Journey Journal
Sometimes, I wish we could just get beamed from our homes, with all our luggage, right onto the ship, without everything it takes to get from there to here. But then, we’d miss out on the adventures of the trip.
It’s always an adventure, and when you’re trying to get about ten pieces of luggage and a wheelchair from home to the airport, negotiate the airport to the plane, switch over to another plane halfway in Iceland, land in a strange airport (London’s Gatwick), get from there to the port in Dover, get all that luggage and wheelchair in to the hotel (no accessible entrance) and up to the room (which is smaller than our ship’s cabin), then back down to the lobby, and out to the ride from the hotel to the ship the next morning, then finally onto the ship — you’re going to meet a lot of amazing people, many of whom just want to help.
I always come prepared to tip those that help as generously, and thankfully, as I can, though some will simply not accept — they just help because they want to help. Yes, the world is still full of people like that. Don’t believe me, get out there and find out for yourself. When I do, I always find a world that is so much different than the one you hear about on the news all day, every day. The world I find is more in line with the universe I affirm each day, the one that is loving, and kind, and wants me to enjoy living, enjoy life, and have adventures. It’s so nice to have this reaffirmation from the universe, whenever we travel. It’s a good reason to go travel. Find out for yourself what the world is really like. Don’t take another’s word for it. There are amazing people out there.
I did this when I was young, poor and without firm roots in the ground, and I do it now that I am older (63), well settled, making a decent wage, and can afford some of the nicer things to ease the burdens of the travel. We worked our asses off for a lot of years to be able to do this, and we were fortunate to meet some people who convinced us not to wait until we retire, or let this great life pass us by while we worked our noses to the grindstone to get ahead and move up.
We learned that you can do both — work hard, then live well, as you go. Be willing to do what it takes to learn the difficult lessons, to accomplish what you think you can’t, to overcome the fears that seem so real, until you confront them and realize they were all just in your head. You can do what you intend to do in life, it just takes a little courage, chutzpah, and belief in the seemingly impossible. That’s all. Oh, yeah — it also takes a lot of practice. That’s why we keep traveling — we learn as we go.
I won’t bore you with all of the details, but rest assured, we had a hell of an adventure getting to the ship. The highlight was our ride from Gatwick to Dover, a fine English gentleman from Canterbury, now a Dover resident, who met us at the airport and treated us to an amazing day in the English countryside, revealed the loveliness and beauty of little English villages along the way, took us to a fine English pub in the countryside for lunch, gave us a marvelous history lesson about the mighty Dover Castle, centuries of stories of how this amazing structure repelled the likes of the Romans, Napoleon, Hitler, and many others. Gary took us to some amazing beach villages, past the home where Thomas Paine lived in 1750, past Ham on the way to Sandwich, found a great deal on some delicious ice cream cones in Deal, even took us to his home to treat us to a case of water for the ship — an amazing day, all the way around.
Gary was a builder until his back went out on him, had to sell his house just to be able to afford to live, then reinvented himself as a driver, finding that he loved it, loved meeting great people, and got back on his feet, financially. At 55 he’s doing great, and enjoying life in his new career. He was such a natural, it seems he was made to do what he does. What a joyful day we had with Gary!
Our cabin on the ship is bigger than any cabin we’ve ever had. Because of the wheelchair and her leg, Kathy managed to get us into an accessible cabin, one the ship just made much larger the last time it was retrofitted. Last night, we dined at Palo’s, the 5 Star restaurant topside, aft, that we get to eat at because of our status as platinum Castaway Club members, where I enjoyed a lovely Dover Sole (when in Dover!), which the waiter fileted right at the table.
Tomorrow will be a sea day, as we steam the 445 nautical miles from Dover to Cork, Ireland, where we both will stand on Irish soil for the first time in our Irish lives. On the way we’ll be treated to a Couples’ Choice massage in the ship’s spa, and while away a day at sea unwinding from the journey to get here, and preparing ourselves for 17 more days on this amazing journey — one sea day at a time!
