Thankful!

First, let me share that we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family yesterday. My mom and dad hosted 10 of us for the big meal. Everyone brought something so my mother didn't have to totally exhaust herself. I cooked the turkey, a side dish and pumpkin pie. We prayed and ate and laughed together, feeling so blessed to be able to gather around in person this year. And Gracie, my great-niece who'll be 4 in January, led us all in a hilarious game of "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" 

It was a delightful day, and I bless God for allowing us to all share it together. 

This morning we decorated the house for Christmas because, always trying to stay hopeful, we want to enjoy the holiday as long as we can since we'll be bugging out for the world cruise on January 8th. 

And today, we got our first Christmas present from "Uncle" Torstein--a 9 page email with our FINALIZED ITINERARY! 

Leaving from LA, here are our travel plans:

Jan. 10 -11 ~ Los Angeles, California 
Jan. 12 – 19 ~ Sail the Pacific Ocean 

Jan. 20-21 ~ Taiohae, Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia 

Jan. 22 – 23 ~ Sail the South Pacific Ocean 

Jan. 24 - 26 ~ Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Jan. 27 - 28 ~ Jan Bahia d'Opunohu, Moorea, French Polynesia 

Jan. 29 -30 ~ Vaitape, Bora Bora, French Polynesia 

Jan. 31 –  Feb.1 ~ Sail the South Pacific Ocean 

Feb 3 ~ Cross the International Date Line  (As you may have noticed, Feb. 2nd disappeared!)

Feb.4 – 5 ~ Sail the South Pacific Ocean 

Feb 6 – 7 ~ Suva, Fiji 

Feb 8 – 19 ~ Sail the South Pacific Ocean (My Kindle will smoking with this stretch of sea days!)

Feb 20 - 22 ~ Singapore, Singapore 

Feb 23 ~ Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia 

Feb 24 ~ George Town, Penang, Malaysia 

Feb 25 ~ Langkawi, Malaysia 

Feb 26 ~ Phuket (Patong Beach), Thailand 

Feb 27 ~  Sail the Andaman Sea 

Feb 28 – Mar 1 Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal 

Mar. 2 - 3 ~ Chennai, India 

Mar 4 – 5 ~ Sail the Laccadive Sea 

Mar 6 - 7 ~ Cochin, India 

Mar 8 ~ Sail the Arabian Sea 

Mar 9 -10 ~ Marmagoa (Goa), India 

Mar 11 - 12 ~ Mumbai (Bombay), India 

Mar13 ~ Sail the Arabian Sea 

Mar 14 – 15 Sail the Gulf of Oman 

Mar 16 ~ Doha, Qatar 

Mar 17 ~ Abu Dhabi, UAE 

Mar 18 ~ Dubai, UAE 

Mar 19 ~ Sail the Gulf of Oman 

Mar 20 ~ Muscat, Oman 

Mar 21 – 23 ~ Sail the Arabian Sea 

Mar 24 ~ Salālah, Oman 

Mar 25 – 26 ~ Sail the Gulf of Aden 

Mar 27 – 28 ~ Sail the Red Sea 

Mar 29 -30 ~ Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

Mar 31-April 1 ~ Yanbu Al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia 

Apr 2 ~  Sail the Red Sea 

Apr 3 - 4 ~ Aqaba, Jordan 

Apr 5 ~  Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt 

Apr 6 ~ Safaga/Luxor, Egypt 

Apr 7 ~ Sail the Gulf of Suez 

Apr 8 ~ Scenic Sailing: Suez Canal 

Apr 9 ~ Alexandria, Egypt 

Apr 10 ~  Port Said/Cairo, Egypt 

Apr 11 ~ Jerusalem (Ashdod), Israel 

Apr  12 - 13 ~ Haifa, Israel 

Apr 14 ~ Sail the Mediterranean Sea 

Apr 15 ~ Rhodes, Greece 

Apr 16 ~  Kuşadasi/Ephesus, Turkey 

Apr 17 ~  Sail the Aegean Sea 

Apr 18 - 19 Istanbul, Turkey 

Apr 20 ~ Sail the Aegean Sea 

Apr 21 - 22 ~  Athens (Piraeus), Greece 

Apr 23 ~ Sail the Ionian Sea 

Apr 24 ~ Sicily (Messina), Italy 

Apr 25 ~ Naples, Italy 

Apr 26 ~ Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 

Apr 27 ~ Monte Carlo, Monaco 

Apr 28 ~ Sail the Balearic Sea 

Apr 29 - 30 ~ Barcelona, Spain 

May 1 ~ Murcia (Cartagena), Spain 

May 2 ~  Sail the Strait of Gibraltar 

May 3 ~ Lisbon, Portugal 

May 4 ~ Sail the Atlantic Ocean 

May 5 ~ Scenic Sailing: English Channel 

May 6 ~ Portsmouth, England 

May 7 ~ Scenic Sailing: Strait of Dover 

May 8 - 9 ~ London (Tilbury), England 

May 10 ~ At Sea 

May 11 ~ Bergen, Norway (disembarkation) 

57 sea days (though some of those are Scenic Cruising days, which kind of don't count as sea days)

18 overnights! That's kind of unheard of. (Except I'm not sure what we'll do overnight on Nuku Hiva. It's the headhunter island that was featured on Survivor and in fact a German tourist did go mysteriously missing back in 2010 in that chain of islands.) 

We've lost a few place since we first booked this cruise--no Santa Barbara, Hawaii, Kiribati, New Zealand, Australia, Komodo, Bali, Viet Nam, Myanmar (Burma), or Sri Lanka. But we've gained some new countries--Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as extra ports India, Oman, Egypt & Israel. We're thrilled to have 4 ports of call in Egypt, instead of just one, and an extra stop in Israel (also happy we won't be in Jerusalem on Easter in this schedule. That would have been a madhouse!) I really like the idea of so many overnights. It means we can take a leisurely pace with our stops and not feel we have to cram everything into one day. 

Of course, at the bottom of the email, in the teeniest of ant-track fonts was the warning:

Itinerary and ship routing are subject to change.

Ain't it the truth?

Less Ambiguity

"The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage." ~  Mark Russell 

Today we received some positive signs that we really are going to be embarking on the Viking Star come January 10th. Viking sent us an email with a voucher, directing us to Luggage Forward, a service that will come to our humble abode and take two 50 lb. suitcases. Our things will be waiting for us in our cabin once we're onboard. 

How lovely! It's a nice little perk we didn't have in 2018 when we traveled around the world with Princess. And how delicious to be able to stroll through the airport with just our carry-on's. 

Well, that's the theory. 

Clearly, Viking has higher hopes for me than I do. Do they really expect me to pack enough clothes, shoes, rain gear, extra storage bins, hangers, magnets, trekking poles, backpacks, collapsible laundry hamper, and all the assorted odds and ends that make life comfortable for 122 days in just one 50 lb. bag? 

And as for carry-on's...a large portion of ours will be gobbled up with my extra purse-sized Portable Oxygen Concentrator (Perival--Percy for short), all our assorted power cords, chargers, spare batteries (which weigh a ton!), two computers and their power cords, prescription medication for four months along with OTC stuff for possible sniffles, headaches, or boo-boo's, a small amount of jewelry...oh! and if there's room a pair of jammies for the hotel the night before we embark.  

But somehow, we'll get it all sorted. Packing is rather like a 3-D puzzle with pieces that smoosh and squoosh into position. I can play that game. And I've promised the DH we will NOT be taking as many pieces of luggage as we did in 2018. Then we had four large suitcases, a medium-sized roller-bag, two rolling carry-on's, the DH's backpack, and Herkimer (my bigger POC) in his rolling cart. And my poor DH had to wrangle pretty much all of it.  

(This was taken just before we left in 2018. It makes me a little sad to see it, because we have since lost Mack, our beloved terrier. He lived to be 15 before he had to leave us last year right around Thanksgiving time. Once on a walk, he charged two (!) pit bulls and put them both on the run before he ran out of the length of his zipline leash. He thought he was protecting us. Heart of a lion, that one. I still miss him everyday.)

 

In the 18th and 19th centuries, manor houses had an entire room dedicated to old furniture, trunks, and portmanteaus. It was called the "lumber room." We have our own version. It was called the DH's office. Now it's our staging area for gathering up all the things we intend to pack. We're both making lists, because if I don't see it written down and checked off once it's actually packed, I'll fret until I get to LA over whether or not I've forgotten something. Here's the chaos that will we shortly have to muscle into order.

Luggage Forward will be at our door ready to whisk away our two 50 lb suitcases on December 21st.

Let the Packing Games begin... 

Delicious Ambiguity

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.” ― Gilda Radner

If you check the countdown clock at the bottom of this blog, it says we'll be boarding the Viking Star in something less than 50 days. I'm still hopeful. There's no joy in not trying to stay positive...but the chances that this trip will happen seem to be diminishing. 

First, we lost Australia and New Zealand, which accounts for about a month's worth of our travel destinations. Neither country is opening for cruise tourism yet and seems to be in no hurry. Then Santa Barbara, the 2nd stop on our itinerary closed their port to cruise ships. Just this week, we learned that though the Hawaiian Islands are welcoming tourist who fly in, they are not going to be open to cruisers by the time we expected to be there.

I know Viking is scrambling, trying to do everything they can to put together a world class itinerary for us, but so much is out of their control. We are still waiting for visa kits from GenVisa, a service Viking provides for us, because the itinerary is still not set. And frankly, how can it be with so much uncertainty in the world?

Still, we've been able to do a few fun, anticipatory things, just as if everything was going along swimmingly. We were able to book a bunch of shore excursions for the second half of the voyage, which still seems to be a go. We booked specialty dining with our friends Kristy and Dave for the first couple of days on board, as well as for my birthday. 

Viking is giving us all a lovely jacket with their logo. We had to let them know our sizes so the garments will be waiting for us in our stateroom when we board.  

We've been doing our part to get ready. The DH and I have both had our Covid-19 booster shot. We're driving to Springfield, MO next week to apply for TSA Pre-Check, which should make our flights easier. Just today, we did a practice pack of our carry-on's. It's amazing how quickly that space fills up! 

I'm on a Cruise Critic Roll Call, a Facebook Group for this voyage, and an email loop. Some of my new internet friends have contacted Luggage Forward to schedule their pick ups. Viking will pay for us to ship two 50 lb. suitcases ahead of time. I plan to call them next week. They are supposed to pick them up at our home. Bet they'll be surprised how far out in the boonies we live.

Those online spaces are awash with speculation about where we'll be going... maybe the Mexican Riviera instead of island hopping around Hawaii. Someone suggested another Indian stop will be added and possibly Muscat. But no one really knows.

This week, we received another email from Viking on November 19th, letting us know they are still hammering out the last details for us. They plan to send the completed itinerary and updated Visa kits next week.

Just in time for Thanksgiving! 

Still, this promises to be a Magical Mystery Tour to beat all. And the entire exercise in revision reminds me of the old military adage--"No plan survives first contact with the enemy." 

And in this case, the enemy is a virus that has crippled the entire world.   

So many other cruise lines have already cancelled their 2022 world cruises. As far as I know, only Viking and Oceania are still soldiering on. If the Star sails out of Los Angeles on January 10th, we intend to be on it. 

Who can resist a chance to be travelers instead of just tourists? To go for the sake of going? To live out Robert Louis Stevenson's "the great affair is to move?" 

Because even if the ship sails, I'll be ever so surprised if we know where we're going.

The End is Near...

"There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story." -Frank Herbert

October 1, 2021

This trip was several years in the making and now it's nearly over. We are all making memories and drawing closer together in so many ways, but Mr. Herbert is right. Our family's story is not ending. It's just moving back to our regular stomping grounds.  

We ran into my parents, #2 Daughter & Nephew at breakfast. The Encore is a much bigger ship than they've ever cruised on before, but they have learned their way around and manage quite nicely on their own. How about that? I didn't need to hover as much as I thought I might. Besides, everyone they meet still recognizes them and hails them as the couple who slayed The Not-So-Newlywed-Game that first night! 

I joined #2 Daughter for trivia at 9:00. We've competed in several games together over the week and frankly, she often does better without me. When the topic is popular culture, I'm clueless. 

Then I joined #1 Daughter and D-I-L for a painting class. We weren't aware that reservations were needed, but the crew member leading the class was very flexible and accommodated as many of us extras as she could. #1 Daughter decided to spectate for this activity, so D-I-L and I could take part. She's sweet like that.  

It was so nice to do something side-by-side and talk and enjoy each other. The process was more important than the product in my case, but her painting really turned out great. Of course, that may be because she is an artist and I'm just a dabbler. 

I continue to love being on the sea again. The air is so fresh and clean. A natural antihistamine. I had to put on a second patch scopolamine patch as we moved from the sheltered inside passage to the Pacific. Nephew benefited from another one as well. 

Everyone else seems impervious to the motion of the ocean. 

However, wearing a seasickness patch didn't stop Nephew from rising to the top of the leader board on the go-cart track! The DH and #2 Daughter got suited up to take a few turns around the largest go-cart track at sea, too. They had to take off their glasses and remove anything else that might fly off before climbing into their little roadsters. 

It’s no trouble to get a high step count on the Encore, so I’m feeling stronger each day. 

We're beginning to pack for the trip home tomorrow. The saddest of all cruise days is when the suitcases get put out in the hallway. However, to take away the sting of leaving this wonderful mode of travel, Norwegian has an agreement with SEA-TAC called Port Valet that allows us to let them haul our bags to the airport separately from the bus transfer that will take us there. We won’t see them again until we reach STL near midnight tomorrow. What a wonderful service!

Though we often went our own ways during the days, we met each evening for dinner in the Manhattan Room.

Along with the wonder that is Alaska, the Encore provided us a way to travel with comfort, style, excellent food and service, more activities than we could ever take part in, and so many funny, and heart-warming memories. 

Norwegian really pulled out all the stops to make this a trip we'll never forget! 

Moose Poop & Other Brilliant Moments

“Half the work that is done in this world is to make things appear what they are not.” —E.R. Beadle

September 30, 2021 

Ketchikan is our last port of call. I can't believe how quickly this trip has flown. It's raining off and on and in the 40’s. People seem surprised and frustrated that it rains so often in the largest temperate rain forest in the world. Life is filled with rain, but it’s not all bad. It nourishes the earth. It washes the air clean. I wish I could bottle the air around here. It’s so brisk and clean smelling, filled with exhalations of millions of trees.  

Norwegian has had to invest quite a bit in another dock located across the bay from the one we've arrived at before. Again, the size of this ship has a lot to do with that. We didn't have an excursion planned for today, so we hopped on the shuttle with #2 Daughter and Nephew. It took us around the bay and into the heart of this bustling little tourist trap...ahem! I mean charming town. 

It's actually interesting to see the less glitzy parts of the village, the homely places where people buy their groceries and fill their cars with gas. Like many towns located on the water, Ketchikan is pretty vertical in spots.  

And it's home to some great bargains. In years past, we snagged some excellent winter parkas for around $20. We usually plan on this stop being our shopping port for trinkets and baubles.

And boy, did we find some doozies this year. 

The stand-out had to be this little display of gilded Christmas ornaments at a unique little shop featuring local artists. Most of the offerings were spectacular--scrimshaw work on walrus tusks and original paintings. Then there were these curiosities...

Yes, my friends, these gaudily enameled little droplets are...moose poop. 

The shop owner says he can't keep them in stock. People buy them as Christmas gag gifts for friends and family (in lieu of a lump of coal?). He says it's a very earth-friendly product. Totally renewable raw materials, he claimed. 

I think it's evidence that PT Barnum was right.

And it proves people will buy anything if it's marketed correctly.  

#1 Daughter and D-I-L took a wonderful small boat tour ostensibly to see lighthouses and totem poles. Instead, they ended up seeing eagles, humpbacks, sea lions and sea otters. The tour operator had the theme from Jurassic Park playing as they cruised along and in time with a crescendo in the music, a humpback breached right in front of them. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the guide intoned as if he'd arranged it just for them, "Welcome to Alaska!"

Photo by D-I-L

The DH and I had a hot stone couples' massage in the afternoon. I had expected it to be very relaxing, but my masseuse went after the knots in my muscles like she was killing snakes. She actually left bruises on my arms and legs. It occurred to me that I never asked about what sort of training the people in the spa have. Don't think I'll be doing that again. 

The Choir of Man, a show I was really looking forward to, was canceled and a quartet called The Company Men was subbed in. They had a very good blend, excellent showmanship, and were quite entertaining.  But again, the sound system in the theater was cranked up so that everything was painfully loud. The canned accompaniment often overwhelmed the vocals, which was sad because they were good singers.

My Mom and Dad continue to be recognized every where they go on the ship and generally treated like celebrities. People want to talk to them and even give them hugs. With 67 years of a happy marriage under their belts, they definitely offer something to aspire to. 

I’m so thrilled that everyone is having a wonderful time on the Norwegian Encore!

Juneau!

"John Muir, the famous naturalist, wrote in his journal that you should never go to Alaska as a young man because you'll never be satisfied with any other place as long as you live. And there's a lot of truth to that." ~ Tom Bodett

September 29, 2021

This morning the Encore shimmied into her berth at Juneau. It's Alaska's capital, but not its largest city. It's not even the second largest. Anchorage leads the pack, followed by Fairbanks. Actually the fact that Juneau has a population of over 30,000 is surprising given the fact that you can't get there by car. Juneau is only accessible by plane or boat. 

In years past, our ships docked close enough for us to walk off and into the heart of town, but today we were far enough from town that we had to take a shuttle in. Probably due to the fact that the Encore is a mega-ship and can't park just anywhere. 

Everyone headed for different places. The DH and I joined #2 Daughter and Nephew on a ship arranged tour of the Mendenhall Glacier and Gardens. 

The Gardens have a very wild feel to them. The exception is the odd introduction of upside down trees that are used as bases for perennial plantings. The story behind them is that Steve Bowhay, the owner and founder, originally bought the property after a massive landslide and rented a big backhoe to try to bring some stability to the mostly vertical land. However he couldn't afford to pay for insurance on the equipment. After working 30 days without incident, on the last day of his rental contract, he was trying to pull up a dead tree, but it shifted and landed on the engine compartment of the backhoe. In frustration, he transplanted it in the dirt upside down, roots snaking upward and sideways. 

It was a eureka moment. He'd discovered something that would set his garden apart from all others. Because we were there so late in the season, most of the colorful plants had already been removed from the tops of the many upside down platforms that dotted the road leading to a spectacular view of the glacial valley that leads back to Juneau. 

On either side of the path, we saw little rivulets finding its way down to the valley floor, but Steve had dug out several little holding pools that kept it from cascading down, taking the precious topsoil with it. 

From the Gardens, we traveled the short distance to the Mendenhall Glacier. Nephew and the DH made the hike to Nugget Falls while #2 Daughter and I explored the visitors' center. It is an achingly beautiful area. 

While we were off on this explore, #1 Daughter & D-I-L took my parents up the Juneau Tram. It's a steep funicular ride through a dense forest of hemlock and Sitka spruce. In 2017 when we got to the top, we were treated to a presentation by the local Tlingit tribe and a musical concert by the Alaska String Band. Sadly, there was nothing like that going on today. 

That's the thing about revisiting the same places. They are never the same, sometimes better, sometimes less so, but never the same.

But as they say in small town papers everywhere, "a good time was had by all!" And we all made it back to the ship for our rather early 4:00 sail away. 

Glacier Bay National Park

“A national park is not a playground. It’s a sanctuary for nature and for humans who will accept nature on nature’s own terms.” ~ Michael Frome

 September 28, 2021

By the time we woke this morning, we were already cruising in a national park. 

We're naturally early risers, but we especially didn't want to lounge about because...well, we might just miss something wonderful. The buffet had barely opened when we popped in to grab a quick breakfast and then head back to our balcony. An Alaskan cruise is cold enough at the end of September that our balcony isn't used much, but today is the exception.

And the early birds caught...the whale! 

We were able to see a full breach and then huge sprays of water as the big body slapped the calm surface. The fellow on the verandah next to ours was exclaiming "Oh, Oh, OH!" as if someone had just dropped a bucket of ice water on his head. Of course, it all happened too quickly for us to catch with a camera, and in fact, I can't tell you for sure what species it was, but it thrilled my heart to see it. 

In fact, we didn't capture much in the way of photos because we were so intent on actually looking at this amazing place. Otters huddled on an iceberg in one place. My parents saw several eagles. We saw a few seals, though not anything like the entire island covered with sea lions as we sailed past in 2017 on the Holland American Eurodam. 

But part of the charm of Alaska for me is enjoying mountains while still being at sea level. 

The day was very cold and gray, but we had no rain, thank you, God. 

Much is made about glaciers being in retreat as if it's a bad thing, but because some (though not all) of the glaciers are not pushing as far out into the waters of Glacier Bay as they used to, several species of animals and plants have reclaimed the area. And in fact, the Tlingit people are claiming the mouth of the inlet as their ancestral homeland, the one glaciers ran them out of years ago. 

This afternoon, after we leave Glacier Bay and head toward Juneau, the DH and I plan to go to the Kincaid exhibit with Mom, #2 Daughter and Nephew. I don't know much about Thomas Kincaid as an artist, though I do have one of his prints. This is billed as an exhibit, not an auction, though I enjoy those too. 

Don’t know what we’ll do after supper. No real entertainment options that jump out at me. Since we rose so early, we may call it an evening in. That's one of the loveliest things about cruising. You can do anything or nothing and it's equally good.

The DH is always so proud of his panoramic shots. This was an especially good one!

More soon...