The final push is on to get it all done.
A Little About Us
So, I want to start out here by doing something that I should have done in the first paragraph of my first blog and that is to say a little bit about myself and my sister. Like I mentioned earlier, I am newly divorced, My ex-husband, Bobby, and I still have a remarkably good relationship and we “share custody” with our 2 beautiful Dobermans, Dante and Lily. I live in Las Vegas, have the dogs part time, play poker the rest of the time, and have some side projects that keep me busy (this blog now being one of them). And I obviously love to travel.
My sister, Lynda, is also single, retired after a successful real estate and business career, and has the cutest little bichon-poo named Leo. We are both super lucky that we have schedules that are flexible enough that we can manage the time off to take a trip like this. Believe me, we both know and appreciate the position we’re in and we don’t take it for granted. However, we also make traveling one of the priorities in our lives. For myself, this is why I work hard and save my money. It’s why I rarely eat out and don’t shop much. I want to see the world. As much of it as I can, anyway.
Photography
I also love taking a good photograph. I used to be much more serious about photography and had all the right equipment. What I found when traveling though, is I don’t really want to have 4 different lenses that I’m constantly switching out while carrying 20 lbs of equipment. What I want is a camera that is quick, easy, and gives me a good result. So before the China trip I bought myself a single lens Panasonic Lumix camera. It looks and acts just like my really nice Canon SLR, but has one fixed lens that goes from wide angle to 600mm zoom. I give up a little in image quality, but I gain the ease of a camera that allows me to better enjoy and appreciate my surroundings. All of the China pictures were taken with the Lumix, and as long as I’m not making large prints, it does the job.
Lynda, on the other hand, only uses her iphone to take pictures. It’s a little annoying how good they are too. She does have a very good eye though, so that helps a lot. I do want to give her some credit here for helping me improve my photography because what she is really good at (and I wasn’t) is getting pictures of US on our trips. As someone who is always behind the camera, it’s too often I came home from a trip with very few pictures proving I was even there. Lynda, on the other hand, is constantly turning the camera around and chronicling our presence in these amazing places. The other talent she has is getting local people to join her in her photos. It makes the memories much more personal and fun.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to get a new phone before leaving and I did finally go out and buy one. I chose the Google Pixel 3 specifically because it’s supposed to have a great camera. Of course, anything would be an improvement over my last phone, but I’m looking forward to using it along with the Lumix on this trip.
Packing...finally!
So, my promise to myself (and frankly, one that was a little hard to keep), was that I wouldn’t actually start packing until we hit the 2 week mark. Lynda agreed to stick to the same plan. We were waiting impatiently for that day to come. That isn’t to say we weren’t stashing things in a pile somewhere or looking sideways at our clothes and mentally taking note of what we’d like to take. We were still on the phone A LOT, making sure we had everything we were ever going to need or want. We also worked out which of us was bringing what: The curling iron, the Excedrin, the power strip (there are never enough outlets on a cruise ship), and all those things we didn’t both need to bring. Luckily, by some gift from God, we actually wear the same size shoes, so we immediately double the number of shoes available to us on the trip. Halleluiah!
One of the biggest challenges when packing for a long trip is not over-packing. Every time I pack for a long trip I pull out everything I think I absolutely can’t live without, and then try to put it all in a suitcase. Before I’m done, half of it will go back into my closet. Think about it, we have 34 ship dinners, 5 of which are formal, 24 port days for comfortable clothes, and 20 sea days for swim suits, work-out clothes and relaxing. The weather will be mostly warm, but there are always cool mornings and evenings. The trick (as we all know) is to make sure you have a lot of things that mix and match so you can make a bunch of different outfits from fewer pieces of clothes. Also, when you stick to a couple of color themes, it cuts down on the number of shoes you need to bring. Fortunately, we do have an on-board laundry, and we expect to use that a few times, especially for workout clothes.
And Everything Else
So at 2 weeks we start packing and we go full-court press on our “Things to Do Before We Leave” list. It’s starting to feel a little overwhelming and I’m not panicking yet, but I can possibly see it in my future.
In the fun news department, our travel documents finally arrived and we got an upgrade!!! Woo hoo! We now have a window instead of just portholes and we’ve moved up a deck so we’re now in room #5142.
Besides getting ready for the cruise, life goes on. That is to say, there are still things happening and coming up that need our attention that have nothing to do with the trip. For example, we both have house guests coming in the final stretch. Lynda’s with about a week to go, and mine 2 days before we leave. Yes, I could have said no. But I really love my cousin, Becky—sorry, Rebecca—and always love spending time with her and her partner, Wil. They are coming to do a fan event, so as long as they’re good with there being absolutely no food in my house, I look forward to them staying with me. My plan is just to have everything done before she and Wil get here. That’s the plan. Ha! I know better.
Like I was saying, they will be in town for a fan event. Wil (William deVry) is one of the characters on the soap opera General Hospital, and he occasionally does these fan events around the country. Rebecca (Staab) is also popular at these get-togethers as not only is she beautiful, smart, and super nice, but she's also an actress. They are going to stay with me just for one night, then they’ll transfer over to the Paris Hotel on the strip where they are doing their event.
So in these last two weeks, we are packing, preparing for houseguests, and knocking things off of our To Do lists. All that’s left now is the trip. My next post will probably come from aboard UA1 somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Bon Voyage!
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