At Sea
Last full day on the ship! I had breakfast then returned to my cabin to pack up. Bags were due outside the cabin by 10 p.m. and I didn't want to have to rush and end up with something I couldn't fit into my backpack. After finishing that, I went and participated in the Trivia challenge. Arrived late and knew all the right answers for the questions I heard, but of course, I had no answers for the rest. After trivia, I headed for Magnum's for Francesco's (cruise director) Italian lesson. I thought it would be interesting to see how much I remembered and how much I'd forgotten from 2010 when I went on a 3 week motorcycle trip throughout Italy and managed the language surprisingly well. I'm planning to go back SOME time in the near future. My report card for that event: B.
Had lunch at O'Sheehan's then went to library to work on some web pages. At that point, I wasn't even close to finishing Scotland. Found that I needed to research names of things. My memory of what places we went to and what we visited when we were there had vanished. I'd written down SOME details on my phone, but had somehow lost or deleted the notes?? I went back to change for dinner then went to the Spinnaker Lounge to play Pictionary. I walked in after they'd selected teams so I just joined the one with less. It was just starting and no one wanted to go first so guess who volunteered? Did OK. Our Mexican host for Pictionary was hilarious. He'd moan and groan over bad AND good clues. We should have gotten HIM to do some drawing!!
Went to Grand Pacific for dinner (as usual) but only learned then that I could have been requesting to sit with others rather than alone. As luck would have it, I was seated with Dorothy and Elsie from Wisconsin, two of the ladies I'd chatted with on the Pier in Flam. The other two ladies at our table were a mother and daughter duo. They usually spent their vacations in a different way but the daughter had convinced her mother that a cruise would be a nice change. Dinner conversation was interesting while we all waited for our roast beef. I asked for medium rare and got raw. Sent it back (just TOO undercooked, and that's saying something if I think so) and ended up with meat too cooked for my liking. Can't win.
The final show in the Stardust was a variety show featuring the Stereoettes and Shane Hampsheir. Good mix of songs. I returned to my cabin, packed the last couple of things I would no longer need then put my bag out. I went online to book my seats for the flights home. As I went through the procedures I realized I'd goofed! I hadn't taken my lithium batteries out of the suitcase! I'd dumped them there when my Nikon was broken. I went to retrieve the bag but it had JUST been taken away. I saw it disappear around the corner but I couldn't follow it because I was already dressed for bed! I fretted about the 4 batteries being in my suitcase all night. Everyone should know that you are not allowed to leave lithium batteries in checked bags. If there's a fire, they might not get to it soon enough in luggage. At least if they are in your carry on, a small fire inside the cabin could be dealt with. Believe it or not, this fact kept me from sleeping soundly all night. I kept wondering when I'd get my chance to take the batteries back out of the bag. SIGH!
