16 flights, 9 countries, 6 states, 6 months, 3 cruises....1 goal

In 2010, we've spent a considerable amount of time in airports.....more time than I care to remember on airplanes...and not nearly enough time on cruise ships. We've covered a lot of territory in 6 short months of traveling. The remainder of the year, due to our extended fall cruise, we were subjected to what we sadly refer to as a "travel drought". You may think that I am being absolutely ridiculous to even consider any of the last 10 years "travel drought" ridden, however....for me, any month without some sort of vacation, either short or long, is void of adventure.

Although it would be more preferable to spread our travel schedule out more evenly throughout the year, it does not always work out quite that way. Back in 2007, an incredible travel year, we spent more nights at sea than ever before.....we had 7 vacations of 3, 4 and 7 night cruises in January, February, March, April, July, September and December. For 28 glorious nights, we had found our own special cruise nirvana at sea....living the life we love best.

This year, I will spend 20 nights at sea, and for the first time in my life, 3 of those nights......I'll be on my own. Why....you might be asking...well...the right price, the right timing and the right ship presented themselves in a formula that I couldn't resist. Roger has no vacation time left, so I'm heading down to Miami in two weeks to take a mini spa cruise for a little solo R & R, right before the Thanksgiving holiday. Two other times, when he was unable to get away, I've set out on my own to relax and enjoy some "me" time at various timeshares in Florida. In a perfect world, I'd much rather we spend the time together, however...as we all know, nothing in life is perfect. Boarding the ship alone will be bittersweet, and driving myself to Miami, will be down right nerve wracking....it's all a tradeoff....one that I am more than willing to make.

Sitting here at 38,000 feet in the air, on the way home from one trip, I begin the countdown to my next one. It's how I get myself out of bed, get myself to work, and get myself through each day...just knowing that in the not-too-distant future, I will be on board a cruise ship once again. Our goal for all our future cruise travel, is to spend as many nights a year on a ship, at sea...as possible. It's not completely unrealistic to plan a year like we had in 2007, it's just very limiting in that we are only revisiting places that we have already been to, in the Caribbean and Mexico. Then again, if our goal is to be at sea...that can be done regardless of the ports, who cares about the destination. That is precisely how I feel about my up-coming three solitary nights on board....the ship can cruise in circles, it matters very little to me. It's a brand new ship, with lots of interesting venues for me to explore. In January, we will be back on the exact same ship to celebrate Roger's 54th birthday...so I'm just going on a little advance party reconnaissance mission, to check out the Eclipse before we take our real cruise :) Hey, it sounds pretty legitimate to me....who can argue with that reasoning???

Although next year's travel itinerary is still a work in progress, be assured there will be a few flights, a few countries, a few states, a few months, a few cruises and just the same simple goal. I never claimed to be original....but at least you can't say I'm not consistent!!!

Happy travels everyone!



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