natebenma
Beach Club Dee
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
Pre-trip drama
The couple of months leading up to this trip were very busy for me. In mid-August my family flew to Seattle and went on a week-long Alaskan cruise. A couple of weeks after that, my friend Teena and I were scheduled to go on the Disney Fantasy, Eastern itinerary, sailing from September 9-16. Then Hurricane Irma blew through the Caribbean and Florida and our cruise was cancelled. We rescheduled for a Western itinerary setting sail on September 30.
In the fall, my part-time job at a rescue farm and historical farmhouse picks up steam with my preschool farm friends group and school field trip visits.
And then, there is my dad.
My dad is one of my favorite people on the planet. He is 84, mentally sharp, but starting to slow down physically. The home he has been in since the 1960s is too much for him and he finally consented to touring some senior housing options. We toured one place on Monday October 16 and another that Wednesday. As soon as lunch was over at the second place, we signed the lease and paid the deposit for a room there. By Sunday, we had moved him in. We got his phone, cable tv and internet service set up.
I love the place and my dad is settling in pretty well. The food is fabulous, the building is bright, has lots of public spaces and activities throughout the day. Amazingly, 40 percent of the population is male.
Senior food porn! Fish with a cracker crust was one of 4 entrée selections for lunch that day.
View from my dad’s room balcony.
I spent the Tuesday before my trip running errands with my dad and almost all of them went wrong or took way longer than they should have. One of the things I had hoped to accomplish was cancelling his cable and phone service and switching his internet to the new apartment. I was told they were included in his monthly rent and since we got everything working for him, we just needed to change him over to the bulk billing of the complex. But the provider wouldn’t talk to me unless my dad told them it was ok. We ran out of time for me to call while I was with him to give his consent.
I was actually in pretty good shape and ready for my trip the following day. When my husband got home from work, I decided I would try to deal with the phone bill one more time. Once again, they wouldn’t talk to me unless my dad said it was ok. So I put Mark on the phone and I was added to the account.
The person on the line was very helpful and I successfully took care of his account.
********************************************************************************
Nannette had arrived at Saratoga a day earlier than Janet, ~Ninja and I were arriving. Tuesday night we received this email from her:
“I’m in my room dying.”
Nannette was suddenly hit by symptoms of a virus her granddaughter had before she left on the trip.
Nannette told us she would be arranging for a deep cleaning and sanitizing of the room before we arrived.
***************************************************************************************
Wednesday, trip day, had arrived.
My car service arrived around 6:15.
Normally when I fly out of Manchester I drive and park, but my flight home was going to be landing around 11 pm, so I hired the car service I use when flying out of Boston. (This turned out to be an incredibly helpful decision at the “end” of my trip)
In the car on the way to airport, I got a message from my dad.
“My phone isn’t working, so you have to contact me by email”
Ruh-roh!
After I got through security, I called the apartment manager who told me that no, phone service was not included.
I found a quiet gate at the airport and spent the time prior to boarding my flight talking with someone at the phone company who told me that they could send a technician over the following day to re-install my dad’s phone service. But he had lost the phone number he had for 60 years!
I felt HORRIBLE! I sent a quick email to my dad when I boarded my flight explaining what happened but this really put a damper on my mood during my flight and most of that first day. The next day when the technician visited my dad he repeated that once a phone number is discontinued it goes to a dead file. I tried a couple of times during the trip to get in touch with the phone company, but I kept getting cut off going through the call-in directory.
The good news: After I returned from the trip and called from home, I was able to restore his original phone number
As a consequence of being on the phone until my boarding number was called, I have no pictures from the airport and I didn’t have time to get breakfast/coffee before the flight, but other than the drama with the phone company, my flight was uneventful. I had 3 drink coupons from Southwest that were expiring at the end of my trip, so I cashed one of those in for a screwdriver.
I took a few pictures from the plane, because, that’s what I do.
The fall colors were late arriving this year and although it was raining at takeoff there were glimpses of beauty.
Getting closer!
~Ninja had arrived in Orlando a couple of hours before my flight was scheduled to touch down, but Janet’s was arriving shortly before mine, so she waited for me and greeted me when I got to the Magical Express area.
We found out after the fact that ~Ninja had left a picture of Roger the Donkey in the airport elevator to welcome us to Magical Express (as she had done on a previous trip) but Janet and I took the escalator so we didn’t see if it was still there when we arrived.
We sped through the ME line and boarded an almost full bus immediately. Somehow, the second row behind the driver was open! We grabbed those seats and gabbed for the entire trip.
As we approached the arch, I went into paparazzi mode- I took 11 pictures with my phone!
We arrived at Saratoga Springs and requested a golf cart to take us to our room since nether of us had ever stayed here before and we had no clue where our building was.
Next up: Saratoga Springs (A “two bedroom” villa for the price of one)
The couple of months leading up to this trip were very busy for me. In mid-August my family flew to Seattle and went on a week-long Alaskan cruise. A couple of weeks after that, my friend Teena and I were scheduled to go on the Disney Fantasy, Eastern itinerary, sailing from September 9-16. Then Hurricane Irma blew through the Caribbean and Florida and our cruise was cancelled. We rescheduled for a Western itinerary setting sail on September 30.
In the fall, my part-time job at a rescue farm and historical farmhouse picks up steam with my preschool farm friends group and school field trip visits.
And then, there is my dad.
My dad is one of my favorite people on the planet. He is 84, mentally sharp, but starting to slow down physically. The home he has been in since the 1960s is too much for him and he finally consented to touring some senior housing options. We toured one place on Monday October 16 and another that Wednesday. As soon as lunch was over at the second place, we signed the lease and paid the deposit for a room there. By Sunday, we had moved him in. We got his phone, cable tv and internet service set up.
I love the place and my dad is settling in pretty well. The food is fabulous, the building is bright, has lots of public spaces and activities throughout the day. Amazingly, 40 percent of the population is male.
Senior food porn! Fish with a cracker crust was one of 4 entrée selections for lunch that day.
View from my dad’s room balcony.
I spent the Tuesday before my trip running errands with my dad and almost all of them went wrong or took way longer than they should have. One of the things I had hoped to accomplish was cancelling his cable and phone service and switching his internet to the new apartment. I was told they were included in his monthly rent and since we got everything working for him, we just needed to change him over to the bulk billing of the complex. But the provider wouldn’t talk to me unless my dad told them it was ok. We ran out of time for me to call while I was with him to give his consent.
I was actually in pretty good shape and ready for my trip the following day. When my husband got home from work, I decided I would try to deal with the phone bill one more time. Once again, they wouldn’t talk to me unless my dad said it was ok. So I put Mark on the phone and I was added to the account.
The person on the line was very helpful and I successfully took care of his account.
********************************************************************************
Nannette had arrived at Saratoga a day earlier than Janet, ~Ninja and I were arriving. Tuesday night we received this email from her:
“I’m in my room dying.”
Nannette was suddenly hit by symptoms of a virus her granddaughter had before she left on the trip.
Nannette told us she would be arranging for a deep cleaning and sanitizing of the room before we arrived.
***************************************************************************************
Wednesday, trip day, had arrived.
My car service arrived around 6:15.
Normally when I fly out of Manchester I drive and park, but my flight home was going to be landing around 11 pm, so I hired the car service I use when flying out of Boston. (This turned out to be an incredibly helpful decision at the “end” of my trip)
In the car on the way to airport, I got a message from my dad.
“My phone isn’t working, so you have to contact me by email”
Ruh-roh!
After I got through security, I called the apartment manager who told me that no, phone service was not included.
I found a quiet gate at the airport and spent the time prior to boarding my flight talking with someone at the phone company who told me that they could send a technician over the following day to re-install my dad’s phone service. But he had lost the phone number he had for 60 years!
I felt HORRIBLE! I sent a quick email to my dad when I boarded my flight explaining what happened but this really put a damper on my mood during my flight and most of that first day. The next day when the technician visited my dad he repeated that once a phone number is discontinued it goes to a dead file. I tried a couple of times during the trip to get in touch with the phone company, but I kept getting cut off going through the call-in directory.
The good news: After I returned from the trip and called from home, I was able to restore his original phone number
As a consequence of being on the phone until my boarding number was called, I have no pictures from the airport and I didn’t have time to get breakfast/coffee before the flight, but other than the drama with the phone company, my flight was uneventful. I had 3 drink coupons from Southwest that were expiring at the end of my trip, so I cashed one of those in for a screwdriver.
I took a few pictures from the plane, because, that’s what I do.
The fall colors were late arriving this year and although it was raining at takeoff there were glimpses of beauty.
Getting closer!
~Ninja had arrived in Orlando a couple of hours before my flight was scheduled to touch down, but Janet’s was arriving shortly before mine, so she waited for me and greeted me when I got to the Magical Express area.
We found out after the fact that ~Ninja had left a picture of Roger the Donkey in the airport elevator to welcome us to Magical Express (as she had done on a previous trip) but Janet and I took the escalator so we didn’t see if it was still there when we arrived.
We sped through the ME line and boarded an almost full bus immediately. Somehow, the second row behind the driver was open! We grabbed those seats and gabbed for the entire trip.
As we approached the arch, I went into paparazzi mode- I took 11 pictures with my phone!
We arrived at Saratoga Springs and requested a golf cart to take us to our room since nether of us had ever stayed here before and we had no clue where our building was.
Next up: Saratoga Springs (A “two bedroom” villa for the price of one)
