CRUISE IS GETTING REAL

Last July, Mark was reading a Viking brochure that had just come in the mail.  He found a world cruise listed that included ports that we have always wanted to visit:  Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Malaysia, Africa, Portugal……!  Wow - and it was only for four months!  We had often talked about doing a world cruise but the ones we had always seen were either six or nine months long.  We think that would be too long for us.  Four months was certainly doable!  Mark was excited and said that we should plan this for January 2026.  I said “Why wait?  We’re healthy now!  Let’s go this January.”  Mark slept on it and the next morning after figuring out some logistics (dog care), we signed up!  Six months have flown by with us being very busy lining up extra medications, visas, immunizations, a new passport and of course, packing! 

Packing for this trip has been overwhelming for us.  We had been advised to pack light, but we have found that we need so many different types of clothing based on all the different activities and excursions that we have signed up for.  Plus, to be honest, we simply enjoy having a variety of clothes at our disposal.  And shoes!  We are both taking too many!  Toiletries, medications for 4 months, bug spray, sunscreen, etc. take up a lot of space.  Also on our packing list are different types of organizing accessories for our state room.  We have a hanging shoe organizer, under bed storage containers, magnetic white board, magnetic hooks, pants hangers and of course a big magnetic map that we can use to plot our course.  All necessities!

We took advantage of Vikings offer to use Luggage Forward and had two bags picked up at our home on December 12 to be delivered to our stateroom upon our arrival to the ship which will be docked in Los Angeles.  Two bags packed and gone and we have almost finished packing up two more large bags and two carry ons.  Will everything fit?  Hope so!

This trip has been such a dream for us, but on December 12, when those two bags were taken, everything started to seem real.  This is really happening!  Now to get the rest of the clothes into the remaining bags, getting them fastened up and parked in a corner so that we can enjoy Christmas with the family!

January 5th will be here very soon and we will be ready!