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 .............