Cruising 2018 is a Wrap!!

Hard to believe it’s already been 2 weeks since we got home from our cruise.

In that time, we’ve had snow at our house twice and I’ve experienced for the first time ever…winter in Winnipeg, Manitoba (aka Winterpeg) where the temp was -24C/-11F with a wind chill temp of -31C/-24F. Downright brisk. 

I thought I would wrap up this vacation diary with some pics for those of you who do not follow Riley World on Facebook.

Part I:  Orlando

Riley could not wait to go see Gru, Margo, Edith and Agnes (characters from Despicable Me) at Universal Florida. If you remember, Edith was not at Universal Hollywood when we were there a year ago. She was well…ummmm…“sick”. The promise of Edith at Universal Florida was the incentive we used to get him excited about this trip. I know what you’re thinking…what if one of them was not there???  Not to worry, G was prepared to don a costume if need be.

See…EXCITED!!!   

So excited that for the next 3 photos he looked like this...

Luckily we were able to see the characters twice that first day and have photo-ops with all them.

And of course, he had to hug each of the girls both times.  

If there was ever any doubt that the hundreds of dollars spent was worth it…just look at that face!!  

Until…

Day 2. 

We missed the first photo-op. They came out early and by the time we got there, they were leaving. To say Riley was disappointed would be an ummmm…understatement. I may have even pulled the “A” card to no avail. *sigh*  I get it. I really do. But just to make sure we would not miss them again, we went to Guest Services.

Guess what??  It was a Harry Potter special event weekend so gosh golly…there was going to be a special parade instead with NO PHOTO-OPS. I may have gasped. No…no…I’m pretty sure I gasped. I think I also broke out into an even bigger sweat. Not pretty. 

The young man did all he could to see if there was a chance of getting a photo-op but no luck. After trying to explain to Riley that it was not to be and “it sure was lucky we got to see them TWICE yesterday”…I did what any other parent would do in that situation. I told him we would go buy him the Land Before Time Complete Collection for the 14th time. Yup. I exaggerate. Only slightly. But that’s what I did. “Incentives” have not always worked in Riley World but now that they do…it’s a wonderful thing.   

Part II:  Cruising the Caribbean

Riley’s dream vacation would be to stay in a hotel room/stateroom for the entire trip. Come to think of it…it really is a wonder that we travel at all. Yet we continue to. I could say it is to expose Riley to different places and activities but let’s face it…it’s mainly because G and I like vacations.

There were DreamWorks Characters on board our ship.

Being an "Autism-Friendly" cruise line, they even brought in R's udon from the Japanese specialty restaurant that was next door to the dining room for his dinner every night.

We went kayaking in St. Maarten. Well...some of us kayaked and someone got to relax. 

Over the years we have learned to compromise. Some “activities” we do together, like meals (yes believe it or not meals are included as an activity) and others G and I will take turns so Riley can have his down time in the room. Not always the most relaxing vacation but it works for us. Just one of the reasons G and I also like to take our separate vacations.

Homeward Bound

Part I:  The Flight Home

In Riley World, when it’s time to go home...it’s time to go home!  As in RIGHT. NOW!! 

From the moment he got up on our last day until the wheels hit the tarmac, whenever I glanced his way the “going home” dialogue was in full force.

R:  I AM on vacation. Am I on vacation? I need to STAY! I DO want to stay on vacation.

Me:  You do??  *of course I knew he didn’t but I throw in the occasional clarifying question*

R:  NO!  I CAN’T stay on vacation! *slight pause*  It’s not time to go home yet. Is it time to go home yet??

Me:  Yes. We’re going home t…

R:  What time? I DO need to go home.

Me:  We’ll go to the airport at 4 o’clock.

R:  What time is it? 

Me:  8 o’clock. 

R:  I DO need to stay!  I can’t go home yet. 

You get the gist, right???  Oi-vay.

My ears were nearly bleeding and my eyes were sore from having to avoid eye contact for the nearly 8 hours before we got on the plane.

Usually Riley likes to watch/play games on his iPad and can’t wait to get “puppy” out of his backpack as soon as we are seated. Not so this time. Pretty sure he was thinking ahead about getting the hell off the plane and didn’t want to worry about packing up his things so decided it was best to just keep everything packed. 

So instead he opted to look out the window. 

He just sat there and stared out the window. Into the darkness. Pitch black. Nothingness. Pining away for home.

There were a few bouts of almost tears with “I just wanna go home now. Can we go home?” which I will admit pulled at my ice cold heartstrings. Thankfully he managed to fall asleep about 2 hours in.

As soon as the wheels touched down, "Now we're back. It's good to be home again. Are we home? We're home." and at that moment, all was right once again in Riley World. 

Part II:  Home Sweet Home

I hadn’t planned on unpacking our bags that night. It had even crossed my mind to leave them in the entry hall because the thought of lugging them upstairs…

Riley thought otherwise because of course he would.

Two carry-ons and one suitcase were on the bed.

This bag weighed 47 POUNDS!!!

R had managed to wrestle the bags upstairs without so much as a bump, thump or grunt. And here I thought he didn’t have any muscle strength.

I know who’s going to be bringing in the groceries from now on. 

The Neverending Flight...

We just got back from a 10 day vacation late Sunday night. Four days in Florida and a 1 week Caribbean cruise. Our airport has an Autism program so check-in, security and customs all went smoothly.

The plane was a 787 so very spacious and in-seat monitors with movies that R likes! BONUS!! 

We even managed to leave on time. Say what??? In 5-1/2 hours we would be in sunny Florida. We must be living right.

Until…

An announcement…

*dialogue is not verbatim and times are approximate*

About 30 minutes into our flight…

Captain:  I’m sure some of you are aware there is a problem with the lavatories. We are working on getting them fixed and will keep you updated. In the meantime, please refrain from using them.

15 minutes later…

Captain:  We are trying our best to get the lavatories up and running remotely and are in contact with our maintenance people. They are doing their best and we will keep you updated.

Another 15 minutes later…

Captain:  Well it looks like we are not able to fix the problem remotely so we are going to have to turn back as it is too far to continue without lavatories. In the meantime, if you need to use the lavatories you may do so but you will not be able to flush them.

Yup...that’s what he said. "NOT BE ABLE TO FLUSH THEM!" Or words to that effect. Pretty sure everybody on that plane was thinking about having to go to the bathroom at that point. So an hour+ into the flight we had to turn around and head back to where we started from.

Two plus hours later, we were back on the ground at home.

Captain:  Maintenance is here and we should hopefully be on our way in about 30 minutes.

We wait…

Riley:  *on repeat*   The plane went the wrong way!  Oh no.  But I DO want to go home.

And wait some more…

Riley:  *adds to the repertoire*   I’ll just go home. Can I go home now?

Me:  *begins avoiding all eye contact*

30 minutes later…

Captain:  Thank you for your patience! We have fixed the issue and are now waiting for a new flight plan. Shouldn’t be much longer before we are on our way.

10 minutes later…

Captain:  Folks, I’m afraid we are having some issues with US Customs allowing us to leave the gate. We are working on it and will keep you updated.

5 minutes later…

Captain:  Unfortunately, the US Customs Supervisor on duty will not allow us to leave as they consider the plane to be *compromised (can’t remember the exact word he used) as maintenance had to come on board. This usually isn’t a problem but I’m afraid everybody is going to have to get off the plane and proceed through Customs as if you have arrived from the US. Your bags will be taken off the plane and you can claim them once you have cleared Customs. Then head back to check-in, and proceed through security and Customs. The new departure time will be 3:45pm. We apologize for the inconvenience.

By this time, it was after 12pm. 

Riley was NOT a happy camper!

I wanted to figure out where to get something for R to eat. G wanted to figure out how to get us through check-in quickly. Guess who won? 

Finally we were up and on our way…again. At about the time we should have originally been arriving in Florida.

Riley:  Now we’re going the right way!  Oh bother. I’m sorry. We went the wrong way.

Now normally I do not drink when flying. Really. However, at that point I decided perhaps some alcohol was in order. To go with the complimentary sandwich. That was for dinner. Without chips. I like chips with my sandwich. They offered me a Kit Kat instead. A Kit Kat is not chips. 

What should have been a 5-1/2 hour flight took us over 12 hours or almost 15 hours door-to-door. But we made it. And you know how there’s always THAT vacation story. This will be ours.