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Published: June 18th 2007
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Victoria Waterfront
The Empress Hotel is in the background The title of this entry is taken from a quote by Robert Benchley. I have absolutely no idea who he is, but I like the way his mind works:
There is probably no more obnoxious class of citizen, taken end for end, than the returning vacationist.
I'm back at work today and thrown back into the atmosphere of reality (caution: objects may burn up upon reentry) which is why I'm taking a few minutes out to write now. I'll finish up from home most likely which will give me a chance to add some photos as well.
So to recap quickly...
Since I last wrote which was sometime on Friday morning, we landed in Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC around 5pm or so. I was supposed to have a shore excursion to the gardens, but my day had just been absolutely non-stop since 8:30 that morning, I decided to skip out. Seen one flower... I mean, I'm sure it would have been pretty, but I just didn't have the energy. So instead I waited until about 7:30pm and took a shuttle into town where I walked around the waterfront and just enjoyed the gorgeous day for
a couple of hours.
Friday night was mostly spent trying to drink up the rest of the wine some of us had bought in various ports before finally heading off to bed.
Saturday morning was a bit of a blur... I got up exhausted since being out late and for some reason not having slept well. I managed to crawl out of bed around 7:15 and somehow gathered my bags and got off the ship. Janelle picked me up on the dock and we headed back to her house. Sean ran out for a haircut, but then we all went into town to walk around the Edmonds Art Festival and enjoy some food, and fresh lemonade. Good times.
Jel got me to the airport in plenty of time to make my flight (which was late thanks to Houston thunderstorms) and I pretty much passed out as soon as I got on the plane only to awake four and a half hours later in Newark. Always a downer when coming back in from the Pacific Northwest...or almost anywhere else, for that matter. When I've been away long enough, I forget how people here can be - especially in
the areas surrounding NYC. For example, here I've been used to being on a ship with friendly vacationers and wandering around towns with friendly residents. Then I fly into Newark and make the mistake of smiling at a guy walking past who happened to look in my direction. What I got in return was...well...put it this way, if looks could kill... And so I am once again left wondering why I haven't picked up and moved to Seattle, and once again there are no answers. Sigh.
Anyway, since my flight had been delayed, I missed the last train from EWR to Princeton where my car was parked so I examined my options: Stay overnight at the airport, or take a car service. Turned out the price was about the same either way, so I opted for the car service. This landed me home around 3am.
Sunday I went to pick up my Chena (for those of you who don't know, her name is pronounced "Chee-na") from my aunt & uncle's house - and what a happy reunion that was! A lot of peeing and excitement ensued (just to clarify, Chena did the peeing...I was just excited). I think
she had a blast while I was away, but she also seems to have crashed once I showed up. She barely left my side, couldn't wait to get into the car when we finally went to leave, and even this morning she was doing a lot of yawning and lazing around as I got ready for work. I suspect she'll be sleeping most of today.
I'm finding that I'm having an easier time getting back to regular life than I have after other trips. I suspect that this is due to the shorter length so I don't think I ever got into full vacation mode as I did with, say, Thailand. As for the trip itself, and final thoughts: I definitely enjoyed myself - more so as the week wore on. I was pleasantly surprised, and of course some of the people I met certainly enriched my overall experience as well as making it more fun.
Despite my earlier reservations, I think I would do another cruise, but I would probably be a little more inclined to go with pre-existing friends I'm not having to start from scratch with relationship-wise. I could see where I might have had
more fun sooner if Jo or Es or Jel had been with me. I would also make sure I didn't do a longer trip - 10 days or more at least. The 7-day just ended up feeling like something of a tease.
So I realized that I'm actually heading out again in just under two weeks (which I think may also be helping with being home). I have a 4 day backpacking/camping trip in Glacier National Park, Montana set to begin on June 30. To further assist with my readjustment until then, I will focus on the immortal words of Milton Berle:
Laughter is an instant vacation.
Thankfully I manage to get a lot of that in!
Until Montana...
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pole
Hey Deb, Welcome home! Love the pic's as usual. I especially like the one with you hanging on the pole. Have you given any thought to dancing?