World Cruise, Part II: Why Did We Do It?

As mentioned in the last post, the Brick and I are headed out on a world cruise early next year -- four months, a few dozen+ countries, both the Panama and Suez Canals, crossing the International Dateline...all on the Columbus, a 'medium-sized' cruise ship (775 cabins) from the Cruise and Maritime line, based in Great Britain.
        Whoo hoo!

     We have been planning this ever since we decided to sell our house, more than two years ago. (I've been thinking about it for years before that.) The Brick and I both grew up in families that enjoyed traveling, and within a limited budget, often did. The Brick's dad was career Navy, which meant work around the world, including a trip to Japan shortly after the atomic bomb and Japan's surrender. He was a medical corpsman, tasked with keeping the Japanese 'ladies of pleasure' disease-free for visiting sailors. That resulted in several interesting photos of her husband surrounded by beautiful young women, sent to the Brick's mom. (Try explaining that to your fellow bridge players!)
     The Brick spent six years in the Navy, taking him, via boat and submarine, around Europe and South America. I, on the other hand, spent a college summer in Austria, Germany and points further east, helping missionary cousins we still spend time with today.

     We love to travel. We just do. The few cruises we've taken and overseas spots we've visited have only whetted our desire to do more. But our time and money, like everyone else's, is limited. Where would we really like to go?

     That's where the world cruise comes in. 

     It covers many of the countries I've always wanted to visit: Israel, Jordan (oooh, Petra!), Greece, Gibraltor, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand. Several of these are multi-day stops. Sure, we'll only get a taste of what it's like -- but it would be enough to guide where we'd want to return for a longer visit. 
     We'll be able to do this in far more comfortable fashion, as well: our own room, dining and viewing spots that will soon be familiar, places to watch and learn and listen.

And be together. The Brick is one of my favorite people in the world. Four months together, without having to rush off for interruptions, appointments or other commitments? Sign me up.

      And that doesn't even count the people we'll meet -- this cruise line is used more by Brits and other Europeans than Americans. I look forward to getting to know others whose viewpoints are different from ours. (The Brick enjoys this, too.)
     Put all this together, and you've got the ideal brewing-ground for a writer. The text for my next book should be submitted before we leave, but I'll have plenty of time to do some serious writing and editing on future commitments. (These will be mentioned in future posts.)

It's not perfect. I'll miss not being able to visit more northern countries. (Hopefully next time.) But we're headed out in winter, and the cruise literature points out, quite aptly, that heading south will let us take advantage of warmer temps, including using the swimming pools and hot tubs on board.

And while a bargain, relatively speaking, it's still not cheap. And it couldn't have happened without the sale of the house. But because we've been careful with our expenses for decades, the costs for paying off the mortgage and HELOC were less than they could have been. There's enough -- if we're careful -- to take the cruise, and still put away funds for retirement. My Hollander heart rebels at putting out that much money, until I whisper the magic words "29 countries" (I counted!), and remind it that we're getting pretty much an all-inclusive package for about $206 a day. 
   That's not too bad at all. 
        (More about expenses -- including the unforeseen ones -- in Part III of this series)



I realized, just recently, that this urge to take a world cruise may have been influenced by something else from my childhood: a woman named Nellie Bly.

Here's that book link, if you're curious.

Nellie (Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, 1864-1922) was an investigative journalist, first for the Pittsburgh Dispatch, then the New York World, who specialized in 'experience' stories -- shocking stuff for her Victorian era readers. She had herself committed once to an insane asylum to see what the real conditions were. (They weren't good. You can still read her articles, collected under the title Ten Days in A Mad-House.) She pretended to be an uneducated immigrant, then was hired in various factories. (Those conditions weren't much better.)

     Eventually she came up with another idea: why not recreate Phineas Fogg's journey in Jules Vernes' popular 1873 novel, Around the World in Eighty Days? In 1888, Nellie did just that, wearing a suit and greatcoat, and carrying several changes of underwear in a small valise.

Nellie herself, in the outfit she wore around the world (Wikipedia)

     This was strong stuff for anyone, let alone a girl. In spite of worries about robbing, rampage and other r-words, Nellie did it -- sending short dispatches along the way, and taking out time to visit a leper colony and buy a monkey. She arrived a little more than 72 days later, leaving from Hoboken and returning to New Jersey. (Granted, her publisher had to charter a train to bring her home, after her ship arrived in San Francisco two days late. Another female reporter, sent by a rival newspaper, came in 4 1/2 days later.)
     The plucky young reporter became incredibly popular. Not only did she boost the World's circulation, to the great joy of Joseph Pulitzer, her boss, but all sorts of merchandise appeared to celebrate her feat, including an 1890 board game that's still sought-after.

My book about Nellie is long out of print, but I loved and reread it several times. Is it possible that Nellie Bly's exploits had some bearing on this 60-something woman's desire to travel around the world for herself?

Hmmmm...

Nellie's arrival: Jan. 25, 1890