Three weeks from today we set sail on our World Cruise and there are still many things left for us to do. We’re deciding what clothes to pack and trying them on to make sure they fit, figuring out how much cash to take for expeditions we need to pay for in some of the ports, and getting enough of our maintenance medications to cover the whole trip! Extra toiletries can be purchased in port. We’ll also need to put our cable and wifi on a vacation hold, arrange for our mail to be picked up and our house plants watered. Whew!
However, progress is being made. We have the visas we need to board and Covid tests to take before the cruise are ready to be packed. Brian has a handy to-do list we check every day. It feels good to get it whittled down. We’re trying not to stress to much. Everything will work out!
We went out for a Chinese dinner before Christmas, and this is what was in Brian’s fortune cookie! It became something to hold onto over the next few days.
We had decided to put in new windows a few months ago to highlight our ocean view. They were ordered and came in 8 weeks later the wrong size. They had been measured incorrectly. During that same time we found wood rot around one window that had to be taken care off. In the meantime, the manufacturer of the windows no longer made the ones we wanted in the size we wanted. More fast decisions and the windows were reordered.
Our old windows had been reinstalled and, because the seal was broken, they leaked when it rained so they were covered with plastic. Another six weeks later, the new windows came in. They were installed, we were told they were watertight and all was good. Spoiler alert, they weren’t.
It started raining and blowing on Christmas Eve and got worse on Christmas Day. There were window leaks everywhere. We averaged about 4 hours sleep the next two nights as we dealt with the water. The window company wasn’t available until Tuesday due to the holidays. It was a long 3 days. Yesterday, the installers were here all day trying to get them sealed. They worked in the driving rain and got the job done. We are so grateful!
This, of course, is a first world problem. The Pacific Northwest is rainy and windy but not cold. We were safe and sound albeit stressed. Our inside trim may not be done. The new siding outside where the wood rot was fixed won’t be painted and the trimming on the outside will have to wait for a dry day. However, we are incredibly blessed to be able to have this grand adventure to look forward to and enjoy! The next big hurdle is passing the Covid test before we board.
There’s a World Cruise in our future! On January 19, 2023, Brian and I will be leaving Los Angeles aboard the Island Princess to spend 111 days sailing around the world. We’ve booked the cruise nearly 2 years ago and have spent that time dreaming and planning. What seemed, at the time, so far away is just around the corner! There have been changes to our itinerary (no more Venice or Bora Bora) but new ports have been added (Ravenna and Moorea). We worried that the cruise would even sail because of Covid. But now, the cruise is paid for, we have excursions booked and dog sitting taken care of. We still need to get some visas and figure out what to pack.
This is a great big bucket list trip and neither of us really believe will get to see all of this amazing places. Our plan is to use this blog as our journal and we’d like to invite you to follow along with us on our travels. Just click on the Blog tab above, enter your email address and you’ll be notified whenever there is a new post. Come enjoy our travels with us!
The Macs’ Big Adventure 