Bubbles

Considering the length of this adventure and the constraint by the airlines for the weight of each bag, it will be necessary not only to wear the same clothes for multiple days, but more importantly, we are going to have to do laundry. Joan had researched this issue before we left Phoenix and had already preselected a laundromat only 9 blocks from where our ship will board. So we get up bright and early from our wonderful rest (facetiously said), call a cab and head off to Bubbles, a travellers paradise where you can wash and dry a load for 10 dollars.

This is not our first time doing this so we had planned and used one suitcase for dirty clothes and the other to consolidate the clean clothes. However when we arrive at the laundromat with our bevy of suitcases, it must have looked to the locals like we were permanently moving in. Remembering the days of our youth when we couldn’t afford our own washer and dryer, we quickly scanned the facilities and staked out our space, opening doors and loading with soap packets to clearly mark our territory.

I had planned to try to catch up with the blogging as I have had two ready to go but can’t get enough bandwidth to upload. I figured with the cryise ship and the downtown location there ust be some internet shops around. Wrong. We are surrounded by a dim sum palace, Kabobs for any palate, and a convenience store. Bubbles is indeed in downtown and clearly located about 10 large blocks from the Cruise Ship, but it is situated on top of a hill with apartment complexes.

We meet a lovely couple from Manchester England that are on a 59 day cruise and need to do some laundrey as well. We swap stories of cruise lines and countries and agree that the Chinese New Year is not a good time to take a holiday. It takes about 2 hours to sort, wish, dry, fold and stash our laundry primarily done by Joan with small assists from me. I did get the change for the machines, searched and gathered two diet cokes, and folded my own shirts. Once ready to go I convince everyone we are close enough to walk and don’t need a cab. as we assemble to start our journey with the 8 bags of stuff, two of Steve and Fran’s bags make an unapproved run for the street crashing and falling over the curb narrowly missing a Mercedes. Properly scolded they rejoin our group and we begin to walk down the steep hill to Queen Street putting extra attention to herd any stray bags making another run for freedom.

At Queen Street we turn left to head to the Queen’s Warf. Like any center, it is a busy bustling work environment and at noon it is packed with business men and women searching to quench their appetite. In addition this is the Auckland 5th Avenue equivalent with all the shopping and store fronts. Like Australia, New Zealand also has driving on the right side of the car and traffic moves in the left lane. Pedestrians we discover are expected to follow the same rules as the roadways. So we keep to the left trying not to cause anyone permanent leg injuries from errant rolling suitcases.

The ship is in our sights and we follow the signs to the baggage check in. We are pleased with the fact that there isn’t any crowd as we hand over our bags to the wonderful people with Holland America who giveus a series of forms to complete before we can check in. It seems we have arrived ahead of the crowd.

We enter the building and find it full to capacity with souls waiting their turn to go through the exit path on the right guarded by local administrators who are double checking to be sure all the forms are completed. Having properly filled out our forms we creatively sneak to the front of the line and follow the signs to the escalator upstairs where they take the forms and guide us to the Disneyland Primetime Small World Queue. It moves but there are a bizzilion people in front of us.

At last we have zig’d and zag’d like a switchback trail at the Grand Canyon and are at the front ready for Clerk number 2 to raise his sign ushering us forward.

Huzzah…. we are checked in and can board, drop our few remaining carryon bags in our rooms and head to the ever present buffet and finally get some food to nourish our depleted bodies. After all, we had no breakfast, we did laundry, and we walked 10 blocks……. No mater who you are, you feel like royalty on a cruise ship.

I am sure we will meet up with Deb, Joe, Gigi, Jeff, and Babs as we all have cabins next to each other, but for now, GT’s, food, nesting, and a nap are the order of the day.