Our first Transatlantic… Boston to Barcelona to Miami updated 2/19/2016 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Our first Transatlantic… Boston to Barcelona to Miami updated 2/19/2016
Hello everyone. We have been back since October 1st but it’s taken this long to accept reality as life goes on here at home. We had a wonderful two weeks but I can’t say that things went as smoothly as I had hoped. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First a small introduction:
Daniel…my dear hubs worked so hard during the year to make this vacation happen. He’s a huge fan of cruising Disney and I can tell you this by the fact that this was our 2nd year in a row without a visit to the “World”. This was Disney cruise number 7 and I’m pretty sure his goal is Platinum.
Linda (me)…Also a fan of Disney cruises, I have been on no other lines so I can’t compare. I have the fun of making all the plans while dear Dan looks on and nods his approval. Between you and me I really don’t mind at all.
A little visual...Last years formal photo
As the title says this was our first Transatlantic. First time ever leaving from a port outside of the country. First ever flight to Europe. First time in a foreign country. Many firsts here. I did a lot of research and with some help from my dear friend Kris I managed to book flights, hotels, tours and even a restaurant. Dan and I met Kris and her husband Larry on our 2013 Eastern Caribbean Fantasy cruise. We had such a great time that it was only a matter of time before we planned on cruising together again. So I wasn’t alone in the planning but I have learned a lot.
On the afternoon of our 6:30 pm town car pickup on September 16th, I had to bring my mom to the nursing home that she would call home for the next two weeks. I had her packed and ready to go and we arrived a little after 2 pm. When we entered she was immediately surrounded by the nurses and aides that knew her from her previous stays. Some even requested her on their schedules which I thought was really nice of them. After 45 minutes or so she was settled, papers were signed and we said goodbye.
On the way back we stopped at Papa Geno’s for lobster rolls as I knew when we returned they would be a thing of the past until next summer. We were packed and ready to go and spent our last few moments playing with our ferret babies and Muffy our cat. I knew that Muffy would give us the, you left me attitude when we returned but I wasn’t sure our little fuzz babies would even remember us after two weeks. So needless to say as much as I was excited for our trip to begin I was already missing our babies especially the three little bears. Two little ones sleep while the third looks on
We put them all to bed with hugs and kisses and that’s when Dan went to get his shoes. They went missing. It would seem that our ferret babies had other things in mind. Ferrets love to hide things and Dan’s new sneakers were a perfect temptation. Around 20 minutes before our ride was to arrive the search ended, finally finding them under the bed in different areas. Crisis averted. Lol. The beginning of a hidey hole under our bed …pardon my dust
Our driver was on time right to the minute and before I knew it we were on the road and headed for Logan Airport. Our British Airways flight wasn’t until 10:30 pm. This was different for us because we usually couldn’t really sleep before an early 4:30 or 5 am pickup. We tried to sleep in finally getting up around 9am but our flight was 6 ½ hours and this would also be our first experience with jet lag.
We easily checked our bags and went through security. Now we only had a little less than three hours before our flight. We decided to grab a bite at Earl or Sandwich. I got in line and made our order also grabbing a couple bottles of Coke Zero. Dan found a table for us and I laid out our late dinner. I opened my Coke and bam…spray everywhere. All over me and my nice clean top. To make matters worse when I leaned into my sandwich I didn’t realize the paper had some mayonnaise on it so I got that on myself also. What else was going to happen? A little Disney Fix…Lol Jerk Chicken sandwich…not bad
I wish I could say those three hours whizzed by but it was nothing even close. Finally our flight was called and we wearily boarded. Now we only checked one large suitcase and had two carry-ons and one backpack. Dan managed to get one bag in the overheard bin but the second was a no go. These bins were so tiny not at all like Southwest. The flight attendant was very nice and found a place for my bag in another section of the plane. I admit I was a little nervous as I had my DSLR and other things that I just didn’t want to check.
This was called a sleep flight and on our seats were a pillow, blanket and headphones along with a disposable toothbrush and a teeny tube of toothpaste. In the headrest in front of us was a lovely TV screen with all kinds of wonderful movies to watch. Dan picked something right away but alas my headphones were broken so I had to grab someone who finally remembered I needed new ones. By this time Dan was halfway through his first movie. My luck.
I finally settled back and tried to watch Pitch Perfect 2, the optimal word here was tried. The row in front of us seated 2 small children and a dad. The smallest one was literally in a car seat strapped to the wall in front of him. They had all the legroom possible. The kids were quiet but the dad? OMG…the dad. He was up and down and when he was seated he was rocking forward and back. Which meant I was trying to see a movie that was bouncing like crazy before my eyes. I was so glad when we received a drink and a snack but the dad kept on rockin! I lowered my tray to enjoy my soda and snack, imagine my surprise when the thing would not lay flat. No matter how I tried it remained in a semi upright position which meant I had to hold on to anything that sat on my tray. I was beginning to sense a pattern here.
With my snack a faded memory and PP2 coming to an end I realized that dinner was being served. Dan had some sort of pasta that he said was really good while I had the chicken with an Asian flair that was also quite tasty. This was served with a little salad, a roll with butter, a glass of wine, some crackers and cheese and a very yummy dessert. We were both quite full and I frustrated to return to my bouncing movie screen. I was on movie number two Disney’s live action Cinderella while Dan was on number 3. All during these past 3 hours or so I kept seeing the same lady going back and forth. I must have seen her at least a dozen times by now. When the movie ended I chose to get some sleep. Dad was still jumping all over the place but I was too tired to really care. Just as my eyelids got heavy and I snuggled against Dan’s shoulder I was awakened by a very loud thud!
Next…Open your eyes Martin…Stay with us Martin!!!! Are you kidding me?
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Last edited by duck addict; 02-20-2016 at 01:07 PM..
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