On to Yon!

When we hatched this plan a couple of months ago – thanks to a sale and an impressively spontaneous husband – I was stunned and wary that we could pull it off. As I sit in London’s Heathrow airport for the second time in a week, my emotions haven’t changed. Although you could add “extensively jet lagged” to the list.

We arrived in a different terminal today. We had
to board a bus and ride 10 minutes to another
terminal. TEN MINUTES. Heathrow is 
enormous.

We were home for all of 70 hours this past week. During that time, we were a whirlwind of turbo-speed activity. We did laundry, mowed the lawn, paid bills, made some decisions about Tim, got haircuts, slept sporadically. My body has absolutely no idea what time it is. I have a recollection of doing laundry a few days ago as soon as the sun came up. I didn’t want to turn on our patio lights to trudge through our backyard with my laundry basket.

The current state of Tim.
The beam behind Randy to the left is going to
hit our new cabinets. After much discussion,
we decided to pivot it out just a bit. Much
better than moving the cabinets.

Oh, and we packed. Three suitcases again, but bigger ones. With a greater variety of outfits and shoes. And with enough clothes and medications to last us about twice as long as our Hither trip.

So where is Yon taking us??

A cruise. A long cruise. A 33-day cruise – longer than we’ve ever lived on a ship. A cruise that goes to 16 ports, none of which we have ever been to. Several are Bucket List places (Amsterdam!); a number are places I never imagined visiting (Estonia?!).

We are currently waiting (7 hours…) to board our flight to Cape Town, South Africa (MAJOR Bucket List location!) where we will embark the Crown Princess in a couple of days. We will sail our way northward…and then eastward into Scandinavia…and will disembark in Dover, England. We fly home on July 4.

We will be stopping at all the 
red circles, but mostly staying 
in one time zone.

I’m still bewildered that we are doing this. And I’m still not convinced this ridiculously fast turn-around was a good idea. But we’re all in and almost half-way there – no turning back now!

I cannot wait to get on the ship. But not just because it will be a vacationy adventure. What I’m really craving is normalcy. Routine. Familiarity.

Rob and I have been living out of suitcases and changing locations every 3-5 days since March. I can’t wait to finally unpack my toiletries and set them up on a counter! My back is looking forward to having the same bed to sleep in for weeks in a row. My tummy is looking forward to having food easily accessible on a whim. I bought some yogurt yesterday as a snack. Upon returning to Woodhaven to enjoy my “breakfast in the afternoon,” I realized I didn’t have a spoon. I cried. This is after I had to do an 8-point turn-around in our driveway and park on a nearby gravel road because a gaggle of contractor trucks were blocking all parking options in front of Woodhaven.

So, yeah, I am not sad to be missing out on a chunk of the Chaos of Tim Construction over the next month, even if we’re finally at the point where it’s going to be fun. While we are cruising, Woodhaven will slowly start being put back together. Drywall, paint, cabinetry. Tim won’t be done when we get back, but his completion should be within sight. YAY!

In the meantime, I invite you to come cruising with me from the comfort of your armchair or couch. We’re going to go to some far-flung places, and it’s going to be a blast! And no suitcases for a month!!!

Next stop: Cape Town, South Africa!