Well, exactly 2 months to the day I got on the ship - I got off it. Luckily it was only temporarily - for one week. Sadly it was a berevement leave as my grandmother passed away and I felt like I needed to go home and attend the funeral because I didn't want to feel so guilty and heartless by staying on a Disney ship smiling and laughing while my family were going through that at home. So I made the decision to go home for a week and support them and my grandfather. I am very glad I made that decision... I'm writing this post from my friend's house where I stayed last night before going to the airport marriott tonight before rejoining the ship tomorrow.
I left last Friday and had to go through all the normal procedures for debarking crew which was really weird because a) I feel like I only just arrived and b) I've only ever left on an ESTA not as a crew member so that was odd. Anyway, it was simple enough (except having to pack up all my stuff and move out of my room which was a giant pain... although it's looking like I might be able to move back into that room tomorrow fingers crossed) and I got the bus to the airport with everyone else. It being the week before Christmas and the black-out starting it meant that it took ages because there were loads of people leaving. When I got to the airport I wasn't going to sit around for 6 hours so I rented a car... after standing in a line for 30 minutes to get the keys and then driving all the way to Downtown Disney to discover it's a nightmare on earth with all the building work and stuff they are doing to the car parks I decided to go to the Florida Mall instead. So I went there and wondered around for a while, grabbed some food... I was super tired because I'd only had 3 hours sleep the night before.
The previous 4 day cruise before I got off the ship was a bit of a stressful one - the weather conditions were not suitable for us to dock at Castaway Cay so after several attempts the captain decided we would have a day at sea instead. Obviously this didn't go down well and it upset a lot of people especially because the Wonder was there the following day so we couldn't just rock up a day late unfortunately. This lead to the cruise being a long and tiring one - I left 45 minutes late on Thursday night and didn't clock out until 1.15am thus meaning I had to be up for immigration at 5am... and therefore getting 3 hours sleep.
So, back to my debarkation day - I was hungry and tired and generally ready to get home. After I returned the car, it was very smooth through immigration and getting onto the plane... I had an empty seat next to me and a 20 year old guy on the end seat plus there were no children around and everyone just really went to sleep. Including me... before the food had even been served. I woke up to eat then promptly fell back to sleep again and slept the WHOLE FLIGHT. I have never ever slept the whole flight especially without some sort of sleeping aid. It was AWESOME.
When I got to London I had to get the national express bus back home which was fine... it took forever but whatever. Then I got to spend the rest of Saturday and the whole of Sunday just relaxing at home with my family all together which is unusual in itself. Apart from the Christmas tree being up, we didnt really celebrate an early Christmas or anything but my Mum did give me a few presents to take back in my luggage.
Monday was the funeral which was an understandably sad day. Finally Tuesday I went to the Mall to get a couple of things and meet up with Hayley for a coffee which was really nice. I did laundry and packed up my stuff before going to get the bus back to London. Checked into the Travelodge at Gatwick which was fine and then went to the airport the next day to get the plane.
The flight would have been fine except the horrible child sitting in front of me who couldn't keep still, screamed the place down every time he got served food and kept letting off bad smells every half an hour. I made friends with the other people in my row who were from Scotland and we were laughing through the whole flight about this kid in front of me. FINALLY after watching 3 movies (eventually gave me an opportunity to watch One Hundred Foot Journey, Let's Be Cops and a great movie about Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts I think it was called One Moment) we landed.
Stood in a giant line at customs to be told I was going to Secondary Inspection - first time in my 16 times into the USA this has happened!! The lady exclaimed "oh, you don't need to come in here it's fine!" and then promptly couldn't find me on the manifest for incoming crew members on the C1D visa... cue a 15 minute phone call to Disney who also couldn't find me as an incoming crew member. I have changed at this point from laughing and joking to slightly freaking out before the Disney person on the phone said she'd finally found me. I have a sneaking suspicion it involved a call to the ship because it took forever. So, she gave me the stamp and off I went to find my bag.
The final drama took place at the luggage carosel... I'm standing there with it going round and round and I can't see my bag anywhere. I eventually went over to the woman who was working there and told her that I couldn't see it anywhere. She checked her list and watched it go round for a couple of minutes with me before telling me she had no idea. I start to freak out! Then she goes "You did travel with British Airways didn't you?"
Errrrrr... I travelled with Virgin Atlantic.
FAIL! It was so embaressing!!! We laughed about it and I went to the other carosel to retrieve my lonely bag that had been put to the side. Finally after 1.5 hours since we landed I left the airport to meet my friend who picked me up and we grabbed food before I came back to his house and crashed on the sofa. Annnnnd now I'm here. I think a brief visit to WDW is on the cards to see the Christmas decorations and then it's off to the airport marriott to continue my 3rd contract!
