Travel Home - Zuiderdam - Canada/New England - July 5, 2025

All good things must come to an end, and this trip was no exception.  I packed a lot into these two and a half weeks and made so many great memories.  I really enjoyed the ports where my nephew and I set out with vague plans but a goal of just wandering - we put in a lot of miles together.  I also really enjoyed the couple ports where I set out on my own and found peace in the solitude of just following my feet.  There was something special about the promenade walks and talks I had with my niece.  The connections I felt with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law were just what I needed.  And the reminders of the cruise on this ship twenty years ago were less prevalent than I feared.

I was up before 5:30 as we approached Boston.  I dressed, finished packing, and headed down one deck to the promenade where I had a few minutes to myself before the start of a long travel day.  After one last breakfast in the buffet and a few more views of the Boston Harbor as we docked, I returned to my room to gather my things and meet my family in the Ocean Bar for a last few conversations before we headed our separate ways.  Once my parents' luggage tag was called, we said our goodbyes and all walked off the ship.

While eating breakfast in the Lido, we passed this neat looking ship docked near where we would dock.

Up on deck, I took in a few more views of Boston

Here I am at 8:11 a.m. walking out of the port.

I decided to take the SL1 bus to the airport and so walked about a half mile to the Silver Way Line stop.

A bus pulled up just as I arrived and as I boarded, the driver said I didn't owe anything.  I knew they didn't usually charge from the airport but I had expected to pay a couple dollars for the return ride.  If they had charged, they had a tap to pay system accepting phone or chip cards that looked really easy.

At 8:28 a.m. (only 17 minutes after I left the ship), the bus dropped me off at Terminal A.  Once inside, I headed up stairs to check in.

My sister's family also had flights leaving out of Terminal A so I ran into them again, first while dropping off my checked bag and then again as we all waited for our flights.  My flight departed ahead of schedule and arrived a few minutes early.

The view leaving Boston

Upon arriving in Atlanta, I made my way from the B terminal to the baggage claim.  Looking to get some steps in, I thought I would walk instead of taking the plane train.  It almost looked like there wasn't a way to get from that last terminal to the baggage claim area but I continued up an unmarked escalator and eventually found myself right where I needed to be.

The bags had beat us.  I wish I had taken a photo of the luggage carousel.  The suitcases were three high all the way around, so it was a bit of a challenge getting my 50 pound suitcase from above others.  (It hovered between 49 and 50 on the airline scale - my handheld scale said it was 49.6 pounds - I'm just glad I didn't have to further try to rearrange in Boston to avoid overweight fees.)

Atlanta as always, was a bit chaotic trying to navigate my way out of the baggage claim area and follow the detailed instructions to my Groome shuttle.

Upon arriving at my shuttle's pickup spot with only about 10 minutes to spare, I discovered a wheelchair van (with seating for 3 passengers) and about a dozen passengers standing around it!  This was when I first noticed the heat.  My phone said the temperature was 89*F.  Being in such cooler weather the last two weeks made the heat feel all the more shocking.

I listened to the passengers around me to get an idea what might be going on and figure out what my next move was.  It appeared the 3:45 p.m. shuttle had broken down and was about 10 minutes away.  It was 4:35 p.m. by this point.  I was booked on the 4:45 p.m. shuttle.  

I saw one woman get in the shuttle and the driver load the baggage of a second.  And then she walked into the crowd and asked me, "any chance you are Rebecca booked on the 4:45 shuttle?"  She then loaded my bags into the back and I felt just a little guilty as we drove off leaving the 3:45 p.m. crowd behind, although there really wasn't anything different the driver could have done.  She didn't have room to take any of them without leaving us behind.  

As we drove off, one of the other passengers exclaimed "girls' trip!" since all of us including the driver were women.  It was a fairly quiet ride.  I worked on my blog.  We dropped off one passenger at Groome's office in Leeds and then she dropped me and the other woman off at the Hilton.

I really enjoyed the walk home.  Despite the heat, the sun felt good and the streets were familiar.  I had to take a bit of a detour though because of how much around Railroad Park they had closed off for the 4th of July festivities and World Police & Fire Games.  

When I got home, the unpacking began - there's no space for a suitcase out in the open so I couldn't let it wait for another day like I would have done in another lifetime.  I was really glad to see all my maple sugar candies, coffee mugs, coasters, and shot glass survived the trip home.

Now, it's time to start planning the next adventure.  And although it isn't quite the next one (I have a fall cruise and then a National Parks trip scheduled next), I did book a cruise for 2027 while on board that will require a bit of planning and some decisions about which European cities I want to spend time in before and after.