Post-cruise
The cruise was over, but we had one more day in Ft. Lauderdale before flying home.
One of the JREF employees kindly offered to open up the headquarters for those of us with later flights or a hotel we couldn't check into just yet. By the time our van arrived, there were already plenty of cruisers either sacked out on the sofa or taking advantage of the wifi to start uploading photos to Facebook. Since it was Pi Day and there were a lot of hungry mouths to feed, we ordered several pizzas for lunch. Randi was nice enough to hang out and pretend he wasn't sick of all of us by now. One of the local peacocks, whom Randi called "Ernie", even stopped by and was rewarded with some birdseed.
Eventually, Randi left, and people started shuttling off to the airport or back to the hotel where we had stayed before the cruise. Kevin and I were in the latter group, and we took a much-needed nap once we had checked in. Upon rising, we walked to a nearby strip mall and killed some time browsing Barnes & Noble, then had dinner at a Cuban restaurant that had been recommended by the hotel's shuttle driver on the way in. Returning to the hotel, we ran into several friends, who had availed themselves of naps and were going out in search of food and booze. They returned with drinks to share, and we hung out with them in the hotel lounge for a while before finally turning in. One more long day of travel, and we would be home.
One of the JREF employees kindly offered to open up the headquarters for those of us with later flights or a hotel we couldn't check into just yet. By the time our van arrived, there were already plenty of cruisers either sacked out on the sofa or taking advantage of the wifi to start uploading photos to Facebook. Since it was Pi Day and there were a lot of hungry mouths to feed, we ordered several pizzas for lunch. Randi was nice enough to hang out and pretend he wasn't sick of all of us by now. One of the local peacocks, whom Randi called "Ernie", even stopped by and was rewarded with some birdseed.
Eventually, Randi left, and people started shuttling off to the airport or back to the hotel where we had stayed before the cruise. Kevin and I were in the latter group, and we took a much-needed nap once we had checked in. Upon rising, we walked to a nearby strip mall and killed some time browsing Barnes & Noble, then had dinner at a Cuban restaurant that had been recommended by the hotel's shuttle driver on the way in. Returning to the hotel, we ran into several friends, who had availed themselves of naps and were going out in search of food and booze. They returned with drinks to share, and we hung out with them in the hotel lounge for a while before finally turning in. One more long day of travel, and we would be home.