Day 1

Here's how this is going to work. I'm not going to have intnernet access every day, so i'm going to update this as I can. Each day will be a separate post, though. Just multiple in one day. I reserve the right to go back and update posts as I remember things or people tell me I left out something good.

Day one. Or is it day zero? We're not really with the tour yet, so I guess it should be day zero, but it's the start of my vacation, so I'm calling it day one. The flight to Orlando was uneventful. Man, I love Southwest Airlines. We actually pulled away from the gate early. I don't think we were able to get off the ground early, but that's not Southwest's fault. Actually, the only hitch was getting to the airport. Jan had run into a cab driver driving a big van that she was sure would hold all of our luggage, and asked for his card. She called that number and talked to him, but the guy that showed up was someone completely different. And she should have negotiated a price ahead of time. I don't know if it would have come out much cheaper, but the rate that the meter was adding up was scary. We got there without incident, though.

Once we got to Orlando, the driver was waiting for us in the baggage area, and had already scoped out the carousel where our luggage would be arriving. Our luggage was among the first to come out, which is rare for me. When we got to the hotel, we were surprised to find my family still going through the registration process because they were supposed to be there quite a bit before us. It turned out their trip had not gone so smoothly. Their flight to Charlotte was delayed on the ground in Wilmington, and the missed their connection. That meant their driver had left the airport and they had to call him to come back when they arrived. It had been a very long day for them. We checked in at the registration desk, and they gave us the keys to our assigned room. The bell man waited patiently at the TCS area while our bags were tagged by
the TCS baggage master John Thiede. We completed the registration, which involved surrendering our passports and went for a walk around the hotel before the dinner party later that evening.

At the party, we found out that we needed to pack our little wheeled bag for the stop in Peru because we couldn't have the big bag because we're taking a smaller plane to Cusco. We knew that would take a while but dinner was going very late. I was sitting next to Arlene Murphy and John Thiede and let me tell you if the tour is as much fun as those two, I'm really looking forward to the rest of this trip. Dinner was excellent. A small filet and two jumbo grilled shrimp with whipped potatoes, asparagus spears and a baby carrot. We didn't get out of the party until 9:00, so we hustled upstairs to our room to start packing. We both managed to pick out something to take and get the big bag zipped up before the bell man came for our bags, but Jan was still wearing her dress from dinner, so she's carrying that with her to Peru whether she wants it or not.

Thus ends day 1.