Are we ready yet?

Our home away from home for the next 104 days!!

So much to do - so little time!!

During the 2010 world cruise, I read many of the blogs and compiled a to-do list of everything we had to do to be ready to be away for such a long time. 

We have spent the last few weeks ticking things off our to-do list - visiting the doctor, dentist, optometrist, getting our medications updated, getting flu vaccinations, exchanging Aussie dollars into Euros and US dollars, arranging mail redirection, returning library books, and making sure that the computer backups are all up to date and securely stored away.

I read a tip from another cruiser about scanning all the important travel documents to USB drive - we have made two USB's - one to take and one to leave with our son.  We figure that if we lose our wallets, passports, visas etc, we now have a backup which is much more convenient and compact than carrying paper versions of each document with us.

We seem to be meeting up with friends and family for last minute 'catch up's' every day between now and when we leave - as well as the obligatory appointments at the hairdresser, beautician etc.

We have arranged for our health fund, gym membership, Austar and internet service to be suspended while we are away, and the bills to be paid by direct debit or emailed to us so we pay by EFT.

We are flying to Sydney on Sunday, so now we are down to the last minute things - the fridge and freezer are bare and now we can concentrate on all the household security issues - making sure that everything is locked up well. Most of the items on my packing list are out on the bed in the spare room, just ready to be put into the suitcases, on Sunday morning.

Bella, our much loved dog is going to have a holiday with our son, Rob and his fiance, Ruth. It will be Rob's birthday while we are away and I wanted to make sure that he had a gift from us on the day, so we went out yesterday to get his present. (it is well hidden, Rob - if you are reading this - we will email instructions to find it on the day of your birthday). 

In what I would describe as a very optimistic moment, Arnold took his dinner suit to the tailor's to be taken in as he has lost weight since he last wore it - probably on our NZ cruise in November last year. With all the fabulous food onboard the ship - LOL - hope he doesn't have to have it taken out again before the end of the cruise!    

I think that the anticipation and planning are as much fun as the actual trip itself. We have spent many hours on the internet researching the places we will visit and booking private tours in many of the ports - we have found that the tours we book ourselves for smaller groups are more fun and flexible than the larger bus tours which are organised by the ship - and usually about half the price - we can be off the ship and on the road while the ships tours are still getting organised at the meeting point and loading onto the bus. 

In my humble opinion, the ships tours generally cater for those who would rather that someone else takes responsibility for planning their day, and are prepared to pay for it. Often they are also the more 'mobility challenged' passengers who have to rely on assistance from staff etc and complain every time there are stairs or distances to be walked. 

The hardest thing will be to say good-bye to Rob and  Ruth and Arnold's 92 year old mother, Nelly, for almost four months, but with the modern wonders of skype and email, we will be in constant communication. I wonder how people managed before, when letters took months to arrive from overseas - snail mail!!! We are so lucky!!

We are also lucky that we already know a number of fellow cruisers - some we have met on previous cruises - and other we have met through the web site - cruise critic. Despite the name, we are not a group of whingers and whiners - but rather a group of like minded travellers who love to cruise and share their experiences. The site should be renamed - cruise lovers. The group for 2011 has been renamed "Crazy Cruisers 2011" - much more appropriate I think.

 We have joined the Dawn Princess round the world cruise 'roll call' where cruisers who are booked on the same cruise can exchange ideas, thoughts, get information about cruising, plan excursions and generally communicate - not all of the chat is cruise related but lots of fun!! LOL Last year's cruisers check in from time to time, and add their tips and wealth of experience.

We have already met up with a few of the people who are on our cruise - we were happy to welcome Randy and Carol from California to the beautiful Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago and have met up with others in at mini "meet and greets" in Sydney, Broadbeach and even Auckland when we were there - a great bunch of people - so this trip should be a ton of fun!!