Repositioning Myself

Traveling can teach a body a lot about managing expectations.

As in life, the best laid plans can turn to pig slop before you know it. In the precarious space between normalcy and crazy, the lesson is useful.

A recent trip provided ample opportunities for learning this skill.

After returning from a 14-day Asian cruise, the wanderlust persisted and although I felt like my depression was receding, I still wasn't quite ready to find a job. The travel ads in my inbox caught my eye more than my eye caught the want ads.

It didn't take long for a "once-in-a-lifetime" deal (that in reality comes pretty frequently if you're paying attention) to turn up.

+Holland America Line, 17 day repositioning cruise starting in Yokohama, Japan with three stops in Aomori, Hakodate and Kushiro followed by a six-day Pacific crossing and then an Alaskan cruise featuring Kodiak, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage to Vancouver, B.C.

Six days at sea in a row would be a first for me but the price and chance to visit such uncommon ports of call were very appealing. Aomori and Hakodate are cities that have some of the best seafood and vegetables produced in all of Japan. In Kushiro, the attraction is the Red-crowned crane (Grus japenesis) that was rescued from extinction by locals in the 1920s. This would be my third trip to Alaska but hey, it's one spectacular place with tons of shore excursions and it would be the earliest in season to see it, coinciding with the return of migrating Humpback Whales!

My travel agent-goddess got a call and she secured me a cheap-ass guarantee rate inside cabin. Even at double the price for the single supplement, this was a deal.

But…

I've since learned that the North Pacific is anything but pacific. Weather circumcised our stop in Kushiro and aborted our stop in Kodiak necessitating a port change to Juneau, AK. Our Ketchikan, AK snorkel trip got cancelled at the water's edge for safety reasons due to high winds and rough seas.

A horrible chest cold and a bad choice of medication made me sleep through most of our stop in Aomori.

My fellow passengers were a different breed of animal. Repositioning cruises attract a non-traditional crowd! Onboard were: a large group of Germans who seemed to complain loudly about everything, several Japanese who were always beautifully dressed, a convoy of English-as-a-second language teachers returning to North America from Asia and a full deck of American Bridge Association players!

Not everyone agreed on what was appropriate to wear or how to behave. Lots of folks were using this trip as a cheap way to ship their stuff back home after a stint in Asia. Most people were older than me, and some were older than the glaciers. Activities were geared to their interests and other than the really interesting talks by the Biologist, George Sranko, organized activities were dull.

Disappointment was around every corner but I made the best of it. I used the time to crochet, read and watch some really good movies. I missed the cranes but read about them online. We didn't get to snorkel but we got our money refunded and swapped adventure stories on the bus. A few clods in flip-flops and T-shirts aren't going to ruin my formal dining experience.

Rewards were sweeter next to the letdowns. For example, the windless and relatively warm conditions in Glacier Bay made for perfectly smooth mirror images of the mountains and ice on the water. Photographers must have taken some quality shots that day.

We got to see so many marine mammals in Juneau…we weren't even supposed to stop there but I saw Sea Lions, Sea Otter, Humpback Whales and Dolphins. The city scrambled to welcome us with only a day and half notice and they succeeded in giving us lots of great memories.

A more detailed report will follow but just this summary just encapsulates a reminder that now matter how well you can plan, you have to be able to adapt your expectations and be ready to accept a bit of change. You can't let other people spoil your fun, either. Avoid them, laugh at them, make friends with them in a pinch! The importance of managing expectations was the message that this trip highlighted for me.