Lauderdale

Jan 5th
Lauderdale

First of all, before I write any further, I need to write a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother Matt who’s 21 today, yay!!!
So today was the day I’d been planning to take a trip to the Aventura mall, just north of Miami to get some shopping done. The real reason I wanted to go was that they have a Zara store there, a clothing line I didn’t know about till I got to Europe, and I’ve really liked some of there styles. They had stores all over Europe, including one walking distance from the ship in South Hampton, and I was really excited to get home and find one where I didn’t have to shop using euros or pounds. Prior to getting to the mall though, there’s a story. I’d been planning this for a while, and as of yesterday, it was supposed to be me, Pieter, Dan, and Brandon all going together and splitting a cab. I had also recently asked the guitarist Greg to come along, who had been interested. The day before, however, brought news that Brandon was needed to be a test subject for an acupuncture seminar Justin’s girl friend Angela was giving, so he backed out to get stabbed with needles. Then, Greg was unable to make the trip due to some obligations that included shipping a package home, something that we wouldn’t be sure if he could do from the mall area or not, so he opted out. This left Pieter, Dan and I to pay the cab fare to the mall, and me, trying to save money, tried to fill the extra spot. So the night before I found a couple people who were interested, but those all fell through by morning time, leaving the three of us. But while I was out searching, I found Pieter up at the bar drinking with some people, something that lasted him till 5 or 6 am, despite knowing he had to be up to get off the ship at 9:30. I didn’t know he was planning this drinking fest of his with the Latin band, and by the time the 5th came around, he wasn’t doing so well. I heard him get up at 8:00 and start vomiting, which should have tipped me off that things weren’t going to be looking too good for him that day. I got up a short time later and went up for breakfast, hoping to come back downstairs to find him anything but dead. He did indeed wake up by the time I made it back, but he certainly wasn’t looking good. Him, Dan and I all made our way then for the line to get off the ship, where after waiting for some time, Pieter headed into the bathroom to again purge his system. Dan and I waited for him off the ship planning to talk him out of going with us to the mall, but as soon as we started, Pieter swore he’d be fine and was determined to make it. So we had no choice but to let him come, so we grabbed a cab and made our way for the mall. It wasn’t till we were just about at the mall where Pieter began vomiting again, this time out the window of the moving vehicle. He had been acting drunk the entire trip, so I guess the puking at the end was a nice climax, unfortunately, the cab driver didn’t seem so pleased. We all paid the driver and then made our way into the mall, the plan being to meet back at the food court at 12:30 for lunch, and then again at 2:30 to leave. After the first two hours, I came back to the food court with Dan, waited 15 minutes, but couldn’t find Pieter. At that point I went off again to do the shopping I’d came there to do. Supposedly, Dan did run into Pieter eventually, only to find the Pieter just couldn’t make it any longer and was at the point where he needed to take a cab ride home alone. I still can’t figure out why he decided drinking the night before was a good idea, or why he felt he could pull off the trip, but it obviously got the better of him.
Anyways, back to the shopping. The Zara store ended up being completely awful, the Southampton place was so much better. The clothes they had here in the US were just not hip at all like they were in Europe, not to mention way over priced. I ended buying absolutely nothing from the one place I actually wanted to visit. I did get some nice winter clothes though, and being so warm in Florida where no one has any use for sweaters, it was all really inexpensive, so I was really happy with what I came out with at the end of the day. Dan and I then grabbed a cab home and returned to the ship.
Back at the ship there was nothing really special to report back about. I made a few phone calls home, did the usual welcome aboard routine, and that was that. Today we start what will be my last cruise this contract to Jamaica and Grand Cayman, and I’m less than 10 days away from being off of this ship! Talk to you soon, thanks!