December 31, 2012

According to my daily pre-trip To Do list, today is packing day. And since today is Monday and we're not leaving until Friday, this is uber pre-trip planning. As per usual Jim has assembled his 40-day wardrobe in about 4 minutes: shorts, golf shirts and sandals for day, khakis and sport shirts for dinner and blazer, slacks, dress shirt and shoes and ties for formal nights. It took me two days just to organize toiletries and beauty aids. The eternal question: how much shampoo to take for 40 days?

Meanwhile I've downloaded countless books to my Nook and assembled knitting, needlepoint and quilting projects for the twenty sea days. Jim has a couple of books. Do we notice a pattern here?

This is a test blog to see if I can post it myself or will have to email it to son Jay to do the honors. Shipboard internet is notoriously expensive and slow. EVERYbody complains about it but at 25 cents/minute it's quite the profit center for the ship. Ditto laundry service, but better than spending hours doing it yourself in the self-service laundry. Plus the little elves carefully put the hanging stuff in your closet and the folded stuff is ironed (including socks!) and wrapped in tissue in a willow basket placed on your bed. Worth every cent! (editor's note: I'm doing the last loads of laundry before packing and the 18-year-old Maytag dryer is making a very funny noise. Just in case I'm ready with a bag full of quarters to dash over to the most-unglamorous Kennesaw Coin Laundry to use their dryers.)

Well, this is not getting that packing done, so au revoir for now. The next message will be from the ms Amsterdam, departing Fort Lauderdale at 5 pm on Saturday, Jan 5. I've scanned the itinerary and will endeavor to post.

Susan