Vacation

Now that Gloria is dead, a lot of people are suggesting that I take a vacation.

Most of them seem to think that the best vacation is just to come and visit them.  These are the same people who have trouble with me talking about Gloria even on a phone call.  And who can't be bothered making a phone call to me, in any case.  I'm not sure why they would think that not being able to talk to them in person is better than not being able to talk to them about Gloria on the phone.  If you have no other choice, and you desperately need to get away from where you are, and be someplace else (*any* place else), then I suppose going and visiting someone, and staying in their house, is a cheap way to do this.  But I don't think that I am quite that desperate just to be someplace else.  Visiting someone, and staying in someone else's house, is not necessarily restful.  You want to be a good guest.  You want to get up when they get up, and eat when they eat.  And eat *what* they eat.  You want to talk to them, because they obviously expect this.  You can't just go for long walks, by yourself, in solitary, without reference to anybody else.  Which I can do at home anytime I don't feel like doing something else.  It helps my cardiovascular health, it helps my weight loss, and it gives me time to think.  By myself.  Without reference to anybody else.

There are a couple of variations on this theme.  My cousin wants me to go on the Camino de Santiago de la Compastelo.  Possibly because this is the biggest thing that she's ever done, and she thought it was really terrific.  She hasn't yet said any particular reason *why* it was so terrific.  She also walks faster than I do, and wouldn't be walking with me along the Camino.  We would probably be staying at the same hostels every night.  However, at the hostels, one of the major benefits of doing this (according to what I've read so far about it) is the people that you meet at the hostels, from other parts of the world, and outside your experience.  You don't necessarily want to speak to people that you already know every night.  And, from the research that I have done about the Camino, so far, it doesn't seem particularly restful either.  I'm not talking about the thirty to thirty-five kilometres of walking everyday.  I could do that.  I'm doing 17 or 20 km on many days, as well as getting other stuff done.  And I very much doubt that there's other stuff that I could get done along the Camino. 

No, my concern about the Camino not being particularly restful, is what the books about the Camino tend to say about making arrangements, remaking arrangements, booking, rebooking, finding out that the natives where you intended to stay don't speak your language, and you don't speak theirs, finding places to sleep, finding places to eat, and doing this all on the fly.  Because, even though you should book in advance, sometimes your plans fall apart for a variety of reasons. 

The most attractive of the options that has been presented to me is from my baby brother.  He likes cruises.  I've never actually been on a cruise.  At all.  I have been on extended overnight ferry rides, and I'm sure that I wouldn't have a particular problem, either with rough water, or with sleeping on board ship.  I like water.  I grew up on the water.  I like oceans.  They are very restful.  Even in storms.  (As long as you have a warm, dry place to stay out of the rain.)

What my baby brother is most interested in, right now, is a repositioning cruise.  An extended repositioning cruise.  The shortest of the options that he's looking at right now is thirty-six days.  It's from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia.  Like I say, it's the most attractive of the vacation options right at the moment.

Yes, I know that there are a lot of things to learn.  I know that there are questions to ask.  Starting with, what do I do about covid?  What happens if the boat gets an outbreak of covid?  How much is it to get trip cancellation insurance that would cover this eventuality?  How much is it to get medical insurance that would cover this eventuality, regardless of which port they might throw me off in?

Like I say, my baby brother has been on numerous cruises before.  He's giving me some tips.  Interesting things like, if I can't find someone else to come with me I'm going to have to pay for both occupants of the cabin, myself.  Right now, that sounds like a very attractive option.  Having a cabin, to myself, for more than a month, anytime I want it.  He also tells me that gratuities are included, or, rather, mandatory.  And he's told me how much they are for a cruise of this length.  There's also the price of Internet access.  I'm not sure whether I would need Internet access.  It might be great not to have any Internet access.  Or, at least, just to have it when I desperately need it.

The thing is, what's so attractive about this option, is that it would force me to take a vacation.  I would be able to get *some* work done.  I can always take along something to work on.  And I would probably be judicious about which books I would take along with me.  I'm not worried about running out of things to do, or to read.  I'm also sure that there would be a library on the cruise ship.  Probably very little frequented by my fellow travelers. 

But I wouldn't be able to go to meetings.  *Any* meetings.  I wouldn't be able to go to any meetings in person, of course.  But, even if I did pay for Internet access the whole time of the cruise, it probably wouldn't be great access for Zoom meetings.  So an awful lot of the meetings, that I feel that I have to attend right now, I simply wouldn't be able to if I was on the cruise.  I would *have* to not do them.

I'd probably be of some help.  To my sister-in-law.  She, like Gloria, doesn't like mornings.  My baby brother is getting up early these days.  So do I, so I could take him out for breakfast and we could get in  couple of miles walking around the ship, and give my sister-in-law a bit of a break so she could sleep in.

There are more things to find out about the cruise.  One of them being, what about duties and taxes?  From some ads that I've seen duties and taxes can exceed the price of the supposed trip ticket.  Do you have to book a deck chair if you want to sit down anywhere on the ship?  How do you book a deck chair?  How expensive is it to book a deck chair?  I know that port visits are an additional cost.  Is it okay if you just never get off the ship?  As I say, right now that seems like a very attractive option.  Just not getting off the ship until it finally docks in Sydney.  It seems like a very restful idea.