Saturday, June 10, 2023
We leave tomorrow at 5am for Alaska. Of course, I left the packing (for the most part) until today. I’m a pretty good packer – usually. This trip is such a mystery that I am a bit at a loss. We found a list online of what to bring. Some of the things were warm jacket, waterproof coat, pants, mittens, and gloves, a cap, hat, scarf, boots, hiking boots, rubber soled shoes, long pants, thermal underwear, long sleeved shirts, t shirts, blouses (blouses?!), sweatshirts, tall socks, silk socks (what the actual hell…), water-proof bug repellant….
It ended with “remember to pack light” there is not a lot of storage on the ship.
Okay.
It said we should dress casually on the ship, but the Viking Ocean people said that too, then wouldn’t let us in the dining room if Keith didn’t have on a collared shirt. So…huh.
I have had a lot of so… lately. It’s going to be 40-55 degrees. It’s going to be rainy. We are going to ride around in black rubber boats and get out in knee high water. We are going to kayak (are we, though?). We are going to ride bikes. We could get cold doing those things. We could get hot doing those things. It’s hard to pack.
I put a bunch of stuff in suitcases and then stopped. Then I put a little more in. Then I went and bought snacks for the plane. Apparently I think we are going to be on the plane for three weeks.
We got our (first) documentation about the trip on Monday. I find it very strange that they wait until the week you are leaving to tell you about your trip, but I guess they can be fairly certain things aren’t going to change this week, so they can be assured of accuracy. In the paperwork, I learned that we have to take a COVID test once we land in Juneau. If we test positive, we cannot board the ship. We do not get any kind of refund or raincheck – unless we have previously taken out personal trip insurance for that reason. Mmmm. I would not have minded knowing that earlier. We took tests this afternoon and both came up negative. I can only hope that that is the case tomorrow.
HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE
What with uncertainty about packing, COVID, and silk socks (no idea), it sounds like your adventure has started before you’ve even left the house. I can tell you that I’ve never talked to anyone who’s taken an Alaskan cruise who hasn’t loved it–I hope you join the ranks! And one of the people I played for at the tuba convention had just done one the week before and said this is the best time to go. Bon voyage!
Best time to go, for the win!