Bon Voyage!!

Finally! Day 0 of a very long countdown and Day 1 of our adventure. It is surreal that this is really happening, that we are really doing this. I had the opportunity to visit my daughter in Buffalo with Matt last weekend, spend two weeks with my parents in July, visit with my son before he left for more training in the Marines, see my sister and her husband in Southern Oregon, connect with my oldest sister, have brunch with my brother and his lovely wife twice in the last month, be honored by a retirement party arranged by my beloved colleagues, revisit my Port Orchard fellows before departing, connect with my closest and dearest Seattle friends and spend a lot of time with my love, Matt. I am so grateful for all of the people who lovingly opened their homes to me over the last 3 months while I've been 'unhoused'.

We are sailing on a Holland America ship, the Noordam. This link to our current location (may) work: MS NOORDAM Current Location. I've not been able to get online yet, but hopefully once we are out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, my GigSky Cruise eSIM will connect, and I can post this!

The ship is nice, and as a bonus, there are people from ALL around the world on it, which is very cool. A few groups are on board for work conferences. I haven't figured out who they work for yet but WOW, what a perk! There is also a digital nomad group that gets together every day. The Noordam has an Observation Deck on level 10 with a cafe, game room, and large conference-style table for workspace. Behind the observatory are some of the luxury cabins, and at the very back of 10 are the kids club and a multi-use room made available for an AA meeting daily at 4 pm.

It looks like we will be on level 9 a fair amount! It has the main casual (complimentary) buffets. It has about 8-10 stations, mostly offering different options. I really like that they have handwashing stations at the entrances in addition to hand sanitizer. Floor 9 also has the 3 pools, the spa, and a fitness center. Floors 4-8 are all cabins. On level 3, we found the stage for the larger nightly show and seminars (I think this is multiple floors (1-3, maybe), what appear to be conference rooms, a nice little library and coffee shop, shopping, and the photo shop (they have people everywhere with cameras to sell you the pics they take). The formal dining room is on levels 2 and 3. It appears to have a mix of complementary and meals-for-purchase. There are, of course, bars and lounges all over the ship, too. Some have really nice seating areas. Deck 2 also has the big stage, plus 3 nightclubs, and the rest of the fancy dining room. There are 2 or 3 restaurants on board that only take reservations and cost extra.

Our room is on Floor 1, in the interior of the ship (no window). It's honestly bigger than we both expected. There is a little seating area tucked into one corner, 3 big built-in wardrobes, under-bed drawers, two nightstands with drawers, and a desk with a minibar on one side and an empty cabinet on the other. We were able to fully unpack our things and store our luggage under the bed.

It's still all a little surreal to be leaving and not have a firm return date. Goodbye for now, my friends, and thank you for all of your love and support!

Goodbye, Seattle - Hello, World!