Into the Wild Blue Yonder

My family and I are leaving early tomorrow morning, on a two-week vacation. My son is missing school for the duration, and he is delighted. We will be driving to Charleston, South Carolina, one of my favourite American cities, and leaving from there on a Caribbean cruise to Belize, Cozumel, the Caymans, Key West, and finally back to Charleston. Yippee.

I have never been on a cruise. It isn't the sort of thing that would be my first choice as a way to spend a vacation. It has always seemed to me that cruises are for fogies, fossils and geezers. It occurs to me that I now fit into any or all of those categories, at least in terms of age, if not spirit and attitude. I have been promising my wife a cruise for many years. I guess now it's time to deliver. Who knows, I might like it. My son is thrilled that there is an onboard track that he can run on and exercise facilities where he can keep up with his training.

Although I have never been on a vacation cruise, I have been on ships of various sizes a number of times, so I am not concerned about being seasick. I took an English Channel ferry from Dover to Calais when I visited Europe years ago, and have been on a number of large North American ferries over the years. The one experience that I wish I could remember but don't, is the trans-Atlantic crossing from Hamburg to Quebec in 1949, when I was not yet four years old. We crossed on the S. S. Scythia, a Cunard liner, as did thousands of other immigrants to Canada over the years. That was a long time ago. How things have changed over the years!

The cruise brochure promises onboard wireless internet service, so I am taking my trusty laptop along. Maybe there will be some blog posts and photographs along the way.

Stay tuned.