Our trip begins in Parker, Colorado. On Sept 28, 2010 we will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii (routing through San Francisco). We'll arrive there mid-afternoon. We'll check into the hotel and then hook up with my niece, Jana, after she gets off work. We'll have the evening and almost all of the next day with her to enjoy Oahu. We'll board the ship in time for our first on-board dinner. Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas will set sail at midnight. She'll be our home for 39 days, taking us to Tahiti, Bora Bora, east coast of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Fiji Islands. We're both experienced cruisers - okay, we're addicts. The first step is admitting it, right? We've already been on 8 cruises this year alone. This will be our longest single trip, though. Everyone keeps saying that 39 days is nuts - but as writers we'll hardly notice the 6 consecutive sea days. We'll just use the time to write our brains out and create something totally awesome for you to see in the theater next year!
So at 12 days out I have: put a stop order on the newspaper, filled out the card to have the mail held, set up the last straggling bill for online payment, and thought about packing - A LOT!! Not that I've started yet, I've just been thinking about it. How does one pack for a 40-day trip, anyway?? The tendency is to pack everything I own, but then I temper it with the reality of space restrictions. There's no way I could store all that stuff in the little closet. I will continue to refine the list until it's honed to perfection.
Packing for the big trip seems less important at the moment than packing for my trip to Kansas. My elderly mother has taken a turn for the worse and we nearly lost her yesterday. She has suffered with Alzheimer's and heart problems for many years and hasn't known me for at least the past 5 years. She quit eating 2 weeks ago. She's having great difficulty breathing and her extremities are cold and blue. She somehow made it through the night with a slight improvement. But it's still just a matter of time. I will fly there on Saturday and then stay as long as I can. But I have to be back to Denver by Thursday in order to prepare for the big adventure. She enjoyed many travels around the world, and I know that she would want me to go on the trip that we have planned and saved for over 2 years to do. This photo was taken almost 2 years ago - holding my granddaughter Caylin, with my daughter Amy and me. Four generations of us.
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| Amy and Caylin Butler, Joy Rogers and Jan Rogers - Oct 2008 |
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