Why Cruise? Why Now?

We want so much more... We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.

 From The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis

Lately, when people learn that the DH and I are about to embark on a 4 month long cruise around the world just as the Omicron variant has raised its highly infectious pointy head, they look at me in wonderment. Some are excited for us and want to follow our adventure via this blog (waving to our friends at the Walmart pharmacy who helped us accumulate 4 months worth of our prescriptions!) But some don't resist the urge to label us crazy. And I'll admit, this cruise is an undertaking fraught with far more bumps than travel usually offers us.

But whatever happens, we're going because we want something. CS Lewis came as close to describing that longing as anyone I've ever read. I travel to experience something out of the ordinary. Cruising does that for me. Whether it's basking in a sunset off the fantail, or lying on our bed while the ship is dancing with the ocean feeling nearly weightless as we rise and fall with the waves, or an encounter with a totally foreign culture whose citizens don't care how we do things here, but are happy to share their ways with me--all these experiences become a part of me. They shape how I think about myself and the world. (Usually, it makes me realize what a small place I occupy, and how insular my world view is!)

I go to soak up other cultures' art. I wonder about their lives and their hopes and beliefs. I cruise to make new friends who share my passion for exploration. I go to learn about this incredible planet God has given us to enjoy. (Earth is 75% covered by water, after all. I'd miss so much if I limited myself to land!)   

I travel to revel in the natural world. It lifts my heart to see how unnecessarily beautiful Earth is. And since I'm a Christian, to praise the God who designed it perfectly to support intelligent life (politicians excepted from that group, of course!😏)

I cruise to experience fleeting moments of connection with others. Like when our tuk-tuk driver "hongy-ed" me in Aukland. When the young lady in Honolulu with a friendly shih tzu told her dog to "Say hello to Auntie," making me suddenly ohana (family.) Or when the gracious Moslem woman who inspected my POC at the mosque in Abu Dhabi ended our time together with "Go safely, Mama." I could go on and on about all those little experiences that make a big difference for me.

These small points of contact have been very impactful in my life. Feeling welcomed in a strange place is such an incredible gift. I travel with my heart wide open, hoping for these connections, for the times when I have an "aha!" epiphany that makes me revise a previously held opinion. I travel to broaden myself (and I'm not talking about the after-effects of the incredible cuisine we're expecting on Viking.) My goal is to be able to think about things from a different point of view. An accepting and gentle one.

As for the "why now?" part of this post. It's because now is all we have. This moment. And we've already postponed this trip a couple of times. Originally, we were booked on the 2020 Cunard WC, then switched to Princess for 2021, hoping the Covid crisis would be over by then, and then finally we jumped ship to Viking for this year. 

And Covid still lingers in this world. But I remain hopeful. Vaxed, boosted and masked, we've done all we can to keep ourselves and others safe. Many respected scientists have expressed the possibility that omicron, with its high transmissibility and mild symptoms, may just be the way out of the pandemic and Covid becomes just another endemic virus we learn to live with like colds or the flu. 

A voyage of this length will always have its share of problems. But it's how we respond to them that determines whether we have the time of our lives or a miserable journey. Take the picture below.

 You'd be hard pressed to tell where we are from this image. It looks as if we fell into a melting chalk drawing. But we had a wonderful day and experienced so many bucket list moments, despite torrential downpours. And any day I can spend in the company of my DH is a little taste of heaven for me anyway.

Just for grins... 50 points toward the Grand Prize of a Rubber Cookie with Cement Frosting if anyone can tell me where this last photo was snapped!