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Leonel and I had more than 600 photos during our last cruise. We could not believe that we took so many pictures during that cruise.

So we were left wondering – now that there were 3 of us on this mini vacation, we made a bet as to how many pictures we’d end up with. I figured, with the 3 of us, we’d average probably about 100 per day, knowing that we’re such hams when it comes to memorializing where we’ve been.

Would you car to venture a guess as to how many photos we took, total? Here’s a slideshow of just Day 1 on the boat.

We had planned to do a little bit of sight seeing prior to boarding our ship. One of the things we had in mind was to go take a tour of the Florida everglades on one of those airboats. It would have been a hoot!

But as fate would have it, Queenie’s flight was delayed in EWR, and did not arrive till 11:15 a.m. So, once we picked him up at the airport, we decided to just head out to the Riverfront area of Fort Lauderdale to do some sight-seeing and photo shoots, as well as have some lunch before boarding at 2:00. Besides, the Riverfront district was also a skip step away from the gay area of Fort Lauderdale – just in case we wanted to hang out a bar for a bit.

Needless to say – we had a blast at River Front. In a span of less than an hour, we had shot a lot of pictures in various poses and combinations! We were such goofballs, laughing heartily, that people were looking at us wondering what the hell the comotion was about!

And that’s what I love about our reunions. Aside from the bonding that we do, and the myraid discussions about our lives, our loves, the ups and downs, we never fail to just throw caution to the wind and have a hilarious, gay ol’ time w/ ourselves! Check it out!

After lunch at the River Front, we headed back to Miami to rendezvous with our ship, the RCL Majest of the Seas. Compared to our last cruise in September, the boarding process in RCL was a lot more organized, a lot more sane than Carnival’s. We were in and out in a flash!

I was a little bit disappointed once we got to the room – it was extremely small, and there were 3 of us! I guess it was to be expected, since the Majesty was a lot smaller than the Carnival Valor that we took last September. The room felt a wee bit claustrophobic, and we found it hard to maneuver at first.

But that was just a trifle – disappointed with the smallness, but we dealt with it. Because we didn’t let it get in the way of having fun! Once we dropped our bags and freshend up a bit, we started once more w/ our pictorials!

I arrived in Miami a wee bit earlier than the expected time – 5:15 a.m. After a night of sleeping on the red eye from San Francisco to Miami, I was still very much tired, since I had gotten only 3 hours of uncomfortable sleep. I immediately called Pipo after exiting the plane, to let him know that I had arrived, and would be over to pick him up as soon a I got my luggage. We were both excited!

As time ticked while the baggage came out, I started to worry, as one by one, people started getting their luggage. Mine was not in sight. I started to get a panic attack – everyone save for a dozen of us on the same flight had already gotten their luggage. The carousel was just spinning around, empty, with a bunch of us bewildered passengers milling about, asking the same old question – “You were on that American flight from SF, right?”

The American Airlines baggage agent working there didn’t have a clue, and went to find some answers. And we – the tired, forlorn and baggage-less travelers – were left waiting. As the minutes ticked, my anxiety started getting the better of me. “God, this isn’t happening – I don’t have anything else save for one change of shirt and underwear in my backpack. What am I going to do?”

After about 20 minutes of worry, bags started appearing in the still-spinning but empty carousel. Ah, finally – my bag is here! Woohoo! I heaved a sigh of relief and said a prayer of thanks that the reunion was still going well. The baggage agent was no where in sight – I guess he couldn’t find an answer in time for us.

I immediately went to the Avis rental center, got the car, and sped my way to Fort Lauderdale airport to pick up Pipo. We squealed w/ delight once we made contact, and started gigling and chattering about the cruise as we made our way out of the airport.

We headed to downtown Fort Lauderdale, and started hunting for a place to eat. We were starving and tired, but we were excited still, since in about an hour and half, we would be hooking up w/ Leonel, and be off on our merry way exploring Miami before rendezvousing w/ the Majesty of the Seas. We finally spied an IHOP and decided to have breakfast.

As we sat down, we continued to chit-chat – our voices ringing with excitement about the cruise. This was going to be Pipo’s first cruise, and I told him that he would have such a blast! We talked about the stuff to do on the ship, as well as the adventures that we’d be having in the Bahamas. it was great to renew ties once again (even though I had seen him – albeit briefly – a month before during a trip down to Santa Monica for work).

As we ate our food, our conversation flowed to other things – more importantly about career and love. Pipo was doing very well in his new job, showing me his designs for XOXO featured in an ad in Elle featuring the model Anna Beatriz. Wow! Totally hot clothing – very Beyonce!

Alas – love was a different matter, since he was still hurting from his break-up w/ Drew. It takes a lifetime to forget, as I told him. At least he had Drew. I’m still single and looking!

While we were eating and chatting, Leonel texted us – a couple of times. The first text he sent – while we were just starting our breakfast – mentioned that he was still on the tarmac, due to a slight delay. The next text was a little more ominous – it was already 8:30 a.m., and they still didn’t leave the ground. The flight – a 3-hour journey from NYC – was expected originally to be in Fort Lauderdale at 9:15! He called up, and we sensed he was already ticked off – IRITADA!

Once we finished breakfast, Pipo and I made our way in search of a place where we could hang out and rest. We wanted to hang out in a beach area, since we were in Florida. I remembered seeing a sign with Dania Beach close to the Fort Lauderdale airport, and headed out there. We found it fairly easily, and spent a good bit of the morning parked at the beach, taking a nap since we were very much sleep deprived. We awoke around 10:00, and explored the beach, taking a few pictures along the way.

And here they are…very A4A, don’t you think? I don’t have any of me, since I think Pipo took them on his camera, and we didn’t have a CF reader to extract them out of his camera. >sigh< Oh well...

Pipo came up for the Independence Day holiday weekend – he wanted to forget the trials and tribulations of love in the City of Angeles (Los Angeles, for those of you who don’t know L.A.’s other moniker).

With the teeming restaurants of the world class food scene here in San Francisco, we spent a lot of the weekend eating and drinking. On the day that Pipo came over, we had a wonderful lunch at Juban, a Japanese grillery in Menlo Park. Very much like Korean barbecue, but our highlight of that meal was the Kobe Beef sashimi. Yes – raw, Kobe beef that was absolutely sublime!

Later during the day, we headed up to The City (as SF is fondly known to Bay Area residents) and traipsed for a bit along the Embarcadero – catching views of the Bay Bridge – before heading to dinner to my one of my fave restaurants, B44, a Catalan Bistro. I introduced Pipo to the wonderful paellas – especailly my favorite of all – the Paella Negre – a paella blackened by a sauce that uses squid ink as its base, with a dollop of heavenly garlic aoli. Yummmmm!

We spent the entire day in Napa, enjoying a 4-hour ride on the Napa Valley Wine Train. During the 4-hours, as idyllic views of the valley vineyards went past us, we ate a sumptuous 4 course lunch that typified the Napa life of good food and good wine!

In spite of the food and libations (especially the libations) to drown out love’s labours lost in L.A., Pipo couldn’t help but think of his special someone…

As I’ve heard people say…it takes but a second to catch the glint of someone’s eye, a minute to know their name, an hour to get to know them, a day to fall in love with someone, but it takes a whole lifetime to forget them, especially if they’ve made such a huge impact on your life…