Magical_Suitcase
aka: kid-at-heart
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2018
I am not sure where to put this trip report since it covers Disney, as well as other adventures leading up to and continuing on after Disney cruises. If it does not belong in this site, admins, please remove.
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Remember, as a kid, writing these when you reported back to school,
“My Summer Vacation”?
I am going to call this report “My 2023 Vacation" or something of the sort because we are traveling a lot this year and I am going to touch on several different trips - (sometimes "we”, sometimes “me” when traveling). It has been difficult for us to travel these past few years due to Covid and care-giving needs, so this year we had and have an abundance of rescheduled vacations. We started our year with spending a few days at Old Key West before sailing on the Wish in January, I took a quick work trip to Cleveland, OH in April, then we sailed on the American Queen Empress down the Columbia River in May before I spent ten days in the beautiful northwest with my family, and (still to come) we are visiting Alaska in a couple of weeks via DCL, Vero Beach in September and ending our 2023 travels (hopefully) by taking a train trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. Oh, and, I always work while on vacation!
Who are the “we”? My spouse, Rob, who works for the state of Michigan in public health, and me, Kate, who (although I should be retired) still teaches psychology full time at a local inner-city college and works as a travel agent as a side gig. Why two jobs? A year before Covid hit, I had decided to retire but I know I get bored easily and need to stay busy. A few decades ago, I started taking travel agent classes though my school (a perk, free classes) but with a small child and an elderly mother, I did not have time to pursue my classes. Our child grew up and moved out of home, and retirement loomed in the near future, so I jumped back into the classes needed to follow the travel agent gig…. Then Covid hit… and our campus went totally online for a looooonnnnnnng time and “experienced online” professors were needed so I delayed my retirement from the professor job and just started doing both. The skills needed for both gigs are basically the same, a lot of research, a lot of hand holding, being available at odd hours, etc. By the way, if all goes according to plan, I will retire from full-time professorship to adjunct in late August and move from part-time travel agent to full-time….you get it…
Now off to why you are reading this report. Disney cruise travel.
January 2023 – The Wish – and OKW
We are lucky in that our little farm (oh, I forgot to tell you, we also have a mini-farm in addition to our “paying” jobs), is located between several airports, also unlucky in that we need to drive about an hour and a half to the “big” airports with the best prices and routes. This trip, since it was winter and we tend to have snow in the winter, we opted to fly out of Detroit. For us, during snow weather, it is cheaper and less stressful to take the Michigan Flyer (bus) to their nearest “pick-up” spot, which is from about thirty-forty minutes from our house, $70 round trip for two plus parking fees of $2.50 per day which was much cheaper than the least expensive DTW parking.
We also opted to spend the night at the Westin which is attached to DTW. I had a Marriott free night certificate expiring so this was a great use of the certificate. Bonus perk, I had platinum status with Marriot during this trip so we were able to snag free breakfasts at the Westin hotel. (Sadly, my platinum status expired in February. I should have it back though by 2024.)
I am not sure you can tell it in this photo but the head board was not lined up with the picture. It was about a foot in on the right and a foot out on the left... I assume it was supposed to be artsy but it was just odd looking.
I love the “White Tea” products Westin provides but I am not a fan of the on-the-wall dispensers. I cannot reach them from the tub and I often want a tub bath when traveling, like dis/fb friend Alison J.
Coffee – I am a coffee snob. I travel with my own coffee and coffee maker, just in case… Preferred USA coffee brands, Community Coffee, Starbucks, and Seattle’s Best, along with real half-n-half and raw sugar (yep, spoiled). Westin “used to” supply Starbucks, now they do not and the new brand is not as good… Luckily, I had a couple of Starbucks packets left from a previous trip so I brewed them for me and poor Rob, had the in-room coffee for his coffee fix. Rob is not as picky as I am.
Westin breakfast – Awesome! No complaints other than the price, which would have been approximately $50. Luckily, it was free for us, except for the tip.
After breakfast, we headed down to the airport to check in. It was a bit of a struggle because at the DTW Westin, you have to go down to lobby level then back up to street level where, since we were flying SW, we need to grab a shuttle from one terminal to another… Eventually, we were checked in and on our way to Pre-TSA check in (Global Entry, well worth the money), we “gifted” each other this for a Christmas gift a few years back and what should I say, best gift ever! Once through pre-check, we headed to the Priory Pass lounge for a second breakfast and early morning imbibing.
This trip was a “work” trip for me (travel agent gig, not the professor gig although I did check in on students many times a day), a non-work trip for Rob. The purpose of this trip was to gather with agents from my host agency and explore the Wish. We could bring family/friends and of course, I asked Rob to accompany me. Since this was a three-day cruise (way too short), Rob and I tagged on a couple of days extra and stayed at one of our favorite resorts, Old Key West. Rob had foot surgery right after Thanksgiving, so he was, for the most part, still in a boot and we did not venture too far from OKW and the Wish. Also, because of Rob’s surgery and needing all his limbs free for balance, etc., we limited our luggage to one large, shared suitcase, one carry on size, a back pack each and small, under the seat, carryon. Normally, we have a “camera equipment” rolling bag and a camera brief case since Rob is, in addition to his day job, a photographer.
And finally, I was able to snag a cup of Community coffee!
Next up: OKW and then The Wish!
______________________________________________________________________
Remember, as a kid, writing these when you reported back to school,
“My Summer Vacation”?
I am going to call this report “My 2023 Vacation" or something of the sort because we are traveling a lot this year and I am going to touch on several different trips - (sometimes "we”, sometimes “me” when traveling). It has been difficult for us to travel these past few years due to Covid and care-giving needs, so this year we had and have an abundance of rescheduled vacations. We started our year with spending a few days at Old Key West before sailing on the Wish in January, I took a quick work trip to Cleveland, OH in April, then we sailed on the American Queen Empress down the Columbia River in May before I spent ten days in the beautiful northwest with my family, and (still to come) we are visiting Alaska in a couple of weeks via DCL, Vero Beach in September and ending our 2023 travels (hopefully) by taking a train trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. Oh, and, I always work while on vacation!
Who are the “we”? My spouse, Rob, who works for the state of Michigan in public health, and me, Kate, who (although I should be retired) still teaches psychology full time at a local inner-city college and works as a travel agent as a side gig. Why two jobs? A year before Covid hit, I had decided to retire but I know I get bored easily and need to stay busy. A few decades ago, I started taking travel agent classes though my school (a perk, free classes) but with a small child and an elderly mother, I did not have time to pursue my classes. Our child grew up and moved out of home, and retirement loomed in the near future, so I jumped back into the classes needed to follow the travel agent gig…. Then Covid hit… and our campus went totally online for a looooonnnnnnng time and “experienced online” professors were needed so I delayed my retirement from the professor job and just started doing both. The skills needed for both gigs are basically the same, a lot of research, a lot of hand holding, being available at odd hours, etc. By the way, if all goes according to plan, I will retire from full-time professorship to adjunct in late August and move from part-time travel agent to full-time….you get it…
Now off to why you are reading this report. Disney cruise travel.
January 2023 – The Wish – and OKW
We are lucky in that our little farm (oh, I forgot to tell you, we also have a mini-farm in addition to our “paying” jobs), is located between several airports, also unlucky in that we need to drive about an hour and a half to the “big” airports with the best prices and routes. This trip, since it was winter and we tend to have snow in the winter, we opted to fly out of Detroit. For us, during snow weather, it is cheaper and less stressful to take the Michigan Flyer (bus) to their nearest “pick-up” spot, which is from about thirty-forty minutes from our house, $70 round trip for two plus parking fees of $2.50 per day which was much cheaper than the least expensive DTW parking.
We also opted to spend the night at the Westin which is attached to DTW. I had a Marriott free night certificate expiring so this was a great use of the certificate. Bonus perk, I had platinum status with Marriot during this trip so we were able to snag free breakfasts at the Westin hotel. (Sadly, my platinum status expired in February. I should have it back though by 2024.)
I am not sure you can tell it in this photo but the head board was not lined up with the picture. It was about a foot in on the right and a foot out on the left... I assume it was supposed to be artsy but it was just odd looking.
I love the “White Tea” products Westin provides but I am not a fan of the on-the-wall dispensers. I cannot reach them from the tub and I often want a tub bath when traveling, like dis/fb friend Alison J.
Coffee – I am a coffee snob. I travel with my own coffee and coffee maker, just in case… Preferred USA coffee brands, Community Coffee, Starbucks, and Seattle’s Best, along with real half-n-half and raw sugar (yep, spoiled). Westin “used to” supply Starbucks, now they do not and the new brand is not as good… Luckily, I had a couple of Starbucks packets left from a previous trip so I brewed them for me and poor Rob, had the in-room coffee for his coffee fix. Rob is not as picky as I am.
Westin breakfast – Awesome! No complaints other than the price, which would have been approximately $50. Luckily, it was free for us, except for the tip.
After breakfast, we headed down to the airport to check in. It was a bit of a struggle because at the DTW Westin, you have to go down to lobby level then back up to street level where, since we were flying SW, we need to grab a shuttle from one terminal to another… Eventually, we were checked in and on our way to Pre-TSA check in (Global Entry, well worth the money), we “gifted” each other this for a Christmas gift a few years back and what should I say, best gift ever! Once through pre-check, we headed to the Priory Pass lounge for a second breakfast and early morning imbibing.
This trip was a “work” trip for me (travel agent gig, not the professor gig although I did check in on students many times a day), a non-work trip for Rob. The purpose of this trip was to gather with agents from my host agency and explore the Wish. We could bring family/friends and of course, I asked Rob to accompany me. Since this was a three-day cruise (way too short), Rob and I tagged on a couple of days extra and stayed at one of our favorite resorts, Old Key West. Rob had foot surgery right after Thanksgiving, so he was, for the most part, still in a boot and we did not venture too far from OKW and the Wish. Also, because of Rob’s surgery and needing all his limbs free for balance, etc., we limited our luggage to one large, shared suitcase, one carry on size, a back pack each and small, under the seat, carryon. Normally, we have a “camera equipment” rolling bag and a camera brief case since Rob is, in addition to his day job, a photographer.
And finally, I was able to snag a cup of Community coffee!
Next up: OKW and then The Wish!
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I feel very uncomfortable if I am not overly busy but yes, it is funny how I ended up with two jobs instead of no job. 
