Sunday, August 31, 2003
09-17-2003, 9:31 p.m.

As I had planned on doing, I kept a journal while I was gone, written of course, and suprisingly enough I wrote in it every night. I am proud of myself for doing so, and while I have given it to Stephen to read, I have decided to also share some of it here, so I borrowed it back. I have always loved being able to read back in my journal, especially about special times in my life, and I also think that many of you are interested in hearing about my trip as well. Obviously, it is pretty long, so I am not going to write it all out at once, but perhaps I will share a day or two here and there...beginning with the first day�

Sunday, August 31, 2003�

Wow, I cannot believe that after all the hours of dreaming and planning about this trip, we are here. I am writing this, laying in my bed, on the Grand Princess. It was not as smooth of a trip as I have hoped, not that it was bad, but there were definitely several ups and downs. First of all, Christopher and Nicole�s wedding was last night, and we did not even get back to my mom and dad�s house until almost 1:00 this morning. The plan had been to leave an hour or so after dinner, but we were having so much fun, that noone wanted to leave, most of all me, as it meant saying my final goodbyes to Stephen, and I was not ready for that.

Stephen and I had a rough day, I was a little crabby because I was so sad about leaving him, and while I know it�s going to be okay, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. When I told him that I wanted to go get my hair done for the wedding, boy was he happy to get me out from underfoot for a little while, and even offered to pay for it. I guess I was a bit clingy, hehe. My hair turned out so beautiful though, and I really felt beautiful for the wedding, and so that was a good thing. The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was so much fun and I enjoyed spending this time with my family (we danced and talked, and danced, and really enjoyed each other), but finally it was time to go home. Saying goodbye to Stephen was hard, but I was so glad that we did it in this way, instead of him taking us to the airport as we had originally planned, it was much better this way. When we got back to mom and dad�s I called him, and we got to say goodnight, and that was a much better goodbye, and I felt much better, as did he. I am glad for this opportunity, and I am going to make the most of it.

After we got back to mom and dad�s they still had to finish packing, and I had to redo my own suitcases as they were much too heavy and I decided to add a carry-on to my 2 suitcases. That was such a smart idea! However, it took us a while, and it felt like by the time we shut our eyes, it was time to get up. The limo picked us up a little after 5:00 this morning, and we were barely ready. We were all so tired, we were practically sleep-walking and it was really almost comical watching the driver carry all 6 of our (very heavy) suitcases to the Limo. We were nice and carried our own carry ons... needless to say he was tipped nicely. We were all very glad that we had gotten the limo, with our luggage, we needed it, and it really did add to the excitement. It was a grey stretch limo and it was beautiful, and it made for a very comfortable ride to the airport. We checked in and stopped for breakfast, and then made our way to our gate to await our flight. While we were waiting, we met another couple, a very nice couple, Cheryl and Art who were on our flight, and as we talked, we found out that they were also on the same cruise. They were very nice people, and we enjoyed talking to them.

Once we were on the plane, mom and I took naps which was nice, and much needed, but as we had also taken xanax for the flight (we both hate flying very much), we were pretty loopy when we woke up, which was shortly before we landed.

The bus ride to the ship was neat, and it was fun to watch how excited other people were. I was excited myself, but it was so strange, almost dream-like. I am not sure if it was the pill, or the disbelief that I was really here, but it was strange. I will tell you what though, all the planning in the world.. all the research, and the pictures.. none of it could prepare me for my first glimpse of the Grand Princess. Grand is a very appropriate word. The ship is so big, and so impressive. I think my mouth hung open, and my parents loved it. It was so wonderful, and I loved every minute of our embarkation, and it wasn�t long before we were on the ship and looking for our room.

Our room, now that was a bit of a shock. It�s beautiful.. very beautiful, but it is a little smaller than what we had asked for� paid for really. They were supposed to give us a 4 person room, so that my parents could have their bed together, so we were a little shocked to find that their beds were not together, and my bed comes out of the ceiling. We might have been upset, except that we were just too excited. The room IS beautiful, and the balcony is just wonderful, but it just wasn�t what we expected. You can bet that I will not be making many potty breaks in the middle of the night. We did go to the pursers desk, because we found out that not only is the room smaller than planned, but we don�t even have the same room next week as we were supposed to. That upset us more than anything, but they asked us to be patient, and they are going to look into it in the next day or two. No matter what happens, we decided to make the most of it, and not worry. Our wonderful room stewardess, Maria.. she put mom and dads beds together even though she isn�t supposed to, but they need to be careful not to hit their heads on my bed, and she put our suitcases in storage, so now the room is actually very cozy and mom and I are having fun with me being up here above them.. maybe it�s not such a bad thing after all. Dad is sleeping, and I just accidentally dropped my book down, and right on him� he grunted, and mom and I have been cracking up for minutes, giggle. This is fun.

We went to lunch at the Horizon court after we unpacked, and guess who we ran into? It was crowded because it�s the first day, so we were looking for a table, and ran into Cheryl and Art, who were at a big table and invited us to eat with them. Man, I love cruising already� people are so friendly and you really make friendships much more quickly than normally.

For the sail-away, we went to a party with the people that we have been talking to on the cruise critic message boards. I was really nervous, because I am normally so very shy about these things, but being with mom and dad made it so much more easy, and honestly, it was so much fun. These people are great, and it was really neat to put faces with names. We are planning on getting together a few times during the week, and that is going to be fun. After the party (the sailaway was nice, but it was soooooooo windy out.. eek, so we made our way to the bar, and sat and talked for a while), we came back to our room to get ready for dinner. We went to the dining room, and I was so impressed. It was so elegant and fancy, and wow, they really pamper you. They pull out your chair, put your napkins in your lap, and change your silverware after every wonderful course. They bring you anything you could want, and stuff that you never thought you wanted, and it�s like they anticipate your needs. The food was heavenly too, and I can see that going hungry around here is not an option.

After dinner we explored a little, walking throughout some of the shops, and then stopping in the casino for a while. We had fun, and we wanted to go to a show, but we were all so tired, and had some stuff to still put away. We barely got sleep last night, so we wanted to go to bed at a decent time, but mom and I were too excited and decided to go swimming before we went to bed. It was so much fun swimming beneath the stars. It has been such a beautiful day, and now a spectacular night. We swam for a long time, and then sat in the hot tub and talked to some people. We were so tired though, we eventually gave in and came back to the room, and sat on our balcony and long as we could. We are going to bed now, and while I was ready to drop, I promised myself that I would write in here, and I really want to be able to share it with Stephen, I don�t want to forget a thing. Honey, I thought that I would have trouble going to sleep without you here to rub my butt, but man these beds rock just so perfectly, I can close my eyes and feel like you are here.. it�s actually rather soothing. I miss you already though, so much. Tomorrow is our first day at Sea and mom wants to go to the pool to watch the pool games. That sounds like so much fun, I just know it�s going to be wonderful. Oh, I have to go put out our order for room service� breakfast on our balcony, how much more perfect could this get. Goodnight.