Planning a Carribean Princess Cruise

I often look to see if I have any comments on my blogs and was pleased to see this morning that indeed some readers actually did bother to say something to me about what I have written.

I think blogs are all about putting ourselves out there in hopes to find like people or someone that you maybe even touched with something you said. I found both much to my surprise!

I am getting ready to go on my first cruise. I might just document it while I am having the experience so that I can share with readers some of the good and some of the bad in hopes it will help others with their choices in how to travel.

I am driving to Reno, NV to see a friend in the area before catching a "red eye" to New York. Needless to say, I might have a lot of negative to say about the flight. I am not looking forward to being mostly awake for an entire night. I can only imagine how I will look by the time I reach New York! The reason I chose the "red eye" is to make sure that I don't miss the ship boarding. I'd hate to arrive two hours late for the grand event. It would be a night mare to miss my cruise. I need to give myself the room for delays etc. that just might happen along the way.

I might have a passenger driving to Reno. I met a woman at a party not long ago that is going there on the same day and going home about the time of my return. I don't know this woman very well at all and am holding my breath hoping I haven't made a mistake offering her the ride. One never knows what people are like until you get locked up in a small car for an entire day with them! It is like camping with a new friend and you find out they don't like dirt, heat or sleeping in a tent! I have had that not so lovely experience a few times in my life. I remember years ago camping with a friend who expected to be able to look beautiful while sleeping in the back of my truck without running water or even a toilet. She was disappointed that some man might see her as she really was and I was irritated with her insistence on how unhappy she was with her situation.

I will be going on the Caribbean Princess sailing Canada and New England with 5 of my high school girlfriends. We are all approximately 70 years old this year. We have met up every two years for the past 10 years or so. We always manage to step right back into our 17 year old selves every time we get together. It isn't a bunch of old ladies on a trip. It is a fun-loving group of high school girls! We have been to Florida, San Francisco, Boston and our 50th High School Reunion in Indianapolis, Indiana and now the cruise. I have posted a picture of us at the reunion. We have learned that we need to be in the same room most of the time so that no one misses anything. We manage to get suites at hotels and now we have adjoining staterooms on the ship. We won't miss a comment or a giggle.

I have purchased a new suitcase since they decided on my last trip that my old black bag had seen too much banging about and needed to be retired. I have a brand new plum colored suitcase that I purchased on LuggageOnLine. I chose this site after comparing quite a bit. They had free shipping; which really made the decision easier. I also purchased one Eagle Creek Pack it Folder. My friend suggested that I use these suitcase helpers to keep my clothes from messing up. I only purchased one thinking that if I needed more, they could be simple to make. (Have I mentioned that I can be cheap?) I also bought a suitcase luggage scale. I do not want to find myself re-arranging my suitcase on the floor at the check in counter! I am too old to experience airport hassles. I find myself hating the whole flying experience. It use to be fun, but sadly customer service is not part of the new game at airports.

I am almost ready to print off my boarding pass to the ship as one of the last task to finish. I did get a new passport shocked to realize that the cost was $150.00! I think it was less than $50.00 the last time I needed a passport. Ouch! I purchased a cool dressy backpack to use instead of a large purse to slide off my shoulder as I am removing my shoes or whatever. I have walked through airports with all manner of slipping straps, shoes that need too much help getting back on and not having anything to eat for way too long. I will make sure to put some energy bars in that pack pack being careful how big my water bottle is and have a wrap and a inflatable pillow of sorts so that I can try to sleep a bit. Have you ever tried to sleep while an air-conditioner is chilling your body core down to uncomfortable levels? I have! I took a train to Elko, NV once from Oakland, CA. A fun trip wrapped in misery of too cold, no warm blankie with no sleep. All mistakes and regrets can be made good again if one manages to learn from the experience.

One of our friends is driving cross country with her husband stopping by to attend major league baseball games. This has to be a very good adventure for any baseball lover! Another friend is traveling with her husband from LA to Chicago for a few days before she gets on the same plane as I do for the leg into New York. She made her reservation and seat choice without consulting with me and managed to get a seat one seat away from me! Of course, that poor person between us will have to move or suffer from our on-going non-stop chatter. Two friends will fly from Indianapolis to New York the day before. There will be four staying over night in New York with Charlene and I meeting them on the ship. I'm getting tired from just the thought of that long flight from Reno to New York with too many flight changes for a senior citizen to think as an adventure. It will be something to get through as gracefully as possible.

I have been having the strong cravings for an electronic tablet. I'd love a small device to read a book on, check my email and post on Facebook. I am not spending 600-700 dollars because I cannot justify this urge. I am not a traveler. I do it every two years. I live up a river in the woods where being connected on cell phones etc is but a dream. I do have a computer with WI FY, but my cell phone won't work here at home. I cannot be the geek I want to be!

I will keep you posted on this trip as it goes along and/or finishes with details on that cruise for all to see! See you later.

An Aha Moment from Oprah

It is now 1 week, plus since my knee hasn't worked well. I went to Medford, Oregon to an Orthopedic doctor on Friday with my nurse-practioner friend, Catherine. We got the examination, questions, x-rays and MRI leaving without any real answers to what happened to that poor knee. The x-ray only showed that I have minimal arthritis in my knee; which I consider very good news for a woman of my advanced age of 70! The whole story is now left up to the MRI; which is taking 5 working days to be read and then the information passed onto me. I expect to hear by the end of the week my summer-time fate.

Will I be back in the garden enjoying my passion without much of a hiccup, or will I be carefully walking about careful not to bend, squat or any other position making it possible to actually get my hands into the earth? I may even be facing surgery of some kind.

Needless to say, just sitting days upon days has relieved my knee of most of the pain. I can still feel it especially if I get off center and find my foot not facing forward at all times. I almost stepped on the cat yesterday causing me to lurch a bit reminding me that, yes, I have a problem. So, no squatting in the garden just yet.

I watched the Oprah OWN Channel when she was talking about what she personally believed on her Master Class program. I found the idea that we can surrender ourselves to a higher being finding that once that surrender is sincere, life often finds the answers to any problems we think we may be having or issues that seem to have no answers will become clear to us.

One of my strongest traits is my bull-dog efforts to make things right or to solve a problem. I can use energy that most people find unbelievable to make senseless into reason or wrong into right. I don't accept gracefully that life is not always fair. I thought that I have been rewarded in my life for being a bull-dog; but now I'm thinking that it hasn't been an actual reward but just admiration from a few for my determination as foolish as it can often be. You can't say I don't try, but Oprah has hit me aside the head reminding me to examine if that determination is just a bratty child stamping her feet in protest or a real effort to change the situation

In the example of my knee, I decided since I am booked for a cruise in early September, I need to do the right thing first and then spend time getting well. I wasn't willing to spend a month waiting to see if my knee would heal itself on its own only to find out I needed surgery for any real healing. In the case of personal situations where I am butting heads trying to get someone to listen, to hear my pleas and to understand me; I think Oprah is right. I need to let the issue go once I see the efforts made have not made a dent in anyone else's state of mind. I need to surrender. OMG, that is a difficult task for me!

In my efforts to make life more fair, I have not waited for any God to solve my earth-bound problems. I have believed God was way to busy. I have held the belief that rewards from God are rare and that it is up to man to make his life both better and/or worse. I still am not a religious woman. I do believe in a God or an energy of sorts. I will now make an effort to surrender to that energy. I cannot always succeed in being the master of my fate. As Oprah would say, it was an aha moment.

For the last five years I have been running into a wall trying to make a bad thing good. Five years is long enough to know what I am doing is not working. Along with my knee, I will surrender the problem to the universe. Maybe I will be hugging loved ones that have found me flawed. If I surrender I might find a blanket of comfort warming me instead of the cold prickly unknown hovering over my life.

I can give up trying to convince others that they need to understand what I am saying. I protest too much making me unloved and maybe not so good. The fact is that no one that matters when it comes to my problem is listening to me. I get support from my husband and my friends who love me unconditionally. Those that do not value the unconditional part of love, have cast me aside as bothersome, manipulative and not worth much. It so happens those who cast me aside are very important to me. I believe I need them in my life. I will stop trying to make it happen. I surrender. Maybe the answer is that I don't need them as much as I thought. Maybe it will be that without me harping at them, they will miss me and remember how special I was. If I surrender, the future is unknown; which is something I don't do well with. That could be the lesson learned to let that certainity not be needed. Hmm...now to get the surrender going. I imagine, like Oprah, I will have to remind myself often and long asking my form of God to take charge instead of me. All my efforts have been useless. It is time for another method. Thank you Oprah for the heads up!