Playing the Waiting Game until My Next Cruise

 

It has been well over a year since I boarded a cruise ship to sail away on vacation! Gosh I miss it! Waking up every morning in a different city or island, gourmet dining, an evening show…I know, I know, you’re feeling it too! Aside from scrolling through the Direct Line Cruises website for future itineraries, here’s what I’ve been up to while playing the waiting game.   

I have become an armchair travel.  I’ve always been a voracious reader and now I let every book I read whisk me away to some wonderful foreign destination.  Within the last months I’ve been to Barbados, (“The Summer Country” by Lauren Willig), an island off the coast of Ireland (“The Guest List” by Lucy Foley), Australia (“ Exiles” by Christina Baker Kline), India (“Mother Land” by Leah Franqui) and Cuba (“When we Left Cuba” by Chanel Cleeton). That is just a sampling of a very long list. Not quite the same as being there, but almost as enjoyable, though in quite a different way.

 Although I’ve never been much of a TV watcher I have binged watched “Emily in Paris”, “The Amazing Race”, “Travels with my Father”, and Samantha Brown’s “Places to Love”. There are a lot of good movies to stream too, though anything I’ve wanted to see, I did so when it played in the movies. For short videos full of inspiration check at Viking River Cruises’ website.  They highlight many beautiful places and also share wonderful recipes.  And that leads me to my next new Covid hobby…cooking.

 I cook more than dine out these days and have been trying out a lot of recipes from some of my favorite destinations. I have taken many shore excursions that let you shop the markets and cook dinner with the chefs on board (Azamara always offers these and I have a collection of recipes that they send you home with). So, I have been perfecting my paella and have impressed my family with chicken Provencal, served on the pretty blue platter I purchased in where else but Aix-en-Provence!  The fresh Mediterranean marinades that have been easy to throw together help disguise the fact that I unfortunately still overcook seafood.  That may be a lifetime struggle for me. 

 Still on my “to-do” list is to make photo books of my last few cruise vacations.  That’s something I should really do as soon as I get home from a cruise because the longer I wait, the harder it is to do.  In many cases I can’t even remember what I’m looking at! I have hundreds of pictures from my Israel cruise and a good amount from a Cuba cruise (and that was quite a while ago)! Just pulling out the pictures brings back so many wonderful memories of past cruises and makes me eager for my next.

 Clearly, there’s been plenty to keep me thinking about travel while I wait to cruise again.  Still, nothing will replace the experience of standing on deck, wine in hand, watching the sunset after a perfect day! Patiently I wait.