The Road That Beckons: This n That

How's your January going?

I was booting up my laptop to write this blog and up came the image selected by Microsoft that changes periodically showing me all the beautiful and spectacular landscapes from around the world that I'd like to visit. Today's photo featured a scene from Patagonia highlighting mountains and glaciers. Here in Colorado we have both of those things (though sadly fewer and fewer of the latter) but still the scene reminded me that I and my better half were supposed to be journeying far, far to the south at about this time to another land of ice and snow, mountains and glaciers, and even the occasional penguin thrown in for good measure. Yup, we were supposed to be freezing our tuckuses off in the far off continent of Antarctica. Passage had been booked with the good folks at Norwegian Cruise Lines (they really are very nice people - lord knows we've had enough conversations booking, rescheduling, and sadly, cancelling several cruises to know what wonderful people they are). Back in October (2021) we had cancelled our trip of a lifetime to that frozen clime due to concerns around COVID. More specifically our Port of Embarkation, Buenos Aires, Argentina, was being persnickety about not letting foreigners into their beautiful country out of an abundance of caution regarding that virus we've all come to know and love.

Unable to head south to practice our Spanish and Penguinese we opted to book a bicycle trip to Florida where we would tour the Florida Keys from Key Largo to Key West. I know, I know - Florida the sometime viral Capital of the U.S., really? What were we thinking? Well, when we booked the trip Omicron was still just the obscure 15th letter of the Greek alphabet and NOT the viral gangbuster it has since turned out to be. Things had appeared to be returning to whatever the new normal is (if you've figured THAT out let me know) and we felt what safer place could there be than on a bicycle pedaling through the fresh, and hopefully warm, January sea air along the southernmost leg of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the "Overseas Highway".

And then, OMG, Omicron entered our vocabulary and yes, the east coast and Florida specifically regained their claim to fame as THE place to go if you wanted to experience this especially virulent, but thankfully less severe strain of good ole' C-19. The tour director reached out to let us know they were still planning on running the tour but with some new conditions: COVID tests when we checked in, daily temperature checks, no group meals or get-togethers, none of the planned excursions (visiting turtles, saying "Hi" to Flipper, glassbottom boats, etc.) and oh, by the way, if you came down with COVID you'd not only be asked to immediately leave the tour (as Shakespeare would say - "Post Haste") but be on your own to figure out how to get yourself back home. Visions of me and my sweetie (yes, Valentines is only days away!) standing on the side of the "Overseas Highway" suitcases in hand and thumbs extended came merrily to mind. Now if this doesn't sound like a great trip I don't know my Omicron from my Epsilon (the fifth letter.... well, you get the idea).

So we reached out and told the tour director, who was very nice (we're having so many nice conversations with so many nice people!) and said, unless we were mistaken, this didn't sound like the definition of FUN we had envisioned and that given all the new caveats and conditions we'd take a pass. Which is why I'm sitting in Denver (Littleton actually) looking out at the snow that fell a day ago. Granted the sun is shining and the temps are climbing but palm trees and daiquiris on the beach it is not. I'd much prefer to be writing this from the comfort of a poolside lounge chair as the wind rustles through the hair I still have left, but hey, we play the cards we're dealt.

To kind of bring this full circle, I just read this morning that the cruise ship we were on (the Norwegian GEM) when we Bon Voyaged from New York to San Francisco via the Panama Canal in 2020 just had to cancel a cruise mid-passage and was returning with several thousand disappointed travelers to whence they had set out (New York) due to an outbreak of sickness onboard that prevented them from docking at several Caribbean countries they had planned on visiting. Sounds dishearteningly familiar yet sadly unsurprising. At least they'll have the opportunity to speak with some of the very, very nice people at NCL that I spoke of earlier. As for me, the mention of the Norwegian GEM still brings back wonderful and unforgettable memories from a pre-COVID world so perhaps I'll take some time to revisit some of the videos we took during that glorious trip where mention of mask mandates, social distancing, and vaccinations were still the stuff of science fiction. Except for hand washing, or as they say in the cruise ship biz "Washy, Washy!"

I'll repost the first video from that trip below in case you're looking for a dose of shipboard fun in the sun. Just mix up your favorite umbrella drink, sit back and enjoy! And no, not a single Penguin to be found...