The Pleasures of Preparation!

“Why not seize the pleasure at once? -- How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!” ― Emma, Jane Austen

I don't often contradict Ms. Austen, but in this case, preparation is pleasure! We continue to knock things off our "to do" list as we get ready to say goodbye to our land life for a while. If we fail to prepare, I'm sure I'll be kicking myself while we're bobbing in the Pacific somewhere over something important I forgot. 

The cases are about 70% full now.

Today, we packed the DH's 2nd big suitcase, which we'll check on the flight to LA. and his carry-on. It's amazing what you can fit into those small wheeled conveyances if you're willing to do a little smooshing and squooshing. I still have a list of about a dozen items we'll need to find space for, but our packing is pretty much complete at this point. 

And while we were packing I found our old passports, which I'd absent-mindedly tucked into one of the DH's carry-on's outer pockets. Our Indian visas, which the DH sweat bullets over when he had to wrestle with the online process in 2017, are sewn into those expired passports, but the visas are supposed to be valid until 2027. I'd been concerned since GenVisa, the service Viking uses, has not yet sent us our e-visas for India and Saudi Arabia. 

But when the DH called Ilya at GenVisa, he said he was still working our our e-visas because India has voided all the old visas since the beginning of the pandemic. I fretted over finding something that is essentially worthless.    

We took down our Christmas tree today, and wandered about the house collecting all the holiday gewgaws and gizzwickies from the horizontal surfaces they've adorned for the last month. Christmas always seems to crawl toward us until suddenly it's here in a rush and just as quickly gone. (With a nod to Jane Austen, there is something to be said for celebrating the 12 days of Christmas beginning with the Big Day itself. One day and done is just too time-compact for such a momentous occasion.) 

But since we'll be gone shortly after Epiphany, I didn't want to leave it till then. And I certainly didn't want to leave the chore for #2 Daughter who'll be taking care of the house for us. The only thing sadder than taking down Christmas decorations is doing it alone! 

We stopped by the bank yesterday to change some hundreds into ones, fives, tens and twenties to take with us on the cruise. Smaller bills are great for incidental tips and shopping in port. This time, the DH took me with him. When he went in to order a hundred one dollar bills in 2017, the teller gave him the stink-eye until he explained our travel plans. I'm afraid she suspected he was headed for a strip club! 

We've both popped in to our doctors' office for a blood draw in preparation for a final medical check next week. We're feeling fine. These are just our regular 6 month check-ups.

In a sense, this cruise has already begun. The first group of world cruisers boarded the Star in Florida on the day before Christmas, about 750 passengers on a ship designed to hold 930. However, some of those are only doing the Panama canal transit portion and will disembark in LA to make room for folks like us. According to some of our fellow cruisers, our final head count will be around 650 passengers making the trip from LA to London, or, in our case, Bergen. We've been following a couple of bloggers who are already on board--Rose & Ted's Excellent Adventures and Kolbs on the Road. Highly recommended reads!

The voyage thus far has not been without its snags. Some passengers tested positive in Ft Lauderdale and were denied boarding. A couple more were put off in Key West. Then in an apparent change of policy when the Star reached Cozumel, 4 passengers who came up positive in the daily spit test were quarantined on board, while one was disembarked. A couple of wags on our CruiseCritic email loop shared this exchange about the situation: 

"What's the difference between walking the plank and getting thrown in the brig?" 

"Bad lawyer!"

Personally, I think it may have been that the passengers who remained on board where only planning to be on for the Panama Canal leg of the trip. Just a hunch.

Anyway, by the time the Star reached Cartagena, Columbia, there were 9 passengers and 2 crew members in quarantine with 10 close contacts self-isolating in their cabins. Unfortunately, this exceeded the 1% Covid tolerance for that South American city and the Star was turned away.  She's steaming in slow circles toward Colon, Panama as I type. 

It's tempting to be depressed by these events, but I've challenged myself to remain positive. Yes, there are 11 positive cases on board, but that means there are 739 passengers and 548 crew members who are not infected. Same for those who are self-isolating because they were in close contact with folks who were later determined to be positive. Only 10 are enjoying room service, while 729 passengers can enjoy a spectacular sunset from the fantail, dine in one of the many excellent venues, and generally be as content as they choose. And anyone who tests positive will surely be disembarked in LA,  so the Star will start fresh with just "worldies" on board.

If we remain negative for our pre-flight test on January 8th... if we test negative at the San Pedro port... if we are still negative for the second day the Star will be in that California berth...when we shove off from the US mainland, we'll have eight sea days to make sure everyone is still in a negative state before we reach our first port of call. 

Have Zinc, Will Travel! I'm determined to be positive...about staying negative... well, you know what I mean!