sunshine0221's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Poseidon Adventure Part 3 The Poseidon Adventure Part 3 You are probably wondering how Sarah and I managed to get all of our booze on the airplane. Before we get to that, there's the tale of the Kahlua Especial. I was wandering around one day on the ship, and happened to walk into the gift store. They had liquor!!! I have to once again mention the irony of my liquor fever, as I hardly ever drink. The gift shop had a stunning selection of booze, and some of it at San Juan comparable prices. I had retained enough of my senses to realize that although the Absolut 4-fer was a terrific deal, I just didn't have room for four more bottles of anything. Then - I glanced up and saw the bottle of Kahlua Especial. The angels sang. Now Kahlua is mighty good stuff. Kahlua Especial, with its limited edition special formula, and its higher proof had to be a spiritual experience. And also, maybe not available in the U.S. I brought Sarah by to visit the Kahlua Especial, and she agreed it looked awfully good. I told myself I did not need more liquor, no matter how especial it was. I told myself the same thing the next day, as I was gazing at the gloriousness of the Kahlua Especial bottle. And then inspiration struck. I could get it for Tahmi!!!! Tahmi loves Kahlua, she's a damn good friend, and didn't she deserve the experience of the limited edition coffee liqueury goodness of Kahlua Especial??? Of course she does! So I bought it. We had a packing-the-liquor test run when Carnival took our suitcases on Saturday night, to be retrieved when we left the ship the next day. I packed as carefully as I could, distributing the liquor between my big suitcase and my carry-on. I ran out of room and had to use the St. Maarten tote bag I had gotten for my mom. The plan was to get a rental car, and drive down to Key West, return to Miami the next day, stay overnight, and catch our flights home on Tuesday. We heaved our luggage around the Port of Miami with only minor cussing, and after waiting 45 minutes in the sun for the Budget shuttle that never came, we grabbed a cab. Got the rental car and headed down to Key West. We arrived and checked into our hotel, and - with my heart pounding - I opened my suitcases to check on my liquor. And was assailed by the delicious aroma of Kahlua Especial --- which had leaked all over my clothes. Gah!!! Two thirds of the bottle was still intact but the other third had escaped! Gah!!! The irony!! The tragedy!! Tahmi's present!! Sarah suggested that I get it home, replace the cap that had broken, top it off with regular Kahlua, and still give it to Tahmi. As amusing as that would have been, or my idea, which in my humble opinion was even funnier, hand Tahmi the empty bottle, along with the Dasani water bottle I had poured the unspilled KE into, I decided to get Tahmi a new bottle if I could. Sarah and I both realized we needed to go to Liquor Packing Plan B. While we were out shopping for liquor-carrying apparati, I stopped in a few liquor stores and found another bottle of Kahlua Especial! I had the guy wrap it up and put it in a box, as clearly KE is not to be trusted. Sarah bought a big box at Office Max, and filled that puppy up with her liquor. I bought another roll-y carry-on which I loaded with liquor. Also the Bacardi Reserva that I bought for Kelly was leaking a little bit, so I put it in a giant zip lock bag and put it in my purse. We arrived at the airport. The plan was for Sarah to drop me off at the curb with our excessive amounts of luggage, return the rental car, and meet me back at the curb. This was really our only option as we had waaaay too much stuff to carry or load on and off the Budget shuttle. So we pulled up to the American curb, and a very kind gate-checker-in-guy unloaded all of our luggage. He tried to check me in curbside, but couldn't because I was flagged as having been out of the country. Hello, Homeland Security! He loaded all of our luggage on a big cart, wheeled it inside, got us two (free!) smaller carts, loaded them up, and sat me down and wheeled the carts next to me. I was so grateful I would have happily had his children. Got to the American counter, and woohoo we're finally checking in. Lifted my holy-crap-it's-heavy suitcase on the scale and peeked at the weight. It was 73 pounds, and thank you, Airline Gods, for letting it go through even though it was over the 70 pound limit. Then the check-in person told me I had to follow the man over there and she handed him my boarding pass and tickets. I did not like seeing my boarding pass and tickets go anywhere without me. I followed the guy over to another area where someone else nabbed my boarding pass, handed me a number, and said they were going to go through my luggage. Aha!! Extra security check. Two different guys went through each bag while I apologized for the dirty laundry and hoped that they weren't going to confiscate my Godiva liqueur because if they tried, I wasn't going down without a fight. It was Godiva liqueur after all. All went fine, and we headed towards the regular security station. And I beeped. I never beep. But maybe my sunglasses or my necklace set the metal detector off. They ushered me off to the side, and ran the handheld metal detector over me, and it beeped like crazy. It beeped at my feet. It beeped at my legs. It found my bra and my necklace. I had to take off my shoes and they took them away. I got seriously groped. I finally passed their check and off to the gate. Where I was again flagged for super security. They went through my purse with my bottle of Bacardi Reserva in it, and didn't say a word about it. I wonder if lots of passengers carry liters of rum in their purses? My carry-on was locked. Hey it had very valuable liquor in it, I wasn't taking any chances. The key was in my purse, and the guy said it was okay and not to bother unlocking it. Whew! Didn't want to look like even more of an alcoholic. "Yes I always carry a bottle of rum in my purse and seven bottles of assorted liquor in my carry-on, why do you ask?" And they finally let me on the plane. Arrived home without incident, and all my liquor made it safely. The End. 10:45 a.m. - November 19, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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