And back home

For whatever reason, the friendly captain and crew did not have us turn the clocks back the night we left Ketchikan; rather they waited till the geographically correct last night. This, of course, compounded my usual worries about waking up in time for breakfast and departure.

Managing on less than ideal sleep, I rolled out of bed and packed up all of my toys. Frankly the toys (Cross stitch supplies and electronics) are probably more critical to my happiness for the rest of the day than any spare clothing or socks that might be forgotten. Oh yes, and medications. Me without calcium or thyroid replacement is not a pretty sight. 

Anyway – I was the early bird to breakfast. It wasn’t deliberate, but being nice to people, especially the ship staff, resulting in my invitation to return to the Coastal Kitchen this morning. Frittata with feta and spinach along with more coffee that was sensible for anyone and a bagel gave me strength to face the rest of the day. 

Since we had been docked extremely early, it was about 0800 when I headed to the gangway. Once through immigration (apparently travel through International Waters means you get to deal with Customs and Immigration) I went looking for a ride to the airport. The lovely woman directing traffic pointed me toward the airport express bus. Let me set the scene for you – five days spent being careful. All the boarding passengers are wearing masks and the driver is not. Not only that – but company policy was to fill every seat. 

This is not social distancing. 

My seat companion was a lovely travel agent from Georgia. It was from her that I found the Oct sailing of the Ovation from Vancouver to Sydney had been officially cancelled. No idea where she is going to be ported next. My vote? San Francisco – the only ship we have is the oldest of the Princess ships. If the schedule was five days off (and Royal offered the same alternates of Hawaii and Mexico) from Princess, I think they could do extremely well. 

Anyway. Arriving at SEA – it turns out the USO opens from 1200-0300 and currently is limited to active duty and families unless there is room. The woman at the desk took pity on me and pointed me toward comfortable chairs and power points for my electronics. 

The flight back was fine and once again I scored an exit row seat. Dani bailed me out of OAK (something about not wanting me on BART which is both funny and sweet). George gets back from Denver tomorrow. 

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About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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