Once the Emerald had entered the ocean, we went to dinner, anxious to surprise Suttipong. And he wasn't surprised at all...he had seen us in the terminal before we boarded and had waved, but we didn't see him. And if that hadn't clued him in, Surasit took care of the rest.
The three of us said the same thing all through dinner...it's like the 8 intervening months never happened. Honestly, if I couldn't pick out specific events from our time at home, it would feel like one continuous, really long cruise. It manages to feel simultaneously wonderful and weird.
We didn't even stay for coffee and dessert. G looked at me with glassy eyes and said he was done for the day. I blame singing the Love Boat theme song at 6am. I knew that would catch up with him!
So, it is with great anticipation about what fun lies ahead this winter that I'm lying in bed typing this post. I am still torn about leaving home, but it's better now that we're here. I'll miss friends from home, of course, but this year we'll be visited by several friends, mostly cruise friends we've sailed with in the past, but also a special visit by special friends in February (more on that later). There is much to look forward to!
We're moving our clocks ahead an hour to Atlantic Standard Time already tonight. We start the cruise with two sea days, and it's a good thing- it will take us both of those to figure out where we've stowed everything in this cabin!