Details Details .... at least nobody needs to mow the grass while we're gone

Hopefully the weatherman is saving all the snow we normally get in Colorado for after we leave. It has been unseasonably dry in Loveland this fall and it looks like there will not be a "white Christmas' this year. All the better for us, we would like to be missing out on feet of the white stuff while away at warmer climes. The embarkation for staff is exactly three weekends from today. We leave for Nassau on January 8. Most of our details are sharpening into place, the two most recent being getting Malaria pills and seasickness patches. Be prepared for some sticker shock on the malaria meds, even with insurance copays they ran over $100 per person. OUCH! But better than getting the disease and almost every port we visit until China is a threat for it. Liz and I are not the types to throw caution to the wind so we will take them beginning a few days before Brazil.

I thought early on that the travel stipend provided by ISE was way generous but have now found that the costs added up very quickly and they now have outstripped the stipend. Visas, extra passport photos, travel to/from Nassau and San Diego at the beginning and end of the voyage, vaccinations and preventative medications!  I sure am glad my surgery and recovery have not ruled out us going on the voyage as many of the costs are non-recoverable. I have to go on the voyage to get my stipend, so a recovery setback could be devastating! Especially since our costs are multiplied by two. Mind you I am not complaining ... it would take a lot to keep me from going ... read on.

I am now two and a half weeks after surgery, three to embarkation. Although the surgery seems to have been successful to correct the colon issues, a couple of hematomas that developed under the incisions have left me with open wounds that must be cared for, perhaps as long as weeks into the voyage. Although I may not be 100% by the time we get to Nassau ... all my caretakers have been working with one objective: get Keith and Liz to sea on January 8th! I am feeling better each day and hope to have the energy and stamina return to my body.

We had requested many of the common tourist excursions for our days in port and were surprised that our selections came back 100% as chosen. We had some specific needs due to my work schedule on board at sea, so we were happy to not have to take any of our back-up choices. We plan to make the most of our time in port as most places will be new to us. It's a chance of a lifetime not to be squandered.

We have a very small number of Christmas lights this year. We basically put up our tree and a few lights on the front porch. This from the guy who used to go crazy putting up lights some years to please the kids and even once fell of the roof doing it! Oh well, with this surgery recovery, it means not much to take down before we leave!

We spent a few hours with our friend Kristina this week. She will house sit while we are gone and keep Thumper, the siamese, company. She has struck up a friendship with Sarge the Gnome. Our son Craig is going to order our foreign currencies from his bank.

We got a few final documents in an e-mail this week outlining final preparations for the voyage. I can smell the sea air already .............

Sarge the Gnome Joins the Trip

Today was my last day at work before I leave for the Spring 2011 voyage about six weeks from now. I needed to stop working early to have surgery and recover in time to sail. My wonderful friends at Mines presented me with a cute little 6 inch gnome that can travel the world with Liz and I to document our adventure. Origin of the gnome: every Monday seven of us gather at lunch to discuss and re-live each episode of The Amazing Race, hence the acronym ARDG (Amazing Race Discussion Group). Everyone signed the bottom of the gnome and now they will enjoy watching "Sarge," as he's been dubbed, visit all the great places we visit. Thank you Esther, Dan, Gary, Heather, Angie and Peter; you now can vicariously venture out across the seas with Sarge. And you even provided some packaging for gnome safety during rough seas ... how thoughtful. Guess protective packaging for Liz and I is up to us!

Sarge the Gnome

Our passports were returned this week complete with visas to four countries. That was a load off our minds and a relief! Everything seems in order. We also visited the health department and got booster inoculations for Typhoid and Polio at the advice of the public health nurse. Time to take a break from SAS preparations and enjoy a nice family Thanksgiving ... everyone coming to our house this year.

SAS and ISE - what a supportive group!

My October ended with a frightening experience that i feared would end my Spring 2011 adventure before it began. On October 24th as I was recovering from what I thought was a very bad case of flu, I suddenly went downhill fast. Luckily Liz talked stubborn old me in to visiting the emergency room at about 8 pm that Sunday night. To my surprise, I was diagnosed with complicated diverticulitis and admitted to the hospital for three days of IV antibiotics. I had never been in the hospital (except to visit other unfortunate souls) since I was about five! The advice was to return in six weeks to have surgery.

So of course the next thing was to begin counting the weeks until the SAS Spring Voyage to make sure I can recover in time. Wow was it a tight timeline -- no room for error or complications or I wouldn't be going. The doctors agreed that as long as recovery was smooth, I could sail with my ship mates with no problem. Sunny (the Dean of Students) and I corresponded about my situation and she consulted with ISE leadership and came to the conclusion that with the chances of complications throwing the proverbial monkey wrench into the works being so low, they would roll the dice and stick with me. I'm feeling great and it's a relief to know that we can continue to plan for the voyage.

Now that's a whole 'nother story. Two months out and so many details to prepare for ............

We got a surprise e-mail from Anne, who is going to be the psychologist on board and discovered that she lives only about thirty minutes from us and we want to get together to share all of our pre-voyage planning. Anne sounds like a wonderful person who we will enjoy travelling and sharing the voyage with. She is a counselor at CU-Boulder, but I won't hold that against her just because I am a dyed in the wool CSU Ram.

We finally have the final list of field prorams for all the port countries. We have two weeks to get pre-registered for any that are in Dominica, Brazil or Ghana and any other sthat involve overnight travel. Homework, homework, homework!!!!!!!!

They accept MasterCard for your Visas

Liz and I completed our visa applications today for the four countries that require them in advance: Ghana, Brazil, India and China.  This my friends was like doing taxes. Follow instructions exactly, wondering if the requirement to send a photocopy of a university student/faculty ID card with the packet will be resolved in our favor since Liz does not have one. Oh well, hopefully the company, Pinnacle, will realize that not everyone on SAS is affiliated with a university and the process will not hold up return of our passports. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention the $731 (each) visa fees. At least they accept our travel Mastercard so we will get miles to spend later!

We started looking at the sample field programs to participate in along the way. We are like kids in a candy store. Safaris, Habitat for Humanity houses, immersion programs, Taj Mahal, Great Wall .... who knows what we will choose. Some are really expensive so there may be some hard decisions to make. On many we will wait for recommendations from seasoned SAS'ers aboard the voyage before committing. I'm sure we'll make some great friends on the voyage who we will want to travel with on some excursions.

Yesterday we also went shopping and found some awesome hiking shoes on sale and both got a pair along with some zip-off pants/shorts for me, which we have decided will work quite well on this adventure. I am having a much better time finding these on sale in male sizes than Liz, who may have to pay full retail later at REI or Columbia if she can't find them on sale soon. Starting to realize why women spend more time shopping ... much tougher to find a proper fit.

Also astarted putting together a list of all the to-do's that must be done before leaving for such a long period of time. I look at this a spring training for our future of travelling. After preparing for this one, they will all be easier (I hope). As word has begun leaking out about my exciting new adventure, I have been asked by no less than three other chiefs who also want to do the Semester at Sea gig. Starting to think maybe I shouldn't help them too much, don't want to increase my competition for future voyages (just kidding). I've put a photo of the MV Explorer on the wall in my office to remind me that I leave in just over three months!

Beginning to get excited about SP11

Hi everyone I'm Keith and I am going on the Spring 2011 SAS voyage as a staff member. This is my first and it's something that's been on the ol' bucket list so you know I'm looking forward to it. I hope to blog a lot about the preparation and experience ... before, during and after!