And while we are making plans God is watching somewhat amused that we think we are in control.
Today we were supposed to land in London. At Gatwick airport. From there we were going to haul our carefully packed pair of checked bags, two carry ons, and two personal items, plus my CPAP to Southampton to meet our fellow adveturers for the first time face to face. In two days we would all board the Villa Vie Odyssey to begin our three and a half year residential cruise around the world. The first of it's kind. Pioneers all of us.
Instead I am sitting at the dining room table in New York writing to anyone who I had told that this was going to happen on May 15th. I felt, and hoped, that there would be a few people checking my blog to see the launch of our ship and adventure simultaneously. Fear not. The Villa Vie Odyssey is not going the way of Life at Sea. (see previous blog entry for the reference). The show will go on. Adventure delayed is not adventure denied.
First there is the ship. The Odyssey. Waking a thirty year old cruise ship from a three year nap is no easy task. Gratefully the storage was a sort of warm storage where many of the systems continued to be maintained while she was at dock until being sold to our group. By so doing the evil rust and decay of disuse was avoided for much of the vessel. Those parts found to not be up to snuff were repaired or replaced. The standards for putting such a ship to sea from the port in the United Kingdom are very strict and deservedly so. Lives are quite literally at stake based on the function of everything from the engines to the ventilation systems.
In the course of performing the necessary maintenance they were pleasantly surprised to find her to be in excellent shape. Dry dock in Belfast was scheduled and briefly delayed due to the vessel before us running past it's planned finish date. With a tight timeline to complete those things which can only be performed with the ship out of the water the management of the company deemed it prudent to delay the launch date. Needing an extra week they chose to plan for two in the event of unforeseen challenges.
Second there is me. I had planned to get all my ducks in a row early. I would carefully go through all of my belongings and categorize them into three groups. Those that would go with me. Those that would stay in the house. Those that would be given/thown away. I was going to get my scuba certification for all those great opportunities to visit the tuquoise waters of places I'd dreamed of seeing since I was six years old watching The Undersea World of Jaques Cousteau and such. All accounts and communications would be transfered from paper to digital or cancelled altogether. Set up a phone plan that would work in 143-countries. Send my passport in to Washington DC to get a visa for our visit to China in 2026. And wait three weeks to get it back. I was going to look at all the cool places we would go in the first month or so and pick out the not to miss sites in each. I would have the contact information and websites to facilitate the maximum efficiency in experiencing the life I was about to embark on.
Things went a little sideways in January with a family emergency. Those of you who know know. Those of you who don't probably understand that when someone really close to you really needs you everything else gets put to the side.
So. With a significant number of the ducks being taken out of my rows I was left to prioritize what I want to do versus need to do. I need to get me and my loving wife to the ship by May 30th when she launches from Belfast instead of from Southampton on the 15th as originally planned.
The Belfast ship yards where the Titanic was built and launched on May 31, 1911. Where 2240 passengers made plans to go to New York. They thought they were in control. Maybe if they had launched just one day earlier they would have missed that iceberg. Good thing we launch on the 30th.
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