Déjà vu or something new?

It's that time again, and I'm firing up the blog as we prepare for another marathon cruising session. I don't feel a year older; do you feel a year older?  Good grief, time is flying by.  In retrospect, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that March was only yesterday and November is tomorrow.  We spent a huge part of our time at home "working" instead of having a grand old time, but such is the price we pay to spend our winters at sea. If I take G up on all the celebratory bottles of champagne he's promised me every time we accomplished another Herculean task, I won't sober up till March. The key things are we stayed safe while standing on extension ladders for hours and are still talking to each other after many, MANY weeks spent working closely together. So, in the end, I guess those alone are things worth celebrating.  Not to mention that our 30th wedding anniversary was just last month. We spent it relaxing during simultaneous, side by side...dental appointments.  If that's not love...

It's interesting how our feelings about spending winters at sea have evolved as we head into our fourth one. The first year we did this, Winter 2010-11, it felt less like a winter at sea and more like two extended vacations, as we packed up and headed home for the holidays and then returned to Fort Lauderdale to cruise again. The second year, we were giddy with excitement as we anticipated spending 90 (and we actually stayed for 100) straight days cruising. We had no idea what this was going to be like; our previous high had been 44 days in a row. We were thrilled and nervous and generally disbelieving that the opportunity to do this was occurring at this point in our lives. By last year, we were more settled; we knew what it was like to cruise for 100 straight days (surely a few more wouldn't feel any differently, would they?) but we still enjoyed every one of them. And this year, if you're wondering if this is getting to be "same old same old"...well, it isn't. It's true that we've lost the wild anticipation of cruising for long periods of time, but the cruising itself still makes us feel like every day is Christmas. In fact, that's exactly what's different:  in our first years of doing this we felt like kids leading up to Christmas- excited about the mere prospect of spending a winter at sea. Now it's more like Christmas Day- hugely entertaining and enjoyable, but in a calmer, more relaxed way.  Well, for me at least.  G's been ready to leave since about September 1st  August 1st  July 1st ...heck, he wasn't all that keen on coming home last March!

Just in case you feel that you know what's coming this winter, where we'll be and how long we'll be there...well, there was a point this summer where you'd have been exactly right. However, as they are wont to do, things changed and then they changed again in a major way and we've very recently (like, in the past two weeks) adjusted our plans to accommodate them. So, while we'll be returning to the Caribbean again (I had to confess that at the onset, so you're not imagining Bora Bora breezes or Patagonian penguins), we are deviating a bit from our usual M.O., but I'm not going to say how just yet. And I'm not saying how long we'll be cruising either. OK, it's true that I don't actually know how long we'll be cruising, but I'm not even going to speculate this year, because it could very well be shorter than last year. Or longer.

Keep your fingers crossed for no Code Red norovirus outbreaks, nor any other illnesses; no Steward Nazis, missing laundry or wet iPhones; no root canals; no stings, coral cuts or prickers from overhanging trees; no caffeinated coffee masquerading as decaf; and no slips and falls (and that's just last winter's list!).  We may think we're heading out into the familiar, but, as we learned last year, pitfalls lurk around every corner.

Who knew cruising was "adventure" travel?

The intrepid explorers!  ;-)