Bruce's Travels

Tuesday 12/11 Hello everyone. Long time since I've checked in, but Royal Caribbean (RC) is giving me 24 hours of "free" Internet as part of my "Diamond Club" bennies package, and I wanted to use it after we did the transit through the Panama Canal, the highlight of the cruise. I put free in quotations because the free applies to only the "basic" Internet, and everyone says the basic is crap, so I was able to upgrade to the "deluxe" internet for just $7 for the day (normally $32.95). We are currently pulling into Cartegena, and after going back and forth in my mind, I've decided to stay aboard the ship. Bummer. This was the one port of call I wanted to visit to see some emeralds. But I am still not up to strength and don't want to get caught short of wits and have to make a hasty decision to get back to the ship and end up in a rogue cab or something. Plus it's 90 degrees out with full sun. And honestly, there's nothing ash...

Cruise ship departure day! Greetings from the Crowne Plaza Hotel San Pedro/Long Beach, California. (Sis in law) Julie and I just finished our buffet breakfast after a much-needed night's sleep.  Shuttles to Royal Caribbean's "Vision of the Seas" start at 10 a.m. and leave every half hour until 1 p.m. Outside, it is 63 and raining/sprinkling, the latter a rare event here ("It never rains in Southern California"). It will make for a gloomy sendoff from port, but that is OK. Our journey began yesterday (11/28) with an 8 a.m. bus Van Galder bus ride to O'Hare airport. Arriving at 10 a.m., we checked a bag apiece ($30 each), cleared security and got to our gate no problems. The flight aboard American Airlines #2744 direct to LAX was booked solid. J and I each had window seats on opposite sides of the cabin. We arrived LAX 2:30 local time, about half hour late. We claimed our bags and headed to the Uber pickup point, where "Jose" was waiting fo...

Friday 7/20 Chilling out today. Breakfast at house. I have very little to set up besides books, so I don't need to go to Utz Center for table setup. Instead I go to NAWCC gift shop and ask manager Abby if I can borrow a couple of vertical book stands to display my books, and she lends them to me. She is one of the sweetest persons at NAWCC, and I really should send her an amazon gift card when I get back. From there, I cross the old Highway 30 bridge over the Susquehanna River to Wrightsville and return to the Wrightsville Inn for another pile of crab meat, this time with fries, cabbage slaw, and a Yuengling beer. All delicious. The tab comes to $30, and worth every penny. Now, back to the house and do a little computer work and take a nap. I get a call from buddy Stan Czubernat about 4 p.m., who has flown into Baltimore from Houston, and has done a little watch sniffing down at the Utz Center. He is now ready to check into the Comforrt Inn and wants to know if I have found us ...

7/19/2018 Day 3 Started the morning off with a cheese omelet, two pieces of peanut butter toast, and coffee. Wrote the blog and put out a couple fires with eBay bidders, then off to lunch in York. I again chose the "Around the Clock Diner," because it has good food at reasonable prices. I sat at the counter. I chose the "Around the Clock Sandwich Melt," which consists of turkey, bacon, cheese, and tomato on grilled seeded rye. Chose a cup of chicken corn chowder as my side, and a Diet Pepsi. All delicious. I had a spritely, cheery waitress named Karen. At one point, I overheard her tell another waitress she was going home to take a shower and rest for a little while before coming in for another shift. So I said to her, "Karen, honey, before you go home, would you top off my Diet Pepsi?" "Oh, sure," she replied. "I'm not going home right away." "OK," I said, "but when you leave, would you please tell me, becaus...

Thursday, July 19 Wow, a completely awesome and exhausting day today. It concluded with a dinner at the Wrightsville Inn on the waterfront of the Susquehanna River where I had the most delicious crab cakes of my life. But I must dispense with this for now and devote this blog entry to the company I was with and the two museum-grade quality watches I got to hold in my hands and examine. Our party consisted of myself; friends Nancy Dyer and Al Dodson; Frank Delgreco (former board chairman of NAWCC); and a collector that I'll simply call "John" for privacy reasons. I have never met John before; however I was introduced to him today by Nancy. To look at John, you wouldn't guess that he collects some of the finest handmade watches in the world. He dresses plainly, and walks around with a rather tattered canvas valise from a well known maker of slightly upscale clothing and accessories. But at most any given time, he carries with him usually two ultra high grade watches...

My host, Kayla, took off yesterday (7/18) at 4:30 p.m. for a long weekend in Ocean City, Md., so I have the whole house to myself for the remainder of my stay. Sweeeet! A terrific bargain for $50 a night on airbnb.com. For breakfast this morning, I had a leftover crabcake from dinner last night. Flattened and lightly pan seared it on both side. Soft-poached a couple of eggs and put them over the cake. Then topped with a "Hollandaise sauce" made from leftover cream of crab soup from yesterday's lunch. Incredibly delicious. May not look very appetizing, but I assure you it was scrumptious. To back up, I had a productive day after I left off with the yesterday's blog entry. I wrote and distributed the July newsletter to my Rockford watch club constituents. Kayla had a coworker here to work on a joint project. They both work for a company that deals in medical IT (information technology) and they both work from home, but today they were working together here...

Dear family and friends: I am here at my airbnb house, hosted by "Kayla", as accommodations during my attendance at the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors (NAWCC) annual convention, this year a 75th anniversary gala. The convention is being held in York, PA., and I am here in Manchester, midway (sort of) between York and NAWCC HQ in Columbia. Tuesday July 17 I arrived in H'burg, PA, yesterday about 11:30 a.m. local time aboard one of American Airlines' commuter planes. We all had to check our carry on bag at the gate because there wasn't enough room in the overheads for anything besides our personal item. This they did for free. We hit a patch of turbulence approaching H'burg so violent that it lifted everyone off their seat. Had I not been belted in, I'm sure I would have been lifted high enough to hit my head on the overhead panel. There were even a couple of shrieks from the female passengers. I have never experienced a jolt ...