Round the World Writer: There's never a guest services number to call when you need one...

“People need trouble – a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it.” – William Faulkner

On the Viking Star, if there was a problem with our cabin, our room stewards usually caught it before we even noticed and brought the repair folks in to make things right. Just another way a World Cruise is not like real life.

Not everything was puppies and rainbows when we got home. In no particular order, here are the challenges that greeted us:

First, our county was suffering through a string of 90 degree days...and our air conditioning was on the fritz. Our daughter hadn't made the switch on the heat pump from heat to AC yet, but when the DH changed the thermostat, our blower would only rearrange warmish air.
Our van wouldn't start. #2 Daughter, who took such wonderful care of our house, hadn't driven it enough while we were gone to keep the battery charged. Who could blame her with the cost spike in gas? She owns the Prius, so she's not used to being so impacted by skyrocketing gas prices.
The DH stretched back in our loveseat recliner and broke off the handle that lifts his legs. One of the things we dearly missed during our 4 months at sea was this cozy loveseat where we could settle in with our feet elevated.
We didn't get to see our new great-niece right away, though my arms were aching to hold her. Everyone else in the family has been vaccinated and boosted against Covid, but dear little Carlie and Gracie, who's four, are too young for vaccines. So we erred on the side of caution and stayed away. After our last negative Covid test the morning we left the Star, we'd spent 20+ hours in airports and planes, and another 7 hours in a rental car of dubious cleanliness. It wasn't worth the risk of potentially exposing them.

But for every challenge, there's an answer.

We got on our usual HVAC company's waiting list for service. With the unseasonal heat wave, they'd had lots of emergency calls. But not to worry. We pulled all the shades to keep additional heat from the sun out and plugged in the oversized portable AC we keep to offer to our tenants if they have to wait for repairs. It also helped that the DH had re-caulked all our windows last fall and stopped any leakage. In less than a week our central AC was up an cooling again. Though truth to tell, after living through 108 degrees in Luxor, I'll never complain that it's hot around here again.
There was no jump starting the van. The battery wouldn't take a charge even though the DH had it plugged in all night. It was dead, dead, dead. We called a local repair shop and they brought out a new one. The van is good to go now.
Charlie gives his approval!

I have always said I'd rather have an adventure than a new sofa, but I couldn't sit with my feet up while the DH made do with a too short footstool. Besides, we have a new Turkish rug on the way from Istanbul that's made up of greens, creams, browns with a light salmon accent color. I have a green recliner and a brown leather sofa that matched our broken loveseat, but no cream in sight. A trip to a local furniture store led to a perfect solution! When the new rug arrives--and we just received a call from the delivery driver telling us our rug has cleared customs and he'll be at our door in a couple of weeks--our very own Turkish delight will pull the room together! And as an added bonus, the furniture store was able to repair the old love seat (for under $30!) and it's now gracing #1 Daughter's living room. So what started as an annoyance has been a win all around!
Time passes quickly when you're getting resettled and before we knew it, a week had gone by with neither of us getting sick. We drove out to visit my niece and her family and to deliver the gifts we'd brought them from our travels. Grace loved the little cork bracelet with her name in Portuguese (Graca) but I think she'll enjoy her Arabian Princess headgear from Saudi more for now.
And Carlie was so dear, as only a tiny newborn can be. It was heaven to hold her and feel her tiny body relax in my arms!