New Year's Eve was upon us. The closing out of 2023 and the start of 2024. Kade got into the spirit of things by making a New Year's crown.
We had big plans for New Year's Eve. That morning was when we were scheduled to take a flight to Barcelona, Spain to begin our Canary Islands cruise.
The only problem was I had gotten sick with a sore throat and tummy troubles in the days leading up to departure. I was hoping the sore throat would subside without turning ugly on me (translate that to mean coughing, wheezing and struggling to breathe).
The day before leaving, I was feeling much worse, and by bedtime I knew I had an infection raging. I told Glen we needed to cancel the trip. That was a horrible thought.
The next morning I took another Covid test. The first one I took a few days earlier was negative. This second test showed negative as well. That helped me decide that I would take the Amoxicillin I had on hand that my pulmonologist had prescribed to have for just such an emergency as this. He had also prescribed prednisone to have on hand as well.
Fortunately, my breathing was well under control and so I just took the Amoxicillin and told Glen I would see how I felt after flying to Atlanta. If I was just too sick, we might have to make a return home flight from there.
A couple of days earlier Glen had felt like he was starting to get a sore throat but by that day he was feeling okay.
We both masked up and got on the plane to Atlanta.
After those few hours on the plane, I could feel the antibiotic working in my body which confirmed that I had needed to take it. That was a relief. That gave me confidence we could continue on to Barcelona as I was sure I was on the mend.
It was so good to hook up in Atlanta with our Albuquerque friends, Steven and Patricia Morgan, for the long flight over the ocean to our planned destination.
Then...things went downhill for me. My tummy troubles intensified until towards the end of the flight I was spending lots of time in the aircraft lavatory. I threw up on two separate occasions. Thankfully, the stall available to me both those times was free with no waiting line and both times I got the bigger one so I had more room to move around in there.
It was a looong, uncomfortable flight, but we made it! We took a stroll on the streets near our hotel and it was sure cold outside.
Barcelona was all decked out in Christmas finery, which was beautiful to behold. We were happy to continue enjoying the Christmas season in a foreign land.
We stayed at the same hotel we stayed at on our last trip to Barcelona. We decided to eat at one of the same restaurants we ate at on our last trip to Barcelona as well.
These three enjoyed their delicious dinners while I nibbled on bread to see if I could keep food down. Not a great way to look forward to starting a cruise where the food would be plentiful.
The next morning, Tuesday, January 2nd, we slept in--tired people that we were after being on a plane all night long the night before.
We had no breakfast in anticipation of arriving on the ship in time for lunch. We did our check-in once aboard and then were invited to a specific dining room to have a nice, sit-down formal lunch.
What a way to welcome us aboard! Our salmon meals were absolutely delicious. I was happy I felt like eating.
We did some exploring around the ship. Christmas decorations were still all set up there as well giving it such a festive feel.
It didn't take long for us to find the ice cream station. They all love their ice cream and I was happy to taste a different flavor of sorbet available every single day.
We were on the Celebrity Infinity cruise ship this time. It was much smaller than the ones we usually like to go on, but it did not disappoint. I loved that ship and I loved that cruise experience.
One thing did bother me, though. The card showing our dining room table assignment for the week showed Glen Thomas and MR. Kim Thomas traveling together. Funny!
Look at this happy guy enjoying a moment on the balcony as we were getting unpacked in our cabin. Our suitcases had arrived by the time we had finished lunch and so it was nice to get all settled into our new abode in the afternoon.
This is the grand staircase. There was frequently live music playing on the middle level.
There was different artwork on this ship. Some of it was more enjoyable to look at than others. This particular scene I thought was cute.
The different head sculptures I could not see the point of displaying. There was net head, Medusa head and yellow head.
There was a smashed motorcycle engine as another art display.
At one end of the ship in every stairwell, there were these encased people figures.
What I thought funny about them was how small they were--smaller than the size of my hand.
This was a unique head sculpture on display in the Oceanview Buffet area.
Steven and Glen loved to play all the trivia games that are offered onboard the ship. We found the constellation room and got all set up for the questions to begin.
Our team never won, but we just looked at it as a learning experience with all the answers we didn't know.
That first evening's show Hollywood Cabaret was put on by the ship's production cast--a group of young singers and dancers who live on the ship. We determined our favorite seats in the celebrity theater and sat in the same spot every night. The late entertainment was live band karaoke.
Wednesday, January 3rd, I woke up feeling very nauseous anticipating a day at sea and wondering if the ginger capsules I was using weren't quite doing the trick to stave off seasickness. It took a lot of effort to get ready for the day that morning on the moving ship.
And then I vomited. Again. This trip was not boding well for me. But after that I felt much better. It was another day of me eating very little food all day--mostly bread. Boo for that because there was a lot of food I could have been enjoying eating.
We played table tennis for a while.
My favorite part of that day was the evening entertainment, the Barricade Boys. They were four men singers who sang various musical production songs, with an emphasis on ones from Les Miserables. Loved them!! Excellent voices and excellent performers.
I only took two photos that day. The second one was at silent disco, the late-night entertainment, where each person wore a different-colored headset and then they danced to the beat of their own music.
I was anxious to get to bed to see if I would feel better the next day. I was thankful we had another sea day to rest before we started going out on land excursions.
Thankfully, Thursday, January 4th, was a much better day for me. I did not feel seasick or nauseous at all. I was able to eat a little more that day. We spent the day doing things around the ship.
One fun thing we did was went on a galley tour described as a "Behind the Scenes Look into Our Culinary Playground."
Our favorite food--the ice cream/sorbet cart.
It was a fun thing for us to be able to attend an afternoon matinee performance of the Barricade Boys since we had loved them so much the night before. The after-dinner entertainment was done by the ship's production cast.
That evening was dress-up night for pictures.
The four of us now have a tradition of posing as many times and in as many places as we can for photos to see which picture is the most perfect for us to purchase by the end of the cruise.
Patricia now insists we stand in the same order every time as we started out in that order our first cruise, She likes to have us in the same order to compare us through the years.
She has all our cruise photos hanging on a wall in her home. I like to get an updated photo as well, although I only have one frame which I replace the photo with the newest one on display.
When we went to check out our first night's photo choices, we were dying laughing as we looked at each one. I like us all standing with our arms down to our sides. The photographer always starts with that one and then starts trying to pose us differently.
I absolutely detest the "put your hand on your waist" command. NO!!! It never looks good!! Especially when we girls are knocking elbows!! Here is proof of that!!
Another photographic command was for the men to put their hands in their pockets and then Glen was told to turn his feet a little, put his right leg out and bend it.
This is how that one turned out with Glen's hand half in his pocket and his knee cocked out in a girlie pose. Patricia later told him the photographer was talking to the women to bend our knee a little.
We kept our fingers crossed that our next photographic opportunity would net a little better results than these!!
We were taken to a spot where we could get out and walk around looking at some of the formations caused by the lava flows.
