The Sum of All Fears--Lost Luggage

 63 degrees, heading toward 88 this afternoon. If July's heat wave and drought was brutal, August has been uncharacteristically benevolent, with gentle rains and milder than usual temps here in the Ozarks.

"You can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” ― Maya Angelou

It's Maya's middle minor catastrophe that has me worked up today. 

I've watched a couple of YouTube vids lately about cruisers who made it to the ship...without their luggage. One Texas couple arrived in Southampton, UK to board a ship for Iceland with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. All their luggage was still in Dallas. I followed them online for several stops and even once they reached Reykjavik, their bags had only made it to Heathrow, but no one seemed to know where the luggage was exactly...The likelihood of it ever catching up to the cruise fizzled to zero. 

It's no fun to wash out your one pair of undies in the sink each night and hope they're dry enough by morning to wear again. 

So in preparation for our upcoming 21 days on the Holland America Eurodam, I'm doing a practice pack of my carry-on. I know some people who can live for six months out of a 14 X 9 X 20 inch bag but I'll be happy if I can manage several days. To that end, I've developed a mini-capsule wardrobe. Here 'tis:

• 1 pair white slacks (I know it'll be after Labor Day, but when you're on a ship, all those silly fashion rules about not wearing white past a certain date are moot in tropical climes.)
• 1 pair khaki capris
• 1 white tank top 
• 1 white button down shirt
• 1 red/white stripe pullover tunic
• 1 pair black/white pin stripe palazzo pants
• 1 black kimono (dressy)
• 1 green kimono (dressy)
• 1 swim suit
• 1 sleep dress
• 4 pairs of undies & bras
• red sandals, flat
• silver sandals with a small heel

My capsule "formalwear"

I'll be traveling in navy pants, a navy tank topped with a navy shirt, my red raincoat (we are embarking in Seattle, after all!) and blue walking shoes. If I'm creative, I could have enough outfits for over a week, including some that will allow me to muddle through on formal nights. I could probably pack more pieces, but I have to leave room for other essentials in the bag.

Prescription meds are a big deal. I was appalled when the couple on YouTube admitted they'd packed theirs in their checked bags. It's an invitation to trouble I dream not of. 

I take 8 different maintenance meds, one that requires 4 doses a day--11 pills in all, and that's if I skip my vitamins and such. It's okay. I'm thankful for every one of them. I share this because I want to encourage others who rely on medications. You don't have to avoid cruising because you aren't a marathon runner in the pink of health. My prescriptions keep me going, but they take up a lot of luggage space. I'll have a week's worth in my pill minder, and a month's worth (just in case of emergency) in their original bottles. I'd love to take one big bottle, count out the pills and put them all in one, but I don't think the TSA would be happy to see a bunch of different colors and shapes in one container without proper documentation on the side of the bottle. 

I always travel with a mini-medicine chest--Tylenol, Advil, scopolamine patches, band aids & antibacterial ointment, tums, sudafed, cough drops, etc. And a small sewing kit as well, though that may have to take its chances in our checked bag. 

And we'll want at least one of our computers, maybe two. I doubt we'll buy an internet package. We sort of hope to unplug for this trip. But the DH is awfully clever about creating a hot spot on his phone when we're in port, so I'm sure I will be blogging. 

Then I'll also need to pack my war paint (make-up), electric toothbrush, and toiletries in their neat little 2.5 oz containers. My passport & CDC vaccination card fit neatly into a small zippered compartment, along with a little leather holder for my driver's license, the credit card we'll be using, & cash for tipping. I never carry a purse.

Suddenly, my carry-on is quite a lug. But then I also have a few other things that must travel in the airplane cabin with me...my cpap and all its accoutrements, Herkimer (my big portable oxygen concentrator that rolls like a mini-carry-on) and Percival (my smaller "back-up" POC that, fittingly, travels in a a backpack or his over-the-shoulder bag shown below.)  

This is my version of "carry-on." Fortunately, the cpap and POC's are considered medical equipment and do not count against the number of pieces I'm allowed to slog down the jetway. Technically, I could still waggle on another "personal item," which I've seen other travelers interpret as a pretty spacious weekender type bag, but I'd need another hand if I tried it. These four pieces will tap me out.  

And the DH is doing his part, as usual. He'll be wearing a big backpack filled with my spare POC batteries (4 in all, very heavy!), power cords, chargers, additional cannulas, power converters so we can make use of the European outlets, and other knick-knacks and scarcities that become so very crucial when you realize you don't have them.  He'll also have his carry-on (packed with the mini-capsule wardrobe I plan to help him pull together. It'll be a challenge because men's shoes are so much bulkier than women's sandals) along with his cpap.

The idea of making it to the port in Seattle without our checked luggage is still the stuff of nightmares. However, if we have to make do with only the things we carry on the plane with us, we can still be happy campers on the Eurodam. 

At least I won't be washing out the same two pairs of undies in the sink every night! 

Covid Caught Up to Us

84 degrees & sunny. So glad to be done with our heatwave and drought!

"I like to think of life as an adventure, like a roller coaster." ~ Eddie Izzard

Nearly two years of Covid restrictions, then taking the family on a 2021 Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Encore without incident, 122 days of daily testing on the Viking Star while exploring the world...and the DH and I never had so much as a sniffle in all that time. 

Now, in the peace and safety of our small Ozark town, the latest omicron variant has finally nabbed us. 

In mid July, the DH developed a sore throat with a fever and tested positive. At that time, I was still negative. Even so, with my lung condition, my doc put me on a prophylactic paxlovid course, the same medicine the President was given. Despite that precaution, a week later, I joined my hubby in the positive camp, as did #2 Daughter who lives with us. (She sailed through her 5 days of paxlovid, 5 days of masking, and has been perfectly healthy since then, thank You, God!) 

After a rebound of symptoms (something that is not as rare as the media would like us to believe), I had a second round of paxlovid (which, if you haven't experienced it, feels sort of like having your insides raked with a cheese grater and leaves the most heinous metal taste in your mouth!) but my covid symptoms still lurked. 

There were never terrible. I didn't have a fever. After the initial sore throat abated, it's behaved like an inconvenient head cold. The worst for me is that I've lost my sense of smell again. (Something that happened during our bout with a mystery virus in fall of 2019-early 2020 before covid had a name. After all the other symptoms retreated, a year passed before I could smell my morning coffee again.) With this virus, mostly. I'm just tired now.

And still testing positive...

I'm so ready to rejoin my life in progress, but until I have two consecutive negatives, I'm hanging out at home. I like to think I'm a generous person, but some things I don't believe in sharing.

Still...it could be so much worse. We could've contracted the more virulent Delta version. We could've tested positive on the WC and disembarked somewhere else in the world trying to deal with health professionals who speak another language. We could've infected my octogenarian parents before we realized we were sick.

We did everything right. We were double vaxed & boosted. We masked up when required. 

And this covid virus still found us. 

At some point, we as a species need to find a way to live with this bug, like we do the flu and the common cold (another corona virus!) I wish there was more definition in the reported death count now as I suspect more people are dying with covid than from it at this point in the viral mutations. Accuracy on that count would calm a lot of fears. 

And it's important for us to not be afraid of each other. It's vital for our children to be able to face the world unmasked, lest they fall behind on critical developmental milestones, (which sadly is something that has already happened.) Human beings need connections with other humans. It's hard to do that when you can't read someone's face. 

We were made to laugh and talk and sing together, not curl up like armadillos at the first sign of a cough. We are social beings. We need our tribes. 

Once I test negative twice, I'm ready to ditch my mask unless its mandatory. In the large scheme of things, a virus that results in illness no more bothersome than a cold (in my experience, at least. YMMV.) is not worth destroying the fabric of our society, our connectedness, our need for engagement with each other, over.  

As always, feel free to disagree. Civilized differences of opinion are what this country is about. 

Confessions of a Cheap Cruiser

8:00 AM~70 degrees heading for high of 92 this afternoon. We've had the Dog Days of August for the last two months! 

I always claim to be the Anti-Shopper and I am...with most things. One exception is looking for cruise bargains. Back in 2017, I'd been watching prices on world cruises for some time when suddenly there was a drop that looked so good, I was sure it must be a typo. But it turned out not to be! That's how we ended up in a balcony cabin on the Pacific Princess in 2018 "all in" (fare, taxes, port fees, airfare, hotels, excursions & incidentals) for less than the price of the "all-the-bells-and-whistles" pick-up the DH was eyeing with longing at the time. (Now don't start feeling sorry for him. He has a perfectly good pick up in our Big Red! You'd never know it was a 2014, would you?)

Then when we decided to splurge on our Viking 2022 WC, even that extravagance came with some savings as well. We booked early enough that Viking bumped us up from the lowest cabin Veranda 1 to a Deluxe Verandah 5 (about a $3000 savings each had we actually paid for that class of stateroom). Then Viking offered us a $5000 savings if we'd pay in full several months before the due date. Since the cash was sitting in a savings account and wasn't earning that much to begin with, we opted to pay in November of 2020 for our trip in January 2022. And because we allowed Viking to debit our account instead of using a credit option, we got another 3.3% off. So I figure we saved about $14K on the world cruise compared to what we'd have spent if we'd originally bought and paid for the DV5 cabin. 

Then once we were on the Star, Viking offered us all a $10,000 credit toward another trip with them. That's how we're paying for the In Search of the Northern Lights cruise next February. Basically, we're getting a 12 day adventure for the price of the flights because we'll use points from our CC for our pre-flight hotel. 

Another way I like to save on cruises is by signing up for special deals or private fares with the individual cruise lines. That's how I found out about our upcoming Holland America trip. When we were offered the 21 day Panama Canal cruise for about $95 a piece per day for a balcony cabin, it was a no-brainer. 

BUT HERE'S THE BEST DEAL YET!

I'm always lurking around cruise sites to see if another typo-style drop in prices has happened. I ran across this one the other day and as I type this, it's still showing as available on Princess.com. 

It's a lower price than the "no-frills fare" on their 2023 WC from LA-FLL!!!

It involves booking the 97 days in two segments: 55 days LA to Dubai for $10,551.00 and 42 days Dubai to FLL for $8,949.00 for a total of $19,500.00 per passenger, $39,000.00 for two. This is a $14,598.00 savings over the lowest base fare for the 97 day trip. 

Of course, you have to allow for port fees, taxes, excursions, airfare, pre-cruise hotels and incidentals, but that's the same for any cruise.

Part of me wants to call up Teresa Skeim at CruiseSpecialists, our excellent travel agent, and book this today. Another part of me is imagining our family and church's reaction if we skedaddle for another three months starting next January, after having been gone for four months in the beginning of this year and another 21 days this October.

And if Princess were still using the Pacific Princess instead of the Island Princess, I'd be lobbying the DH for reprise of our 2018 trip. But it's not really a reprise of that trip. 23 ports are "new-to-us" stops.   

But one of the features we dearly loved on the Pacific Princess was the Horizon Court on the fantail. Breakfasting while enjoying that incredible wake view was a pleasure to revel in. The Island Princess doesn't have a comparable space. At least I haven't found it on the deck plans. 

Then there's the way the stock market has been rocking and rolling. Our finances need to find its sea legs before we take out another big chunk. 

And besides, it would be a shame to miss an Ozark spring two years in a row...

 So anyway, if anyone hops on this incredible 2023 WC offer, let me know. I'm still sorely tempted...