MV World Odyssey Departs!

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The day finally arrived! Maggie departed Naples on board the MV World Odyssey, her floating college campus for the next 4 months!

She actually boarded yesterday, 1/5, after testing negative for COVID twice in 24 hours. As she said, it was a "roller coaster" day, as she literally lugged about 150 lbs of luggage through the port and up the gangways, through the testing site and finally to the check bag station. We'll see how much of that ends up getting shipped home after the voyage and before she begins her backpacking through Europe trip!

She is delighted with her 3-person, outside cabin, and even more excited to have scored the top bunk (her first choice). She met her cabin-mates, Caroline and Madeline (see photo), but we have not learned much about them yet. Her cabin is located in the Yellow Sea area, on the 4th deck. While the boarding process and then dinner did not exactly live up to her expectations based on all the YouTube videos from former voyages (mostly due to new COVID protocols), after dinner she met about a dozen fellow passengers, started playing games and inviting folks to join her Board Games Club, and got a very positive glimpse of what life among new friends and peers her age will be like. She is so excited!

It was a long day for her, so we were not able to talk too long. But Todd and I were so proud to hear her share some of her thoughts and perspectives about just being grateful for what you have, always looking for the positives even when it seems like things aren't going your way, and making the most of opportunities like this to be intentional about the first impressions you make with an entirely new group of people who know nothing about you. We know this trip will have a huge impact on her and create so many wonderful opportunities for her to continue to grow into the amazing person she's becoming! We can't wait to hear about and share with you the incredible journey she'll be taking.

First stop - Greece!

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