An adventure awaits

Most writers and journalists have, at some times in their lives, experienced those periods where they just didn’t feel like writing.   No stimulations, words won’t flow, too busy doing other things.  Whatever, I am emerging from such a period. 

It wasn’t for the lack of opinions or observations.  Our travels to California and the return car trip to Puerto Vallarta, immigration issues for Americans in Mexico, improvements to (and the failure of) the infrastructure we observed upon our return to Mexico, The Presidential election in November, the spate of gun violence in America … all topics that crossed my mind as worthy of a mention.  But it was easier to throw a few lines onto Facebook and let it go at that.

But now, I feel like writing again.  Perhaps the timing is related to an upcoming adventure on which we will depart one week from today.   Though some may argue that the past five years that we have lived in Mexico have been one long vacation, the reality is that even when you  live in a tropical resort town, it really isn’t a vacation.  Sure, it’s a nice place to live, but you still do pretty much the same things you do when you live anywhere else.  Today will we go to the beach, then have cocktails at sunset and dine at a five star restaurant?  No.  I have a doctor’s appointment, then I teach English to Mexicans, then tonight we’ll probably grill some chicken and watch Lance Armstrong admit to Oprah that he lied.   Sound familiar?

So, that being said, next week, we will embark on a real vacation that has been nearly a year in the planning.  A gift to ourselves after we both celebrated big birthdays last year.

For six weeks, we will leave the winter of Mexico (and it has been a cloudy and cool one) to the warmth of down under.  New Zealand, Australia, Bali … then onto Hawaii and eventually in mid-March back home to PV.   Next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be the flights from hell.  Leaving Puerto Vallarta at 4:00PM Thursday, we go to LA, then Fiji, then onto Auckland, NZ, arriving there at 2:00PM Saturday (including the date change).  Seventeen hours in the air, 27 hours including layovers.  The iPad is loaded with movies, the Kindle is loaded with books, the sleeping pills are in the backpack.

After two days in Auckland, we board the Celebrity Solstice for an 18 night cruise all around New Zealand with stops in Tauranga, Akaroa, Christchuch, Dusky and Doubtful and Milford Sounds, then across the Tasman Sea to Sydney, Hobart (Tasmania), Adelaide,  Esperance, Albany, and Perth.

The cruise terminates n Perth, but while most passengers will disembark there, we will stay on board for the next 17 night Australian cruise which will complete the voyage around the island/continent.  From Perth, we visit Port Hedland, then Benoa (Bali), Darwin, Cairns (Great Barrier Reef),  then back to Sydney where the sea adventure ends.  From Sydney, we will fly to Honolulu where we will “vacation" for a week, then back to PV.

We have never been gone so long before.  It will be an experience, and while we haven’t thought much about it since we planned it last March, we are both getting excited about the adventures that we will encounter.   My plan is to blog along the way, relaying the observations and oddities of travel a half a world away.   It may be challenging.  

First of all, I‘m not sure what type of Internet opportunities we will have (we won’t be buying the ship board Internet package because at 49 cents a minute for extremely slow online access, our WiFi bill would soon eclipse the cost of the cruise).   Second, and more concerning, the letter “I” just broke on my computer.  If I press hard enough, the “I” will print, and spell check catches most of the misspellings …. But f you notce a few words mssng an “”, that’s why.