November 4, 2021 - On my way

The day has come and I’m on my way. I’m sitting in the British Airways Lounge at Dulles Airport waiting for my flight. Traveling internationally in this post-pandemic era is very different from a short two years ago and not for the faint of heart. In the last few days I have had to fill out Passenger Locator Forms for a couple of countries and get a negative PCR test despite having been jabbed twice and had a booster a little over a week ago. Everything has to be done online and for those of us who are not as tech-savvy it can be daunting. I must have crossed all my T’s and dotted all my I’s because they let me check in. Now hopefully I’ve done what I need for the next leg of my journey. About that, I’m flying to Heathrow in the UK and connecting to a flight to Lisbon, Portugal, where I’ll have a one night stay. On Saturday I board the Seabourn Ovation and head west. After one sea day we’ll arrive at the beautiful island of Madeira. Madeira is off the coast of North Africa and a Portuguese autonomous region. Europeans found it quite by accident when they were blown off course by storms when they were traveling nearer to Europe. But there are mentions of an island which was probably Madeira by the Romans as early as 79 BC. It was the jumping off place for explorers like Vasco da Gama when he went round the Cape of Good Hope many centuries ago. I’ve been there a few times before and have a tour guide who I traveled with before picking me up to take me to some favorite places for the day. When I leave Madeira we’ll head west across the Atlantic. There will be lots of sea days before we reach Miami. Some of my fellow travelers will be getting off there, but I’m staying on and spending the next 11 days island hopping in the Caribbean before the ship returns to Miami again. It will hopefully be a blissfully relaxing few weeks with a little sightseeing tucked in. Someone currently on the ship has reported that only 120 passengers will be on for the trans-atlantic cruise. If that’s true it will be like sailing on a private yacht because the Ovation can carry 600 passengers and has a crew of around four hundred. I wanted to go away to be pampered and it sounds like this will fit the bill. Well, there’s nothing exciting to say and I don’t think a photo of me sitting with my mask on would add anything. So for now that’s my report. Next check in will either be from Heathrow or Lisbon depending on how my transit is through the former. Ciao for now!