Alan and I are just about to leave for another cruise! Even finding what to do for this year's holiday was a struggle because it would be easy and comfortable to always go back to places we have enjoyed before. I know Alan would be happy to go back to Niagara Falls on a regular basis and I would love to just go home and be with family for a week or so. But as long as I am still working, our time is very limited. I also believe we need respite from all the responsibilities we have here. Although Martin and Whitney have left home, we are still not footloose and fancy free! We are still tied to Whitney 6 days a week with a minimum of either transport for Corbyn to get to his nursery school or child minder or having Corbyn overnight every Sunday (which is great fun), my Mom still lives with us (she does take care of herself but still needs to be checked up on) and, of course, our dog, Bailey!
It took months of negotiation for us to agree on where to go and cost was an issue too - otherwise it would have been the Alaska cruise! (this has now been put on hold indefinitely - far too expensive to do it the way we would like to). We even considered just travelling a week or so through England, ending up in London to visit Martin. However, this transatlantic cruise jumped out at us and sounded fantastic! We will leave Southampton and have 8 days at sea! Not all at once though - 3 days then Madeira - 5 days then 4 Caribbean islands! Including St Maarten! Alan and I really enjoyed the sea days on our last cruise so this cruise really appealed to us, and going Transatlantic just sounds amazing to me.
Two views from last year - to get in the right frame of mind!
There are two major hurdles to getting my head around this trip though - the obvious one is how to pack! This is not a tropical holiday, or is it? What is the weather like being at sea for so long? Will there be any hurricanes we need to skirt? All that sort of thing, and having to fit in one suitcase! In the old days, one suitcase would have been full of shoes!
The other hurdle was finding a title for this blog! I started worrying about it a week ago! Nothing sounded right....I looked all over for sayings, quotes from poems, anything. Then my experience yesterday made me come up with this title!
I was supposed to go to Arran for a day of work but the weather was deteriorating dramatically and the ferries were on amber alert - meaning they could be cancelled anytime. My manager, Nina, and I talked it over a few times on my way to Ardrossan to catch the ferry. Pulling over every time and that was putting pressure on me to get there on time, but the discussion needed to happen. At one point I even asked Nina if I got stuck on Arran could she put me up? (of course and I would have loved that too). Looking at the weather this morning, I now realize if I had gone yesterday, I would have gotten stuck and not been able to get home today either!
This reminded me of not getting to Grand Turk last year. We could not dock due to high winds and fast currents and no tugboat available. This was the only island where I had booked a trip and I was really looking forward to riding a horse on the beach and then swimming with it. Not meant to be.
So I am making a point not to get too excited about any one aspect of our up and coming cruise. All things are weather permitting and that is how it should be!
"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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