Bye Bye!

We were up early and took the bus back to the airport in Vancouver.  Because we went from the cruise directly to the airport, we didn't have to go through Canadian customs and they had our bags waiting for us right inside the terminal. Unfortunately, our flight to Chicago was already delayed twice when we got there so when we went to check in, we could change our flight (at a cost to us, of course) but it did leave about 2 hours earlier. We only had about an hour and a half before the flight left at that point but I figured with a tight layover, if the flight was delayed once more we'd be in trouble. I decided to go for it and we rushed to go through security and US customs. We did make it in time but there were two problems: first, we didn't have time to eat so all I could get were some snacks and some Timnits from Tim Hortons. Second, we weren't sitting together.

One last look at the webcam from the front of the ship...

When the plane boarded, I was hoping the guy in the aisle next to my middle seat would be sitting alone and therefore wouldn't mind trading for the aisle seat Jess had a few rows back. When I got there, he had actually moved to the middle seat to sit next to his wife so that didn't work. Thankfully the guy across from me was traveling alone so he agreed to move so at least Jess and I were near each other. The flight wasn't bad except it was storming in DC so we were late to land and they forgot to load the snacks on the plane so it was a good thing I bought a couple things beforehand.

The trip from DC to Raleigh was quick and uneventful and even though we didn't get home until about 1:45 AM, it could have been worse. It turns out our flight to Chicago got there after our flight to Raleigh left so there's a good chance we would have been stuck there overnight.

After a long 2+ weeks, it was nice to get back to Raleigh. It did seem extra warm considering it's been pretty cool for us since we left. In fact, even in the middle of the night it was about 10 degrees warmer than at any point in our trip. After talking about this trip for years, it lived up to our expectations and I have a feeling we'll be back at some point.

As our captain Michele Tuvo said after each announcement, "Bye Bye!" Note: He really did sign off that way, but just imagine it in a cheery Italian accent.