Getting to the "Bon Voyage!"

By the time I get ready to leave for vacation, it feels like I truly need one. ha! Seriously, the preparation required to be away for even a few weeks can be quite stressful! 

It's been a crazy last 3 weeks as we've been checking things off of our "to do" lists in preparation for being away from home for the next 51 days. For starters, after waiting for months to get our bedroom/master closet flooring replaced, they schedule it just before we leave!? Whatever. We take them when we can get them. But ripping up carpet in order to put down wood means that every single thing has to be boxed up and carried out. Figuring out what to do with a room full of furniture was actually the easiest part; it was emptying the contents of the closet that felt like moving! But finally, after a week of workers sawing wood and constantly going in and out, the biggest part of the project is behind us (still waiting on painters for molding and trim). But we were looking forward to getting the house put back together and sleep in our bedroom again!

I almost forgot to mention that the king mattress I ordered came in a couple of days before the work began. I've been going through mattresses (5 in the last 2 or 3 years) trying to find one that works with my back. This time I ordered a gel memory foam. Because it arrived vacuum packed, the instructions said to let it "expand" (can't remember the actual word) for 72 hours before putting sheets on it. Unwilling to wait 3 days, I decided to go ahead and sleep on it "as is." About halfway through the night I was waked with itching, a rash and whelps! I feel confident that it was a reaction to the latex (?) or whatever was in the mattress. Needless to say, I took Benadryl and kept my distance from the mattress for the recommended time period, then covered it with a waterproof allergy/dust mite cover, padded mattress protector and regular sheets. With 3 layers between me and the mattress, I'm now able to sleep on it without unpleasant side effects. But yikes!

But whoa...not so fast. Immediately after the flooring guys left, one of our AC units decided to go out - on the sleeping side of the house. The AC guys came, but told us that parts would have to be ordered from Houston. No problem, we're only 1.5 hours from Houston, right? But first the July 4th 4-day holiday threw everything behind. Then came Hurricane Beryl and businesses all over Houston were losing power. The AC gal informed me that they couldn't get the part until sometime in September. I even offered to drive over and pick up whatever was needed myself but that was a definite no-go. Frustrated, I asked if her manager could call us back. This time Ronnie talked to a guy, and lo and behold, the part could be here by Tuesday. Again, whatever! So over a week later, I'm thankful to say that our AC is back up and running.

Even though this trip isn't nearly as long as our 180 day one, there's still a lot of planning and preparation necessary. Stuff like acquiring extra medications, making doctor, dentists and dermatology visits, tending to details regarding the house, the yard, the sprinkler system, the mail, the pets, yada yada. After much angst, I finally decided that I needed to give my beautiful birds away. Just let me say that it's hard on several levels to re-home your much loved pets! I do feel very good about Tweetie Pie though, because he is now back with his breeder. The other birds - long story that I won't go into but I don't feel nearly as good about them. 

The truth is, it's not really practical to have pets when you're away for long periods. Boarding birds is stressful for them and paying someone to come in every day adds up $$. So last Saturday we met Tweetie's breeder who lives near Madisonville and handed him off. He's such a happy little bird and he has brought so much life into our house. We are both truly missing him and his beautiful song! So while it's a relief not to have to worry about them while traveling for extended periods, we're also saddened by their absence.

In between all of the above, I've been dealing with some dental issues (root canal + 2 new crowns) that have required multiple trips to both the dentist and endodontist. However, my dentist has been re-assuring me that he would be finished before we left. Well, today was the 3rd time in the past 2 weeks that I've been back to have the 2 new crowns re-seated. I've heard the adage "third times a charm" but unfortunately that's not true. The lab they use must have a brand new employee because they've either come back 1) too dark or 2) too light or 3) too opaque or 4) just not a great match. My dentist even saw me after closing this afternoon, hoping to finish the job. Unfortunately, the color was still off but he went ahead and seated them anyway so that I don't have to wear temporaries for the next 2 months. In September, he will cut them off again and start the whole process over. Not only has this ordeal required patience on my part, but there's been no shortage of pain involved. Multiple injections have been necessary each time temporaries have been removed. They must have used Gorilla glue because none of them came off easily (had to finally be cut off each time).

Months ago, in anticipation of this trip, I made a hair cut/color appointment with my hair stylist of around 25 years. It was strategically scheduled so that hopefully I wouldn't get desperate and have to resort to the shipboard salon. The last person I knew that used the ship salon had to purchase a wig afterwards - true story! So I was all set to get my hair done in Houston today but alas, Hurricane Beryl shut down my salon along with about 2 million people who are still without power. :( 

Ok, I confess that my roots are the least of the problems caused by Hurricane Beryl. But without a local hairdresser, what was I to do? With what must certainly have been divine guidance, I managed to find someone local with a cancellation this morning and enough time to do both! So with a leap of faith, I trusted a total stranger to cut and color my hair today. What else could I do? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now I realize what a blessing it was that Nicole got distracted and accidentally cut my hair too short last month, so thankfully today it only required a trim! That's the good news. Now the bad... I've had an allergic reaction to the coloring agent she used so I'm unable to sleep due to scratching my head like crazy! It's after 3 a.m. now and I've been up since midnight. I hope to get a couple of hours of sleep, then wash it again to see if this allergic reaction will settle down.

At 2 pm this afternoon, a friend will drop us off at Ground Shuttle with our two 50 lb bags, two carry ons, Ronnie's briefcase and my laptop backpack. That's as light as I travel. Ground Shuttle will take us to Houston IAH where we will spend the night (?) at the Marriott Airport Hotel in order to check in for our flight to New York at 4 am tomorrow morning. If all goes well and our flight is on time, by 1 pm we should be boarding Oceania's Insignia once again. Please pray that there are no big hiccups with our flight; otherwise we might literally miss the boat! 

Barring any change of plan, here is our itinerary. Thanks in advance if you will be traveling with us. I will do my best to write a little and post pictures daily.

 

Lots of ports for 51 days! Most we will be in for only a day.