Then Thanksgiving with the family happened somewhere in the mix. It was great to see everyone together, including Pepsi, the dog. It seemed like we had a lot of time to get stuff done, but the clock was ticking way faster than we thought. Funny how that seems to happen more and more these days………
Then came the packing for 128 days. There was a huge change with the size and weight of the bags this time. Never before was the size or weight a problem, but now, it must comply with airline regulations. Sixty-two linear inches and 50 pounds. In the past, we shipped large duffels that tipped the scales way over 50 pounds. No more….. We were allowed 2 pieces each, even though we upgraded to an SS suite, unlimited luggage did not come as a perk. So we searched for three perfect size duffels and added three suitcases we already had. Luggage Forward is the company being used, and we paid to ship the two extra bags.
The pick-up date was December 14th with UPS as the carrier. A week prior, we received the printed luggage tags for each piece. Tracking the numbers, we learned they all arrived on December 21st. Good news, considering what has happened with the recent airline problems. At least the luggage is in Florida, and we hope we will be there without any hitches.
One of us keeps a list of things to do before we go. It is mostly wrapping up everything with the house and the bills etc. Not a day went by that a phone call was necessary to confirm that everything was in place. The best thing we ever did was installing a large locked mailbox. No more dealing with the post office, as our son deals with the mailbox now. We had such a terrible experience with forwarding our mail to our son's address. Nothing could have been more messed up when we got back. Our mail had gotten reversed with his for months afterwards. And many things went to "mail heaven", never to be seen again.
So the plan for tomorrow is to be picked up by our driver at 3:30am. He was concerned with the heavy rains expected tonight, and asked that we should leave an hour earlier, which is fine with us. Luckily, it is a Saturday, and the traffic should be light. We always like to fly ahead a few extra days, just in case there are delays or cancellations, God forbid. We have packed only one duffel to check on the plane, and a couple of hand carrys each. It is a straight through flight and will get us there after 5pm EST.
One concern we have involves getting the Covid test 24 hours prior to boarding the ship on January 3rd. This might not have been necessary if it wasn't for Australia's requirements. Funny, because we do not get there until February, where we bet we get tested again. And we do know that most cruises this long have been required to test. Our plan is to pay a visit to a clinic close to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. Hope that works….
It has been three years since we sailed on a world cruise, although we did go on back-to-backs for almost as much time early this year. We are really looking forward to the itinerary as well as seeing many old friends. We basically will make a beeline to the South Pacific, then head south to New Zealand and across to Australia. From there, we will head to the east coast of Africa, around the Cape, and up the west coast. We do have a six day overland from Durban to Cape Town for a safari. We will not go into the Mediterranean, but head north to Norway, with many stops along the way. From the Azores, we will go trans-Atlantic back to Ft. Lauderdale. Of course, there may be changes, and we have learned to roll with them.
So we extend our sincere wishes to everyone for a Happy and Healthy New Year. Stayed tuned…..we will be back as soon as we get to Florida.
Bill & Mary Ann
PS We would like to dedicate this blog to our longtime friend RKACruiser (Bob), who suddenly passed away a few weeks ago. We met in 2002 while on an Asia/Pacific cruise, and have been in touch ever since. One of the cruises we will remember doing with him was in Alaska a few years ago. We loved his story of flying to a salmon bake, where he spotted a large bear licking the BBQ grill. Hopefully it was after the salmon bake! He will be missed!
