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We are going around the world! On a cruise ship!
But perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves…
Back in 2001, we took a one-year trip around the world. This was a self-planned and self-navigated trip, not part of an organized group. We travelled with our two sons, aged 10 and 8. We left the California Bay Area with one suitcase and one backpack each, headed west, and didn’t return home for a year.
We blogged about that trip before “blogs” existed… when a laptop PC weighed 20 lbs… and you accessed the Internet by dialing a telephone modem into Compuserve (later AOL). You can read about those adventures here.
Fast-forward almost 20 years…
In 2020, we decided to travel around the world again. Our two sons, now 29 and 26, were on their own and would not be able to join us. Instead, we would travel in style aboard a luxury cruise ship. We would board the Regent Seven Seas Mariner at the Port of San Francisco, then return to SF four and a half months later. No airplane travel! No packing restrictions!
If you note that date above, you can guess what happened. We made it seven weeks before COVID-19 reared its ugly head. We ended up stranded in Australia and had to find our own way home. You can read about those adventures here.
In the meantime, Russell retired and started a second career as a guest enrichment lecturer with Viking Cruises. We got off to a running start in 2019 with four successful two-week itineraries… and then watched the entire travel industry shut down for two years thanks to COVID.
During that time Russell worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week writing lectures. His hard work paid off. He resumed lecturing with Viking in mid-2021, and we’ve been on a roll ever since.
At the same time, Gail developed her own enrichment offerings. She started teaching workshops in the little-known but phenomenal craft of 3D needle felting. She also teaches workshops in do-it-yourself genealogy.
We now enjoy an enormously fruitful working relationship with Viking. We recently sailed our 50th itinerary – with 46 of those occurring since the mid-2021 restart.
In 2022-2023 we sailed the first half of the annual Viking World Cruise, two months from Ft. Lauderdale to Singapore. In 2024-2025 we will sail the second half of the World Cruise, three months from Singapore to New York.
But this year, we are sailing the entire Viking World Cruise, four months from Los Angeles to London. Despite all of our cruising experience, this will be the first time we’ve sailed with the same group of guests for an entire four months. During this time, Russell will present 40 different lectures. Gail will teach nine different 3D needle felting projects.
Normally we do not blog about our working cruises. But this is a special occasion – hence, this post to kick things off. Fingers crossed that we are able to keep blogging… and that we actually make it to the end of our cruise this time!
We board ship on January 9, 2024. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as much as we enjoy experiencing them!
