All My Bags Aren't Yet Packed...

 So we're due to leave early Wednesday am, and Wifey is none too pleased. She doesn't "do mornings" if at all possible, but the only flight that made sense to Bridgetown, Barbados leaves MIA at 8:30, and so we're out of the house before 6. The good news is she sleeps VERY well on airplanes, and so will likely snooze as we fly southeast over the Caribbean.

Kenny and I agreed -- just one sports jacket -- so packing for me is my usual easy task -- enough underwear and socks, a few pairs of pants and shorts, and enough shirts for 10 days. I'll easily cram that into my half of the one spinner bag we'll check, and, like all of us old as fuh, will take all my medicines on the carry on with me. Cholesterol statin, aspirin, finasteride to keep my prostate from becoming basketball-sized, and the daily fiber pills. Oh year -- the eye drops I take nightly to hopefully keep glaucoma at bay. As I said... old as fuh...

The itinerary is two nights in Barbados, and Joelle has a bunch of fun stuff planned -- including a private tour of the island that ends by the old synagogue, which she knows Wifey and I want to visit while they check out a market. They're Jewish, but not at all into the culture like we are, which is fine. Joelle plans so well there's stuff to keep us all happy.

Yesterday I read about the ship for the first time, the Explora I. It's the first of 3 planned for the Explora line, owned by the much larger MSC Cruises. The reviews were all great -- the ship only started sailing last Fall, and is known for fine cuisine and amazing service -- sort of a Ritz Carlton of the seas.

I think the capacity is 900 passengers, which I like. We've been aboard the huge ships and had fun, but really prefer the smaller experience.

The only clunker was Crystal, which we took for Wifey's 60th birthday. The week in the Maritimes was three times the cost of the same itinerary on Royal Caribbean -- our ship and the Royal one were docked side by side the entire journey -- and we felt really ripped off. There was a highlight, though. Norman and I befriended a young pianist, not a nine inch one, and each night he would play great music for us -- including Alan Parson's Project's "Time." It became Norman and my song, for all time...

Anyway, this cruise stops at places I've never been: St. Kitts/Nevis, Martinique, Samana at the DR, and one place I HAVE been, many times, the Bahamas.

I have a feeling the service will be like the last cruise we took with Joelle and Kenny -- down the Rhone River from Lyon to Avignon. The second time I visited the bar, the Russian waitress immediately brought over my Ketel martini, sparkling water for Wifey, a Manhattan for Kenny, and a lovely wine for Joelle.

I don't buy stuff -- but when we travel -- I happily go first class. 

So I guess tomorrow I'll have my last workout for a few weeks, and then pack, and then get ready to leave on a jet plane. We'll miss Baby Man and Little Man -- but the reunion in hopefully a few weeks ought to be just grand. Ahoy!