Norma and Tom's Great Adventure

Uh oh...it appears that we had a stowaway in our luggage!    I am Gnorbitt, the Roaming Gnome If I had my way, I’d never go home And even though I'm quite mellow I can be a  very  sneaky fellow When Norma and Tom started to pack I looked around for a comfortable sack. A bright blue bag with plenty of pockets Yeah! That’s the ticket  Just the right billet  for someone who’s knitted. There was no reason to delay, so I hopped right in without making any din 'cuz we’d soon be on our way  heading out from Miami Bay. It’s was worth the ruse  to get on board this cruise We’re heading out to see the world So, Captain, let the sails unfurl  because adventures await where the tide determines our fate. 

It’s going on midnight and I seem to have the whole promenade deck to myself. The temperature is balmy and the seas are calm as our ship slices through the water heading south through the Caribbean towards our first stop: Cartagena, Columbia. It’s our first night at sea after a hectic couple of days boarding the ship, getting oriented, unpacking and organizing our cabin. Having met and observed some of our fellow passengers it is obvious that this is not the kind of crowd we typically run with. Tommy has quipped that we are on the Kohl's deck rather than the Tiffany or Nieman Marcus deck. Despite not having had a facelift, wearing designer clothing, nor being able to lay claim to having already completed multiple world cruises, it appears that the crew is not going to discriminate against us because we come from more modest means. In fact, they just can’t seem to do enough for us. It’s been white glove treatment from the moment a chauffeur driving a Cadillac Escalade picked

“Let’s go see the world,” we said.  Australia's on fire, New Zealand has a spewing volcano, Sri Lanka had a bit of an uprising recently, and now there's talk of World War III starting.  Hmmm....this may be much more of an adventure than we planned for! Regardless of things beyond our control, we are boarding the Crystal Serenity tomorrow (Monday) afternoon and will set sail on Tuesday. As my niece, Bonnie, is fond of saying, “It will all be fine.” And she’s usually right.  With all the stress of the preparation phase behind us now, we are ready to relax, have fun, learn more about the world, and meet new people.  We wish you could all join us, but as many of you have told us, you plan to live vicariously through this blog.  So now, dear friends and family, it’s time to get out your maps and get ready to follow our progress as we sail around the world. Who knows what may lie  ahead. Norma

We hope your celebrations this Christmas season were  shared with family and special friends.  As the end of the year approaches, and with a New Year about to begin,  Tommy and I pray that you will be abundantly blessed with the gifts of love, peace, good health and prosperity. 

After months of planning, and shopping, and researching, and packing, and repacking, it’s hard to believe that we are this close to launching our Great Adventure. For so long it has seemed like “sometime next year”, that the reality of its imminence comes as a bit of a surprise. We’ve had a fairly narrow focus up till now trying to make sure that we’ve thought of everything and that everything is in place. Getting the visas required by several countries we will be visiting was probably the biggest hassle, particularly the ones for India that required extensive documentation. Past that now, but it was all quite aggravating. Knowing what clothing to pack was a bit of a conundrum. I finally got some help from the cruise line hostess who said that they don’t post weather related info on their website because it can vary so much. I guess they don’t want to deal with passengers who complain, “You said it would be 85 degrees and it was only 75 when we got there!” This is what she came up

There are a myriad of things that have to be considered when you’re preparing for an international trip that’s nearly four months long. Some are big things such as getting the necessary visas. What countries require them; how do you go about applying for one; how far in advance can you submit the applications; and how much does each one cost? Then there are bigger things such as how many tubes of toothpaste and sticks of deodorant are we going to need. Should we invest in a gallon jug of sunscreen? The biggest dilemma of all, of course, is how much yarn should I pack. Conversely, how much space do I need to reserve in my suitcase for the inevitable souvenir yarn purchases that I’ll make along the way? (This topic will require its own separate post ) VISAS Tommy and I are going to need visas to several countries: India, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. There are consular fees, processing fees, application fees, embassy registration fees, photo fees, etc.  The estimated fe