Counting down the days

"Time is of more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." ~ Jim Rohn

When we first booked our round the world cruise last May, we had well over 200 days to wait for our big adventure to begin. Now we've got fewer days to go than we'll spend on board the Pacific Princess. But the counter at the bottom of this blog isn't the only way we're measuring the time until we depart. Here are a few of them:

1. Number of haircuts till we leave: 2 

No, this is not my DH!

This one is from the DH. He figures he'll get his ears set out two more times. I plan to let my hair grow. It'll be easier to pull up into a pony tail and get it off my neck. This is important since we'll be spending some winter months south of the equator (which is their summer!)

2. Number of pedicures till we leave: 2, maybe 3  This one's mine. My mom and I enjoy scheduling our Girls'  Morning Out about every four-five weeks. What color do you think I should I get for my bon voyage pedi?

Available for pre-order

3. Number of first drafts of novels I'll finish: 1  If I'd written this post earlier this year, the number would have been two. I sent my Lexi Eddings A COLDWATER WARM HEARTS CHRISTMAS manuscript to my editor before we left for Alaska in September. I expect revision requests and the copy editor's notes to come back in time for me to turn in the final product before we leave in January. 

My current WIP (Work In Progress) is a Mia Marlowe historical: LORD BREDON & THE BACHELOR'S BIBLE. It's the second book in the House of Lovell  series. The first is pictured above. (You can follow my progress on Book 2 in the little word count widget in the left hand column.) This manuscript isn't due till next May, but I take my contract deadlines seriously. Plus I really don't want to have to write fresh copy at sea. Revisions and noodling around with a finished draft isn't the same as plowing the virgin page. 

4. Number of items checked off from my Makin' a List & Checkin' it Twice post: 7

• Passports- We had to have the DH's reissued to correct the misspelling of his middle name, but it's all good now. Passports must be good for at least 6 months longer than our cruise will last. Ours are valid till 2020, so we're golden.
• Visas- We jumped through all the hoops to get our Indian visas, and passed through the online Australian process with "No worries, mate!" We have decided to let Princess secure our required Jordanian visas. They'll take care of all the paperwork and only charge our shipboard account $25 a piece.
• Vaccinations-
  
  There are no absolutely required vaccinations for this trip, but after spending a little time on the CDC site, we learned there are some strong recommendations. We decided we needed Hep A & Typhoid shots as a precaution. In addition, I got a T-DAP because I was due for a tetanus shot, and after some blood work, the DH discovered he hadn't been inoculated against ruebella, so he had an MMR. We both still need to get our yearly flu shot, but we always do that one. It's just a matter of getting around to it. 
• Travel Insurance- We looked at the insurance Princess offered, but ended up with C&F Travel Insured International, the company our travel agent found for us. I'd heard estimates of 5-10% of the trip cost for a premium and ours falls in that range. It's the sort of thing you hope you never have to use, but you're oh so relieved to have.
• Communications- We have already pre-purchased a block of internet minutes from Princess. I expect we'll need more before we're home again, but it's a start. We considered switching our cell phone service to T-Mobile because they offer free international texts, but here in the Ozarks their service is spotty. We've decided our main way to communicate with loved ones and friends will be email (and this blog!!!)
• Pre-cruise hotel reservations-  Actually, we made two. One for LA, where we board the ship and one for St. Louis, where we board the plane that'll take us to LA & the ship. I like being in place a day a head of time for both those things--especially since weather in the Midwest can be chancy in January.    
• Prescriptions-
  
  With my lung condition, I'm sort of a walking pharmacy. We called our insurance and asked if we could get a three month supply of meds since we'll be out of the country. "Sure," they  replied. "If you pre-pay three months of your premiums." Nuts to that. We asked our doctor to write 90 day scripts for us. Then I went to Blinkhealth.com and GoodRX.com, and using a combination of the two, we bought meds to take with us out of pocket. With the exception of one weirdly esoteric drug I take, it actually worked out better than the co-pays on our insurance. Who knew?

We still have a number of things to do from the original list, and few more that we've thought of since we compiled it. So even though we feel we've accomplished a lot to prepare for our trip, there's still more to do.

Charlie doing his Happy Shake!

But lest you think we're wishing our lives away while we wait for the ship to sail, let me assure you that is not the case. We're enjoying our friends and family. We're active in our church and community. We're playing with our dogs and living our lives. We're grateful for every minute.

We just have this wonderful, shiny thing on our horizon, and every day it dazzles more brightly the nearer it grows.

 ~~~

Now it's YOUR turn. Is there something you're looking forward to? Or would you like to weigh in on what color I should go with for my last land pedicure next January?

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