Ten Days and Counting

ALMOST THERE


To my faithful followers an apology is in order.  No news since the end of October doesn't exactly encourage people to come back and read.  There is a good reason for this lack of publication.

We had no idea when we began planning this cruise, just how much preparation would be necessary, but we sure know now, and here is an overview of what has occupied us these past few months.

VISAS


We will be travelling to a lot of different countries and some of them require visas.  Lucky for us we only needed to procure 3 of them in advance, and the rest of them we can get onboard with the help of HAL.  Part of the process involves surrendering your passport for 2-3 weeks to the different consulates, a fee, lots of paperwork, and then returning to pick it up.

• India - Toronto has it's own consulate.  By the time you have gone into Toronto which is at least a 65 km trip one way, waited in line for 2 hours each time, you've spent 2 days.
• Brazil - again Toronto has a consulate.  Much stricter entry regulations for this country, who wanted to inspect our finances as well. We hit a  little snag when we were picking it up, as we didn't have the correct receipt.  The man behind the window could have played the part in a movie of an officious bureaucrat - lecturing me, making me empty my purse, exclaiming that he wasn't sure he could locate it - then after all that fanfare, he walks over to the filing cabinet beside him, and says with great emotion "Thanks God we found it!"  
• Australia - has entered the modern age and the application is done efficiently online, no need for passports.

TRAVEL DOCTOR


Typhoid shots, yellow fever exceptions, malaria pills, flu shots, antibiotics, cholera prevention - all given, or prescribed by our very capable travel clinic.  Other than the cost of all these, this was just a morning spent.

I mentioned how we have been participating in the Cruise Critic board where we have been able to meet about 150 other people who will be on our cruise.  This has been incredibly helpful, as there is a lot of discussion on many topics.  On the shots you can see the range of different advice that people receive from their health care providers.  We err on the side of precaution.

LUGGAGE


The best day was when we found out from HAL that we had no limit on weight! This came at a welcome  moment after my first test of one suitcase weighed in well over 50 pounds.  Because our bags were being shipped in advance, the cross border shipping regulations are demanding.  I am now the spreadsheet queen. Each item in every suitcase was itemized and valued, and wrapped in a separate dry cleaning plastic bag.  In two of our suitcases we used space bags to suck out the air, and gain a little room. I am hoping the dry cleaners bags will help prevent wrinkling. In case that doesn't pan out, we have purchased a package for unlimited pressing - thank you Barry! Once we had 5 suitcases itemized, colour coded by item, we had to fill out in triplicate all the shipping/customs forms, lock and strap each case.  What a relief when they were picked up on Dec 16th by FDX.  The only downside is that our clothing for the holidays was a little sparse.  We now have one carry on each, and 1 checked bag to go and hope that when we arrive we can fit all the contents into the closets and drawers of our cabin - which is never as big as one would like. Another little glitch - when we were tracking our bags online to see where they were, we discovered that my one bag of evening dresses was held up in Memphis which provided a bit of concern, but HAL is so efficient that they expedited that bag and one other and we now know they are safely waiting at the dock in Fort Lauderdale.  Time spent on this activity - over three months of hanging things on a double rack, planning outfits, editing, adding, altering, shopping for missing items, sewing, folding, wrapping, stacking... you get the idea!  When our package arrived from HAL (2 weeks later than everyone else's) we learned that there were 18 formal nights and several other theme nights.  By the time this information arrived, I was committed to my wardrobe selection and thankful that I could manage at least 16 different evening outfits.  Frankly one of the things we both enjoy about cruising is the fun of dressing up and dining elegantly.  We don't have the opportunity to do this as much as we used to, and when you aren't the one cooking, it really is a treat.

EXCURSIONS


We spent another full day reviewing our spreadsheet of choices for visiting our ports, and selecting which ones to commit to immediately.  The cruise critic gang, many of whom have been on multiple world cruises before, have been offering up private tours at considerable savings to the HAL excursions. The only problem is that when you go off on your own, if you are delayed in returning to the ship - it sails with out you!, and you must pay to get your own transportation to the next port.  We have committed to a lot of exciting tours already (read bought and paid for), which include some of these private ones.  For example on our second port of call in the Barbados we are joining 22 other people on a large deluxe catamaran for 5 hours sailing up the coast, snorkelling, and lunch. We thought this beat touring in a bus by a long shot, and would get us into the spirit of not only adventure, but also the warm sunny climate we are longing for.  Also we are joining one of the cruise critic couples that we have been emailing to go on a tour of Punta del Este, out of Montivideo, Uruguay.  Today on CNN I see this is one of the hot vacation spots to visit in the world in 2012 !  We still have more to book which we will do before we leave, but we are leaving some slots open for spontaneous decisions. To give you a taste for what you will hear about - think Penguins, Magellan Strait boating, Opera in Sydney Australia, more snorkelling on the Barrier Reef, Komodo dragons, and hopefully riding and bathing elephants in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It all sounds exotic and exciting and I have to pinch myself when I think about it.

CLOSING UP THE CANADIAN HOMES


In no way is this a complaint, but we do have 2 homes which we love, each for their own special locations.  We have never gone away for this length of time before and so there have been lots of extra chores associated with the closure of them as well as making sure our personal affairs like our wills, were up to date.  Our northern place is on an island, and we have never really closed it up before, as we are usually able to cross the thick ice right after Christmas every weekend, until spring break up.  Strange that the mild weather this year in Canada means we probably wouldn't  have safe ice for crossing - so while we lament the global warming trends, it looks as if we picked the perfect winter to miss our northern home.

THE HOLIDAYS


We have a great big wonderful family (26 of us in the immediate family) and 6 of them have birthdays in December, so getting ready for the holidays and this cruise all at once, has really challenged even our expert organizational skills.  We celebrated as a group on December 18th at our home, had a dinner party for 8 on the 23rd, Christmas for 3. We will have our 2 youngest granddaughters for New Years weekend so their parents can party it up, and we can enjoy their company one last time before we cruise because we know how much we are going to miss them.  Also we have been driving into Toronto a lot to dine with people who want to see us before we go... all fun and all much appreciated, but it has added to the hustle and bustle.

THE NEW BABY


Talk about great timing - just as I was composing this post yesterday, our eldest granddaughter Lara went into labour.  So I took a long break from writing and we dashed into Toronto for the birth of our FIRST GREAT grand child.  Dash is probably the wrong word as we had to drive through the first real winter storm of the season to get there and it was not fun.  Icy, unplowed, unsalted, windswept country roads, in the dark, meant I was gripping the wheel for more than an hour.  We also passed several other cars who had gone off the road and were out in the farmer's fields, so we were pretty shaken by that drive.  When we arrived at the hospital it was apparent that Lara and the baby needed some extra care, and the decision was made to do an emergency Caesarian.  We are thrilled to announce the birth of Tristan Garnet Lever 8 lbs 2 oz,  who entered this world close to 10 pm. on December 27th. Lara told us she delivered on her promise to us that she deliver the baby in time for us to meet him, before we sailed.  Our little Christmas present below:

One more thing checked off, and really the most important one of all!  He will add to the reasons we will be glad to come home when all our adventure is finished.