The Best-Laid Plans - January 14th, 2024

Those who know me well will not be surprised that I started packing for this trip a long time ago. As in almost as soon as we booked the cruise last January

I started by creating a spreadsheet for everything we would need to pack. A very detailed spreadsheet. If e figured we'd need six sticks of deodorant to carry us through 180 days,  then deodorant was listed six times. For example, socks were listed thus:

Gary socks, dress (1)

Gary socks, dress (2)

Gary socks, white (1)

Gary socks, white (2)

Gary socks, white (3)

Gary socks, white (4)

Gary socks, white (5)

Gary socks, white (6)

Gary socks, white (7)

Gary socks, white (8)

Gary socks, white (9)

Gary socks, white (10)

Gary socks, white (11)

Gary socks, white (12)

Repeat for Bill.

Two months ago, we decided to preemptively pack the majority our clothes, toiletries, shoes, and assorted sundries. I'd finally taken off my COVID weight, and had plenty of "in-between" clothes that I could wear in the interim. Gary has always been fastidious about rotating his clothes - once an item is worn, it moves to the back of the closet/bottom of the drawer. I think he's worn out three shirts in the 23 years we've been together. He could easily put aside fourteen days of clothes and still have plenty to wear around Denver. 

One week before Thanksgiving, we were 94% packed. Exactly. I know. My spreadsheet told me. 

This wasn't just to satisfy my OCD. Part of our ATW package was free early shipping for four suitcases,  none of which could exceed 50 pounds. It took quite a bit of shuffling and reshuffling to get four cases that all weighed 49.5 pounds, but we did it. 

All we had to so was sit back, relax, and wait for Luggage Forward to pick up our cases on December 29th. 

We were so very proud of ourselves. 

Oh,  Hubris...

On December 27th, Luggage Forward sent us a list of everything we could not ship. Items not prohibited on their website. Items we'd meticulously packed. 

We knew enough not to pack our prescribed medication. But the no-no list included anything over-the-counter. Vitamins. Cough medicine. Athletes' foot cream. Ibuprofen. Metamucil. (40 pounds of fiber! No one wants to be cranky on a world cruise.)

No aerosols, including those acceptable to check on airplanes. Four cans of shaving cream. Six cans of insect repellent. 

No food or beverages: Four bottles of bubble wrapped wine. Fifty protein bars.

No electronics, including chargers and cords. 

There was no way we could fit all of these items into the one suitcase we'd planned to check at the airport.  We quickly pulled all the verboten items and ordered a medium-sized suitcase from Amazon. 

Ten four-pound containers of fiber divided between two suitcases. We were under 50 pounds, but was TSA going to flag us as Metamucil mules?! (We needn't have worried. Thanks to Mother Nature, we ended up driving to Los Angeles from Denver - an expedition I wrote about on FB.)

It's now January 14th, and we're aboard The Insignia. Our friend Justin made it out of Chicago despite the snow. Our new friends Carol and Linda greeted us on board. And we've already spoken to so many lovely people.  We have a handful of days to discover all the ship has to offer. 

I will be posting photos of the ship soon. 

WJW2