Nearly two months ago was my 90th birthday. It was not celebrated the way it had been planned. Come to think of it, the changes were not all that bad. I tell myself, I am still a lucky person. I am grateful for being alive and able to enjoy life a lot. Here is what I published before:
All this about September 2024 I published one month ago in October. Here is a reply to that post from dear Linda (Rangewriter) and my reply to it:
- rangewriter What a bitter disappointment.
auntyuta Yes, Linda, It took hours and hours before it was esablished that Monika could not receive her new passport soon enough for us to be able to board the ship before its departure. Finally, we had to find a way back home at our own cost. What a horrible day! However, my sweet daughter Caroline drove me all the way home to Dapto late in the afternoon. When she heard of our plight that we were not allowed to board the ship, she left her work early and retrieved her car to where it was parked in Sydney to take me home to Dapto. We had a bit to eat at my place and at about 10pm Caroline drove back to her place in Sydney.
https://auntyuta.com/2024/10/13/remembering-september-2024-continued/
As you know, on Wednesday, September 18th, the ship left without us. My daughter Caroline drove me back home on that day.
Three days later was Friday, and this was my 90th birthday. On that day I had a good time staying overnight in a nearby hotel with my friend Les. Naturally we spent the following weekend together too.
Thursday September 27 was the day that the Carneval returned to Sydney, and our luggage was there to be collected. I had borrowed from Les a big suittcase for the cruise! The suitcase had done the trip to Vanuatu and back without me. My family picked it up for me and I was happy that I got it returned in a good condition.
On the following Sunday, the 30th of September, we had as planned a family gathering to celebrate my turning ninety as well as great-grandson Alexander turning ten on the 27th of September just a few days after my birthday!
We had a nice birthday lunch as well as afternoon cafe and birthday cake at the neraby German Club. About ten people were present, including the birthday boy of course. Unfortunately some people could not join us on that day because of illness.
I feel sorry for Monika and Natasha that they had to miss out on a cruise that had cost them so much money. All that money is lost now. But they still hope eventuallyto be able to go onto another cruise. I made up my mind now: I do not want to book another cruise again. I prefer to stay close to my home.
AuntyUta 
Sorry, I did get the dates a bit wrong here! The 21st of September was a Saturday, and our celebrations were on Sunday, the 29th of September. I did write about it here: https://auntyuta.com/2024/10/13/remembering-september-2024-continued/
Yes, Caroline did drive me back home on Wednesday, the 18th. So far I did not mention what Monika and Natasha did. Early in the morning they had come with Monika’s car to my place. We had paid someone to take all of us with all our luggage to the ship in Sydney. It was a pleasant trip in a very big car. (If it had not been for me they could have managed to go on the train!)
As I had said we could hand over our big suitcases as soon as we arrived at our ship. Natasha’s suitcase was a pink one, brand new and extra large! Later on they found Natasha’s suitcase and gave it back to Natasha, but they could not find Monika’s and my suitcase among the thousands of suitsases with a similar dark colour! This is why these suitcases had to stay on board.
Anyhow, they did get Natasha’s suitcas! Apart from Natasha’s suitcase they both had a lot of cabin luggage as well. They decided to stay in a hotel in the inner city that night. The next morning they returned to Dapto by train.
While we were waiting to board the ship Monika had been sent to the passport office some distance away in Sydney so that she could get her passport renewed. There were all sorts of delays. She also had to go to another place for new passport photos. For quite some time her messages sounded hopeful, that she could make it back to board the ship on time with her new passport. But all this hoping was for nothing. She just could not make it in time. That was when they tried to find our suitcases to return them to us . . . .
Monika had booked the cruise for all of us online many, many months ago. If she had booked with a travel agent he would have told her about this rule that the passport needed to be valid for more than six months!!