Visiting Doug In Ft. Lauderdale

We have been back from the Oasis cruise since Monday morning, and have been staying with our friend, Doug White at his home in Ft. Lauderdale.  Our RV is in a storage yard about 6 miles from here and we have been over there twice to repack and get organized for our next travels.  I was hoping to be able to go through my pictures and post some of them and comment on our travels of the last 2 months.  Unfortunately, I caught a horrible cold and cough the last 2 days of the cruise and it has kept me sidelined a lot of the past few days while staying with Doug.  I finally started taking antibiotics a few days ago and have been getting better rapidly.  But I have not been able to get anything written about the travels of our last 2 months.  You will have to be patient and wait until we get back to FL again in a few weeks and hopefully I can post something then.
     Tomorrow we fly to Chicago, and then on to Heathrow airport arriving Saturday morning at 7:55AM.  We are taking the express bus to Southampton and hope to arrive by early afternoon.  The Independence of the Seas is leaving at 4:30PM and we need to be aboard by 4PM.  These are tight connection times and we are somewhat nervous about whether this will all happen on time.  If it doesn't, we are "screwed", because the ship is at sea for 8 days and then has several ports in the Caribbean.  So, think positive thoughts for us, and we will post again whenever we have a chance to let you know what happened.

Quick Update From Rotterdam

Yesterday our France tour ended and we took the train to Rotterdam.  Today we board the Oasis of the Seas for a 13 day sail back to Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  It is rainy and overcast today; quite the reverse of our sail over here in early September when it was sunny and warm.  Perhaps the ship will take the southern route so we can enjoy some warmer weather.
     Our France tour was very good and we had an excellent tour leader.  There were nice people in our group and we enjoyed some unique experiences, such as cognac tasting in a 13th century former royal residence, and experiencing total religious immersion in Lourdes.  Of course, we took lots of pictures, which I haven't downloaded yet, so I cannot add them to this post.  But I will try to do so when we get back to Florida.
     We are both well and have been doing a lot of walking when possible, trying to keep up some sliver of fitness, but it will be a relief to get on the ship and have access to the gym.  Our clothes are getting tight!!  Needless to say, Elaine is now a very happy traveler since our upcoming travel plans are all on cruises.