Wow! I just realized I didn’t post once during the first Alaska cruise. Maybe that’s a good sign that I really switched gears, but it’s more honestly the result of a busy schedule and poor satellite internet.
i am in Seward, Alaska, between my first and second cruises. This evening we head back in the direction of Vancouver, from where I will fly back to San Diego briefly before heading off to Montreal for the fall season—can the first falling leaves be on the horizon so soon?
So now it’s transition time. Dan left for the airport a few minutes ago, and after a goodbye at his bus, I went back on board a ship that most guests rarely see. The cabin stewards look as if they are in the starting blocks for a sprint, which in a way they are. In a few hours the ship will be pristine again and ready for the new passengers. But right now, the hallways are filled with piles of sheets and towels, and staff are coming through to remove copious quantities of half-empty liquor and wine bottles. A real bonanza if I drank the hard stuff—I’d never come out of my room! I did go through a massive pile of soda cans and discovered diet tonic water, which I didn’t know they had. Score! I guess they remove all the stuff in the fridges, even if unopened, then put it all back in later—maybe wiped down? I will have to ask.
So now, I am doing my laundry—the one time you can be sure the machines won’t be in use—and spreading out to fill all the closets and drawers in the room. It is so comforting and fun to have Dan aboard, and it would be great to be looking forward to having a friend join me (illness recovery prevented my buddy Sharon from coming along), but I do have to admit, there is something special about calling 100% of the shots about time, space and activities.
And of course, it is time for a mental recap and a new set of promises to myself, as follows:
1) I will skip breakfast except on tour mornings
2) I will cheat less on my rules at lunch, and will skip the buffet in favor of ordering from a menu at the pool or restaurant most days. Easier to know how much I have eaten.
3) I will drink more water and less wine at dinner. I no longer have wine at lunch at all, except if I just finished a lecture
4). I will walk briskly at least an hour a day, on treadmill or in port
5). I will get over my dislike of small hotel-style gyms and give my upper body something to cheer about.
6) I will do more of my work in the beautiful public spaces on the ship, rather than holed up in my room.
7) I will not order room service just because I don’t have a concrete dinner plan. Something always works out.
8) I will go on more strenuous shore excursions. There were reasons to be more sedentary this time around (Dan’s broken toe and my need to get familiar with the ports), but there’s no excuse this time!
9)….And on that note, I will kayak at least once I don’t know why I have it so built up in my mind that I will be a spaz at it and end up in the icy water, but that’s the vision I have.
I am repeating a mantra that I wish I followed a little better: Being afraid of something is a good reason to do it. Since this Year of Living Travelly is in large part about expanding my comfort zone, I will do my best to become the Kayak Queeen, and Solo Traveler extraordinaire!
And since ten resolutions has more resonance than nine, I will add my ongoing one: never let even one day pass without remembering to be grateful for this beautiful life
Time to move clothes into the dryer. Then into town for that hour of walking—and no, poking around the shopping street doesn’t count!