Oh the Places I'll Go

This was shaping up to be my winter of Asian adventures.  Scott and I were invited to the wedding of a Vietnamese friend just a few days before Christmas, so we planned a vacation to include time in the ancient imperial city of Hue where the wedding would take place.  Nearly a year before, a friend had talked me into joining her on a cruise from San Diego to Hong Kong that would include ports in Hawaii, the Philippines, and Vietnam; thirty-two days from mid-January to mid-February.  And then another friend suggested a China tour that sounded great, so I booked a third trip to Asia for mid-March. And then things started to go wrong.  In the words of Robert Burns, “the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.”  First, Ruth notified me that she was cancelling the cruise.  Oh well.  I had paid my money and would lose a large portion of it if I also cancelled, so fine, I’d go alone.  Then, on a beautiful early November Saturday, I suggest...

This morning as I began another day cruising across the Pacific Ocean, the scene outside my stateroom window was much the same as the past several mornings.  The sun was covered by billowy layers of clouds, and the sea was gently undulating with an occasional white cap as a wave broke. As the day has gone along, the wind has picked up, and there are more white caps among the waves. The ship rocks gently, not so much that it makes me ill, but enough to keep me aware that we are on the ocean. The calm waters of the Pacific Ocean    There is a straight line where the sky and ocean meet.  It is easy to see why early peoples believed the earth to be flat.  There is no hint of a contour to the horizon.  Even though I can’t see evidence of it, I know that the world is indeed round and that the sun travels around it each day.  We received a reminder of this in the ship’s daily briefing paper “Reflections” which was left on my bed last night....

I think you have to be a committed sailor to tolerate one day at sea after another.   My limited cruising, up until now, has included itineraries with lots of ports of call and opportunities to get off the ship and explore the land.   But I have learned that the more people cruise, the more they come to enjoy life on the boat more than the places the ship is visiting.    The woman who convinced me to sign up for this Pacific Ocean crossing of thirty-two days, loves cruising, even having taken one cruise that lasted for nearly ninety days.   She has no interest in getting off the ship and rarely does.   “I’ve done all of that I want to,” she says.   “I just want to relax, be waited on, and eat well.” The Crystal Symphony in Honolulu I have to admit that the longer I’m on ships, the more I enjoy the life at sea and the chance to settle into a routine.   Here is what that routine now consists of.   Each sea day begins with a call f...

I enjoy traveling with my husband, Scott, and with friends, but their schedules and destination desires don’t always match mine.   So, I have learned to travel on my own.   Not completely on my own, as some of my other friends are fond of doing, but on my own within a group.   My preference is for small-group travel, but I have also developed a love of cruising, which typically involves rather large groups.   Hiking in Croatia I like having my own space (room) and time to myself.   I sleep more peacefully when I don’t have to worry about disturbing a roommate.   In the morning, I can have coffee in my room before having to engage in conversation with anyone else, and at night I can read in bed for as long as I want.   I also enjoy being with other people and sharing the excitement of a new experience.   Even when traveling with my husband or a friend, I appreciate conversations with other people.   But the best benefit of group ...

   I am a landlubber at heart, having grown up with car trips, camping and hiking in the mountains, and exploring the roads and back roads of America.   When I retired and began my travel life in earnest, I favored land-based tours with activities I enjoyed doing.   I went hiking in Croatia and later in the Italian Alps, photographed animals in Botswana and landscapes in Arizona, rode a camel and stayed in a camel-hair tent among the sands of Morocco’s Sahara Desert, and took a cooking course in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. No thanks, I said to cruising offers; too confining, too sedentary, and too many people.   Besides, on several previous ferry crossings, I had been quite ill with sea seasickness.   Then one day, I received a phone call from a friend who travels as an expert lecturer with land-based tours and on cruise ships.   “I’m lecturing on the Viking Sea and have no one going with me.   You’re welcome to come along and share my stateroom...