August 21 -- We sailed into San Diego Harbor this morning at 7:15am and docked about 8am. The hills of San Diego were a beautiful sight! The Customs officers came aboard, and the ship cleared Customs about 10am, and then they started calling us to disembark. It was an emotional scene, with everyone suddenly realizing that they had to leave all of these new friends with whom they had spent the past two months. There were tears and lots of hugging.
Mom and I disembarked with the Faculty, Staff, and Lifelong Learners, and picked up our 6 duffle bags and 5 boxes. We immediately took most of this luggage to UPS, and shipped it home in three batches (Mom's home, my home, and my office).
Then we took a taxi to the Hampton Inn Airport/Sea World, which I chose because of Erin's hearty recommendation. I have to say, she was right! It is a beautiful hotel, a little far from the center of town, but near the airport. The rooms are huge after the close quarters in which we have lived for 65 days, and there are two (count 'em, TWO!) queen-sized beds with luxury duvets and lots of pillows on each bed. I must confess we got into the room about 1:30pm, and fell asleep about 1:35.
We're flying to Charlotte, NC tomorrow ...
