Well I’m finally back from almost 3 weeks in Orlando, with a 3 day side trip to Hanceville AL and Atlanta GA and while I loved being in Orlando seeing my kids, visiting with cousins, old friends, old AT&T friends, and eating up a storm it was good to finally get back home to my own bed again. While I love to travel I’ve always longed, at some point in the trip, for my bed, my pillow, and some sense of normalcy to be restored to my life. I had my funny incident on the way up to Cancun for my flights to Orlando and some issues with the flight back to Cancun for that long bus ride back to Hopkins but toward the end I was just too tired to accept that I may have to spend another night in a hotel and another 6 hours on the chicken buses. I gave up and flew from Corozal to Dangriga on the puddle jumpers (man I love flying on them!) just so I COULD get back to my own bed. I found the extra cash (US$130) to turn the hotel and chicken buses into a three 15 minute flights and finished my travels on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Now here’s the part where you’re supposed to feel sorry for me. I was doing all this traveling with 2 carry-ons and 2 checked bags (until I got to the bus part that is. Then I had to drag it all.) I had a total of 185 pounds of luggage! You know me…I had a shopping list a mile long of things I needed down here, mainly fishing tackle, but also 6 burglar alarms, 20 paperbacks, a new laptop, other assorted other junk, and, of course, a couple of pounds of chocolate that I had to keep from melting. The flight from Orlando was delayed for an hour. We taxied most of the way out to the runway but were notified by the pilot that a cargo door may have popped open. Better on the ground than at 35,000 feet was my take on it. The layover in Miami was an hour longer than my itinerary said so that added another hour. We boarded the flight to Cancun and it started to rain. We got the notice that it was a big t-storm cell over and around the airport. Another hour lost. Finally we pushed away from the gate and then stopped. The captain apologized for this next delay. Air Force One had just landed and the airport was closed until the President was safely off airport property. Another hour lost. So now what should have been a 45 minute flight to Miami, a 1hr 30min layover, and a 90 minute flight to Cancun (3hr 45min) turned into over 6 hours. That plus clearing security in Orlando and Immigration and Customs in Cancun for another 3 hours made for a long day. At least I had the foresight to book a nice hotel in Cancun before I left. An interesting thing happened on the way to the hotel. I was treated to a double waterspout off-shore that lasted almost 30 minutes. Too cool! I hadn’t seen a waterspout since Vietnam 41 years ago and that was a double too. Anyway, I got some much needed sleep and was on the Mexican bus to Chetumal MX at 8am. Three pm though I had had it, even though the Mexican buses are really nice. Clearing Customs in Belize is always an adventure and this time I actually had to pay US$135 for the fishing tackle, 6 wireless burglar alarms, and my new laptop. I did manage to get 70 cigars (I was allowed 25) and a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey (not bought in a duty free store) passed them though. That would have been REALLY expensive because the duty on tobacco and liquor is 90%. Anyway, the bus schedule in Belize wasn’t in my favor so I would have had to spend a night in Belize City, after a 3 hour chicken bus ride, and faced 2 more chicken buses, and another 3 hours, on Wednesday to get home. Not going to happen! I hopped a cab at the bus depot and headed for Mayan Island Air in Corozal BZ and was on a plane 15 minutes later. I made Dangriga by 5pm and had an hour to wait for Conan to come get me. He and Tricia finally arrived and I treated them to dinner and hit the bank before heading to Hopkins. I was in my bed and dead to the world by 8:30pm, bags tossed inside my door for unpacking whenever I got up. So now things are back to normal. I had a 6 hour breakfast at Thong’s Café with Conan and Robert (where the heck did the time go???) catching up on all the village news and an hour long nap in a hammock in the afternoon. No fishing but that may come tomorrow with a trip out to the reef if the weather holds. I finally got all of my luggage unpacked by 9pm and finally I finally feel settled in and home.
As a side note I met up with quite a few old AT&T colleagues at Jax in Lake Mary FL that I hadn’t seen since I retired and moved to Lucent Technologies in early ’98. We all got together through a new page on Facebook created by Ralph DAlessandro. It was so nice to catch up with everyone again! I also got together with Joe and Alice, whom I hadn’t seen in over 15 years too. Another blessing! And, of course my visit with Cuzin Ed and Debbie and family and my good friend Janet as well. Always love visiting with all of them!
And, so, life goes on for the Fatboy, happily back in Belize… As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
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