It only took Jules Verne 80 days to go around the world, and that was in 1882! But 10 days ago I got on a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, and 138 days from then I will get off the cruise ship in London and head back home to New York.
I’ve been to all 7 continents, but I’ve never taken a cruise before. I never wanted to go on a cruise before, but this one seemed different to me. It’s 6 continents, all but Antarctica, and 58 ports, so do the math and you’ll see I’ll be off the boat every couple of days, in a new port. Looking at the map above, you’ll notice there are some longer ocean crossings in the early 1/3 of the cruise, like 5 days from Los Angeles to Hawaii, but once we hit New Zealand it’s pretty much off the boat every day or two and going on local excursions everywhere. And one of the most delightful aspects of the trip are the many places I have not been before - - Tahiti, Bali, Sri Lanka, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece. Israel was included, but has been taken off, to no one’s surprise.
I’m doing it all on Viking, and having been on 4 Viking river cruises in Europe, I know how good they are at both luxurious rooms and terrific food and beverage. And if you’re going to live somewhere other than home for 138 days, those are the most important things.
I thought at one point I wouldn’t do this alone, that I would want a companion. But I don’t have that person in my life now, so I just figured “if not now, when . . . .?”
Starting in Fort Lauderdale, our first stop was Cozumel, then Cartagena Colombia, and then the Panama Canal and Panama City. Those are all new destinations for me. Right now we’re headed to Cabo San Lucas, another new place, and we’ll get there on January 3, in the new year of 2024!
One of the things I already like about the cruise is that there are many activities and especially lectures several times a day. I’ve been taking writing workshops, working out every day (as usual), and lectures from on-board professors on animal life, political history, history of cruise ships, earthquakes and volcanoes, and local customs, to name just a few.
So I’ll be posting every couple of weeks, with pictures as I have included here, and I hope you’ll take the time to follow me. As exciting as this is, I miss you and New York already, and all I can hope for is that you’ll be there when I return on May 6 and so will New York!