Lisbon turned out to be our last port before disembarking. By “our” I mean for Don and me, as we have now disembarked in Le Havre, France. As I type this we are sitting on a train headed for Paris where we will visit with friends and “family” for the weekend before rejoining Sue and Glorie for a few days at an airbnb near Liege, Belgium. Everyone else on the cruise has today in Le Havre, a sea day tomorrow, and disembarks in Amsterdam on Sunday.
The voyage from Lisbon was scheduled as one sea day and one day in Brest, France. However, the Brest stop was cancelled for “operational reasons,” allegedly because it would be a poor visitor experience due to lack of buses but more likely because there have been protests in the area. As a result, we had two sea days, of which about 1.5 were quite bumpy and several friends had serious seasickness (I had a bit of mild seasickness, but nothing that kept me from doing things).
My goodbyes started at dinner last night. I was touched at the number of people who sought me out with bon voyage messages and hugs, including several people I hadn’t known before the cruise as well as people I have known from other geo-travel adventures. It’s amazing how a couple of weeks together exploring the world takes people from strangers to close so quickly. And yet it’s a bit different in some ways — I know what vehicles friends at home drive, but have no idea what my traveling friends drive, nor do we know other “mundane” details about each other’s lives. So much for philosophy.
It was a hard decision to leave the cruise early. I felt like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof because I kept saying, “on the one hand….” and “on the other hand….”. At the end of the day I feel like I’m getting my cake and eating it too — I got to spend 2 weeks with my cruising geo-family and now will have an amazing and intense weekend with other friends (though I may not be able to blog much about it because much of what happens in Paris this weekend will need to stay in Paris).
Hahahaha
ReplyDelete