Believe it or not, the Captain has told us we will have a "pirate drill"! Also, we will be cruising with all lights out at night from now until we pass through the Suez Canal. We have decided to cancel our Luxor Tour. It is a risk we don't need to take and, besides, it is 14 hours long in extreme heat and humidity. We would miss our afternoon nap! We are planning to take the tour where we get to meet some Bedouins and ride a camel, though.
There are at least two amazing (if you have listened to the video clips you will realize that "amazing" is my favorite word!) aspects to this trip. One is to observe the inexorable movement toward affluence in many of these countries and the corresponding decline in rural and family life. There is a sadness about it. The second is to be smack dab in the middle of world events. It is very different than watching it on TV!
Less than four weeks left on our cruise. We have been changed by this trip but we aren't sure exactly how. We certainly have a greater appreciation for what we have at home. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Getting all dressed up for dinner and saying "Good Evening" to 20 different people is beginning to lose its charm. A sandwich in our cabin or the cafeteria is becoming more appealing. To paraphrase one of my favorite expressions, we like jellybeans, but 40 pounds of them ( or of gourmet chocolates) is a lot!
Hi Mom and Dad -- I was looking at your comment about how the trip has changed you and how getting dressed for dinner is getting old. I wonder if the experience you've had is sort of like what royalty (or at least aristocracy) feel, when they are surrounded by luxury and enjoy it to a point, but long to get to the country after a period "in town". By the way, can you watch internet streamed shows? If so, and you can do a trial on netflix.com, you might want to watch "Downton Abbey" on the instant view portion -- that means that you can watch a video online instead of using a DVD or VHS tape. Another good one is "Kingdom". Downton Abbey is set in the couple of years leading to WWI and Kingdom is modern day Norfolk, with many scenes filmed in the town where Rob and Penny Laucht have their cottage. Love, Cliff
ReplyDeleteby the way, it will be interesting to see how your experience of the ship changes as you not only enter the home stretch, but also get into Europe and more familiar terrain. I wonder if more British and Americans will get on for the stretch that heads into the UK and then the USA. Who is on now? Lots of Aussies, still, or others?
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see how meeting new people for dinner every night would get old. Do you often see the people who are doing the entire trip?
ReplyDeleteAnd it would be interesting to see the influx of affluence that brings along the breakdown of family and community. It's curious how that seems to go together. I read an article yesterday about women in India being excited about the increases in influence they are gaining and yet their sadness that women in places of freedom often end up divorced, etc.... that unhappiness often follows in the wake of these new freedoms. So, it's good to see that people are no longer in desperate poverty, and yet you hope that they will retain the good of their close family lives.
Love,
Rachel