kruisin_kt

Cursed-mas continued today. Our steed wasn’t in fact trusty. Despite our confirmed reservation, Enterprise had sent their minivan for an oil change this morning, and told us we should have known that location doesn’t honor online reservations. We eventually found a minivan at the OKC airport Avis. Went to top off the tires and found a nail in one of them. That one turned out to be more of a Chrysler Pathetica. So we went back to the airport for a second rental car. We finally have a (seemingly) functional minivan, and we’ll start loading it soon. It’s gonna be a late one for us on the road, but luckily I am a) a natural night owl b) still on pacific time and c) just turned 25 so I am actually allowed to drive the rental. As I keep telling myself, things could be worse.

Beth is doing much better! While she’s been opening presents, I’ve been helping get the house squared away. Dad and I are on our way to pick up our trusty steed for the southbound drive - a Chrysler Pacifica from Enterprise Rent-a-car.

For my book count if anyone is wondering: I brought 5 paper books with me, I’m getting (at least) 4 more paper books for Christmas, and I currently have 4 ebooks loaded on my Libby app. We’ll see how many fit in the suitcase, and how many I actually manage to read in 11 days. Vegas has set the over/under at 4.5, place your bets now lol

I’m Beth’s sister Katy and I’ll also be contributing live from the Regal! I live in LA, but I’m home in Oklahoma for Christmas with the family. I am doing my PhD in artificial intelligence, with a focus on ethics and fairness in large language models. I just passed my qualifying exam, so this PhD CANDIDATE(!!!) is also very ready for a vacation. The original plan was to leave from home near Oklahoma City on the morning of 12/26, drive my mom’s car to League City, TX, and stay at the Hampton Inn. We would then drive to Galveston the next morning, drop luggage at the port, park the car at Falstaff, and take their shuttle back to the terminal to embark. After the cruise, we were going to drive me to Houston Hobby (HOU) for a flight back to LA and then the rest of the family would drive home. We were already in for a few hectic days with Christmas and getting ready to go. Like Beth said, hectic has turned to chaotic. Mom’s car wouldn’t start after church today. Dad checked it out and suspects a fuel line problem, which isn’t fixable in 48 hours. Especially when those 48 hours are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Mom’s car was the only one big enough for 4 of us plus (too much) luggage, so that’s a bit of a problem. Luckily, I found the last one-way rental minivan in OKC still available for 12/26, so we will make it to Galveston. Still working on a plan for the northbound return trip. I’m feeling pretty proud of myself for finding the rental, haha.

You might look into something like Loops earplugs, which claim to reduce dB without distorting sound. I haven’t used them personally, but they look pretty!

Galveston is great if you’re driving your own car to the port. Way cheaper and easier than flying to FLL from Oklahoma. But if you have to fly anyway, I don’t understand what would possess you to fly into Houston rather than just going to Florida - so many more choices out of there.

Any reports on how Regal embarkation yesterday (12/10) went?

Thirding as @bethfelk sister - it’s a lot of fun! Not a huge party vibe but great drinks, great service, beautiful beach, and a stunning pool.

rock of love is an underrated masterpiece of reality tv. Have a great cruise!