. 😉. And she wants to see her younger sister and BIL soon. They recently moved to a new retirement center which is really close. This sister has a lot of health issues and was recently in the hospital for 5 weeks after a fall. There were 13 siblings and now only 3 are left, all girls. Maxine @AncientWanderer -wow on your bee sting! I have been thinking about you, especially since San Francisco was the port of the day a few days ago. Great memories! I hope you are better now and enjoying your new grand baby. Thank you to everyone who posted pictures of today’s port. It looks like a beautiful island. Have a great day everyone!

Beautiful!

Congratulations on adopting Monty! And what a great name, actually a nickname, for him. Isn’t it funny how people choose pet names? It took us days to name Blue. And one day I looked at him and said that he had a blue cast to his skin (he’s hairless), and said Blue! That’s it, plus it’s also my favorite color. Would love pictures of your new family member!

Happy Birthday Carol! Enjoy your special day! Prayers for Sam’s recovery. Enjoy having your grandson staying with you. 🍰🎉🎂🎊🧁🍾🎈

Wow! I am beyond overwhelmed by all the Birthday wishes from my Daily friends. Thank you so much! You all are the best! I’m having a great Birthday. Craig took me to lunch. Our favorite pizza place closed, they never recovered after the shutdown, so we went to our second favorite place. Mine is called the Tuscany. Sausage, portobello mushrooms, onions, fennel, olives. Craig’s usual Margherita. @USN59-79 Can you explain about your eye meds? Are you taking a tablet along with the regular injections? My DH has it and I’m curious. It runs in his family, some have it worse than others, so it might not be the same type as yours. Right now he’s on special vitamins. BTW, I would love to try fish head soup, just never had the opportunity. But I think I’d skip eating the eyes. I’ve heard that the meat in the fish cheeks is really good. @marshhawk & @dfish — I like Spam but I don’t eat it very often. It’s good in fried rice. I also love love love those little Vienna sausages in the little can. I try not to eat those too often either. When I was a child my DM would make me a Vienna sausage sandwich on buttered soft white bread. Yum. I’ve tried Vegamite, but it’s not my thing.

Thank you Mr VMax! Happy to hear you and DW enjoyed the sparkling wine that we couldn't due to Craig's covid isolation and taste buds. He did enjoy his Negroni's though! You disembarked today, I need to catch up on your "Live From" and see how it went. Ours was super smooth.

A very early good morning! It’s 4:30 am here. Still can’t sleep more than 4 hours, so instead of tossing and turning I decided to read the Daily. @grapau27 Graham, so happy that you are better after your injection! Great news. I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Sandi, thank you for the Birthday wishes! If you originate at Heathrow you shouldn’t have a problem if you arrive early enough, our problems were mostly changing terminals for our connecting flights. We spoke with someone at our hotel in Barcelona who flew directly from Heathrow and he didn’t have any problems. I’m sorry about your DH still having to stay in isolation. It’s crazy that he’s still testing positive. Does he feel better? Well, that all makes sense and I hope it improves and that more people want jobs. Yes, I feel better but still can’t sleep more than 4 hours. Thank you for the Birthday wishes!

Good evening! I'm late, very late, but have been trying to catch up with Daily family news -- just so much to comment on and I don't want to miss anyone but I probably will so please forgive me...... @VMax1700 -- Mr VMax! Happy Birthday!! and on the Oosterdam, so wonderful! @Quartzsite Cruiser -- Lenda, so good to hear that DH is home and doing exercises. I worry that will be my DH someday, he has terrible back issues and it runs in his family, unfortunately. Many family members have had back surgery including his sister. @StLouisCruisers -- Sandi, so happy you are out of covid jail and hoping DH is out as I type this. Happy Birthday to your DD, it's mine also, she picked a lovely day to be born. @kazu -- Jacqui, what a mess with your purse and phone! Criminy! I'm hoping you get your replacement very quickly and I'm sure you can transfer all info to your new phone even though the old one is damaged. Have a great time on your long weekend. It's okay to cry. It's okay to have a heavy heart. @dfish -- Debbie, I love the blonde! @Crazy For Cats -- Jake, Bon Voyage! And Happy Birthday to your DH! @bennybear -- Brenda, I was saddened to read that your DH has a melanoma. Hopefully it was caught early and he gets clear margins quickly. I worked for a doctor once who repaired facial skin ca after Moh's surgery so I know how important it is to do a skin check. @grapau27 -- Graham and @VictOriann -- Ann Graham, sorry I'm late in responding, but we did go through Heathrow. It was horrible, but we made it on the plane to Phoenix thank goodness. I was really stressed out for about an hour after getting on the plane, even the flight attendants were concerned about me. They kept asking me if I was okay -- WELL, no I wasn't okay, I ran just to get on that plane after being in an eternal security line going from terminal to terminal! One commented about my blood pressure and that I could have a second glass of wine. It just took me a long time to get over it, plus British Airways changed our seats on us but at least we were together (one in front of the other) at window seats. AND then once on the plane, it didn't leave for another hour and a half! Due to a "tug" that moves the plane from it's spot because it can't back up by itself. Then worrying that we will miss our next connection. Criminy! Sorry, I'm just venting. I have some "not's" and some "do's" for the next international flight. Ann, don't stress too much about Heathrow, the one good thing is that they do have staff going through the security lines calling out flights and getting you pushed ahead if need be. That's the only way we made it on our flight. I know a lot has been said about the airlines but from this experience it seemed to be the airport staff or lack of and staffing issues. We had many security check points that had numerous lanes, but only a few were open and many were closed, this with a long line of passengers, a really long line of passengers. We got wrong information many times, getting in wrong lines and wondering if we were in the right line, finally realizing that we were in the wrong line then asking a uniformed airport agent where to be and getting wrong information, then asking again and then getting in the correct line. Signage was horrible. Sheesh! To me that is not the airlines fault. And I know we weren't the only passengers having problems. I hope everyone has a good night and a super weekend!

A very early Good Morning and Happy Thursday! Ever since we’ve been home I’ve been struggling with sleep due to jet lag and can’t seem to sleep more than 4 hours at night with my usual afternoon nap. So, I’ve been in a fog and am very behind on the Daily. My body thinks night is day and day is night. I didn’t have this problem when we arrived in Barcelona and in the past have been able to recover faster. Oh well, eventually I’ll get back to normal. I’m on my iPad and can’t type as well as I can on my phone so I’ll try and post again later but wanted to wish— Roy @rafinmd the Happiest of Birthdays!!

Good afternoon everyone from home! Just a short check in to say that we arrived home safely after a very long day of traveling, approximately 25 hours from beginning to end, some of it due to flight delays and most of it because we have to take an extra flight to get to Tucson. We left Venice airport at 8:15 am and got home at 11:30 pm home time. Working on unpacking and laundry. We did use the hotel laundry and I’ll just say that we are so fortunate on HAL to have free laundry. Have a great day everyone! We boarded our Venice to London flight the old fashioned way. A delightful and delicious chocolate mousse on the flight. My pre dinner cocktail. I don’t remember the name. It was good. BTW, I was watching Rocket Man with subtitles. Subtitles really help me if there’s background noise. It was a good movie.

I faxed my shareholder information for our past cruise beginning June 1st and received a confirmation email that it had been credited about 2 weeks later.

Good evening from Venice! I can’t believe this is our last night here. And I can’t believe how much I love this place. I was able to take a short nap, clean up and pack before going to our Altana for a glass of wine. Right now we are back at Alla Strega, an old place from before that we are happy is still open. This is our third time here. It’s lovely. We like to eat in the courtyard. Those really are grapes. Thank goodness our flight is at 11:00 am. I have a multitude of pictures that I haven’t shared so I’m going to post more when I get home. I’ll try to check in between flights. Dreading London…… Have a good evening everyone!

Bon Voyage!! Looks like a wonderful cruise. Happy Birthday to DH!! ⛴🥂🧁🍾🎂🍰🥮🎉🎁🎊🎈🎈🎈⛴

Good afternoon from Venice! My first post disappeared and I was able to get half of it back so I’m trying again. I decided I needed more gifts so we went back to the Rialto market for salts. I ended up getting more than just salt. They have wonderful salts seasoned all different ways. Then to another church that has 3 Tintoretto’s, San Cassiano. They are all at the main altar. Turns out he was a parishioner of the church. The Resurrection The crucifixion The Descent into Limbo Now we are at Cafe Florian for one last time. An expensive lunch. But well worth the ambiance. Now I have to face packing. Bummer. Have a great day everyone!

@HAL Sailer — prayers for your nephew and his recovery.

Joy, we love Venice too. It’s our 4th time. Twice we rented apartments and twice we’ve been at this same hotel. I’m seriously thinking about canceling our future cruise plans and booking just Venice. But we have a lot to discuss, not sure just now. However, I’ll never come in June again. It’s too humid and crowded with young kids and college students. Early spring is the best. And yes, the ladies are still sitting and making lace outside. I bought some lace coasters but I’m not going to use them as coasters. What are Cape Cod’s?

Susan @durangoscots — Happy Birthday!! Enjoy your special day!