all right so I'm here with my friend mr. elefante here and I just got back from
going for formal dining here on the imagination part of my $24 cruise solo
edition and I gotta say I was kind of worried about going and eating in a
restaurant by myself it just seems like the epitome of sadness it seems like if
this was a romantic comedy that would be the low point eating by yourself in a
restaurant it's not something that people didn't tend to want to do it's
not on anybody's bucket list so anyways I went there and they made the
offer they said you know would you like to dine alone or with other people?
I said I'll share a table that's no problem you know I figure
take a shot see what it's like and it occurs to me that actually Burton and I
had shared a lunch table with strangers before on the inspiration
on my very first cruise so credit to Burton he prepared me for cruises
fantastically well he actually really exposed me to a lot of different aspects
of it anyways it was fantastic the kind of people that I encountered there were
widows veterans and retirees fascinating stories about these two guys were in the
Air Force one of them served in World War two the other served in Vietnam and so
they were kind of comparing notes and talking about a bunch of different stuff
and one woman had worked in corrections on death row for 15 years they're all
quite well travelled far more so than me I was easily the youngest person at the
table by at least 20 years it was fascinating they were really interesting
people there was just never a dull moment and it was all really friendly
and collegial I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna dine every night at the
restaurant and just see what other kind of people I can meet when Burton and I
did it there were some pretty nice people who got along reasonably well you
know it was some it was families and I think an older couple or something and
so they were they were very much looking down at their nose at the spring
breakers because it was a spring break cruise that we were on that first one
and so they were doing a lot of complaining and but even still it was it
was fairly polite it wasn't like super awkward although at one point I think
that they were complaining about Burton and I because they talked about the two
jackasses running around in hats thankfully we didn't buy our hats to
breakfast that day I had a lot of anxiety about going to
eat by myself in the restaurant I'm not gonna lie but I was just super hungry I
didn't want to go back to Lido the Lido on this ship is somewhat small I think
it's actually a little smaller than the inspiration in terms of what's there
there's a little bit more food options up by the the pool on Lido so there's
like a Mongolian Grill and that kind of stuff so that's good. I got my cheese
fries you know and that kind of stuff when I was having my lunch so it's not
bad it's just the entrees we're a little light on the first day of the sail which
you know we'll see how it goes for the rest of the trip so far solo cruising not bad
not bad at all. I've done these two ports twice before these people having both
been in the Air Force but in two separate wars they they track the
weather very carefully it seems to be an obsession with Americans they always
talk about the weather and want to know what's going on with the weather they
were all saying that there is an expectation of rain in Catalina tomorrow
which would be a new twist for me so I'm not sure how that'll affect my plans
they said that it's going to rain between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. which was
awfully specific and I don't have a whole lot of faith in that being true
just because of the nature of forecasts so we'll just have to kind of see what
happens I'm content to just stay on the ship all day if I have to I enjoy riding
on the tenders though my basic plan is to get off the ship if the weather is is
cooperating go for a bit of a hike not a formal hike to the top where you have to
get a Conservancy membership pass thing but maybe just over to the far side of
the casino to see the beach thing that's there you know just kind of walk around
maybe do a little shopping or something probably hunt for Wi-Fi unsuccessfully
Catalina is sparse for Wi-Fi my two previous trips I was able to get a
little Wi-Fi like near the zip line but I was basically stealing it off of a
house in Avalon there was just somebody had their network insecure so
far solo Cruise is not bad you know I'm having trouble thinking of a downside
really so I was surprised at that I really kind of thought that maybe I
would just end up spending all my time in the room you know playing computer
games or something and just going up to Lido periodically for supplies but no
it's pretty good so I'm gonna relax a little bit more here I'm still dead
knackered from having to get up at like 5:30 this morning
to to make my flight and everything to get here all in one day which I'd rather not do
again in that particular way I like having a night in a hotel before getting
on the cruise ship gives you some buffer if there's problems with flights or
whatever then you know you're not really at the mercy of the airline or the
weather or whatever gets in your way I might go up to the piano bar which
they're doing their sing-along thing around 9:00 and then 11 o'clock there's
an 18 plus comic who's performing in the Xanadu lounge so that's pretty much
my plan for the evening maybe I'll wander the ship at some point
as I often tend to late at night but I'm just gonna hang out with my friend mr.
elefante here