Since my lesson was scheduled for noon I woke up at 7:45 am to head down for a good, solid warm up. My plan was to warm up early, leave the ship by 9:15, take the crew shuttle to down town, metro mover to Government Station, and then the metro rail to University of Miami. From there I would walk across campus to the school of music with an ETA of around 10:30. This would give me plenty of time to look around the school, tour the campus, and check everything out before my lesson.
It did not go as planned. Friday is our turnaround day in Miami. Guests from the previous 4 day cruise leave the ship in the morning and new guests come onboard for the 3 day weekend cruise. Guests leave in an orderly fashion by group number (similar to boarding a plane). Before they leave, one of the areas that the congregate to wait is in the theater. So…with people in there…so much for the warm up space.
Undeterred, I decided to abort Plan A and head off the ship to warm up at U of M. After a quick breakfast of 3 hard boiled eggs, I grabbed my trombone and laptop and made my way down to the gang way. In order to get off the ship in the US, crew members need to have any carry on items x-rayed including shoes and socks. After going thru a metal detector, we are then subject to a pat down before putting back on the shoes and socks and continuing off the ship. I know it sounds extreme, but, you get used to it. After getting my shoes off and my bags on the scanner, I heard one of the security officers say:
"Sir, where do you think you're going?"
"Um…University fo Miami?"
"The ship is not clear. You'll have to wait."
So, back on with the shoes and back with the bags. I went back to my room to wait. When I got to my room I realized that I was $1 short for the shuttle ride to downtown Miami. So, I woke Ian up and borrowed a buck from him. After about 10 minutes (and feeling like a bad roommate for waking up Ian) the ship cleared so I was able to head out.
After clearing security, I stepped off the gangway and out to the shuttle area of the port. Crew shuttle service runs between the ship and downtown Miami. In a perfect world, shuttle vans would leave about every 15 minutes or so from the ship. However, the drivers wait until the shuttle is overflowing with passengers before leaving. This morning, I sat in the crew shuttle for 25 minutes with 3 other people without moving at all. I was starting to get worried about making my lesson on time in order to get a good warm up in, so, since the driver was going to stay until the shuttle was full, I decided to walk to downtown.
It's not a long walk…on a nice day. This was not a 'nice' day by walking standards. Temperature up high as well as the humidity. It didn't help that I was wearing a black shirt in anticipation for being back onboard very close to boat drill (where I have to be in uniform) and carrying a backpack and trombone. I made it across the bridge in about 20 minutes, but, was soaked with sweat and had to take a break to cool off and hydrate (sounds dramatic, but, it's true!) at the Starbucks in the Bayside Mall.
After polishing off my water at the cafe (and finding that my computer had zero battery and needed to be charged up), I decided that the only way to make the best time to the lesson would be to catch a cab. The Metro Rail, while reliable, is also takes a reliably long time to get anywhere. I still held out hope for arrival at the Frost School of Music in time for a good warm up, short break, and then the lesson.
Luckily, I found a cab right in front of Bayside and hopped in. Of course, with everything else going so well this morning, it should come as no surprise that the cab driver got lost on the way to the University. Furthermore, when we arrived on campus, there was construction happening that not only didn't allow him to get close to the School of Music with the cab, but, made it very difficult for me to get in on foot.
When I finally got to the School of Music it was a ghost town due to summer break. Many doors were locked and it took me a long time to locate the proper building and Dante's office therein. I sat down in the practice room to warm up at 11:19 am. 41 minutes before my lesson was to begin. Not cool, man. Not cool.
After the lesson, Dante was kind enough to give me a lift back downtown. I met an Indianapolis friend of mine, Jen, who was in town on business for a quick drink at Elwood's Pub. Then I hopped back on the shuttle to get back to the ship. There was a bumper sticker on the inside of the door in the shuttle where I was sitting. I have no idea what it means, but, I took a picture anyway.
Awkward.
Hopefully, my lesson at FIU will be a better experience this coming Friday.
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