Dreaming, dreaming

Today was my first day back at work in my own home base and it was one where I felt like I was ‘chasing my tail’ all day. So you can imagine there was not much sense of accomplishment to go with that! The general consensus among my peer group is that the important issues are perhaps being overlooked and the inconsequential have been elevated to top priority. Speaking of priorities, I’ve decided that I am taking a lunch break unless the facility is on fire because this insanity is not going away anytime soon.

I was most pleased to see a request from the librarian to do a presentation on Norway in the fall at the Mid Week Break and so I chose September 16th thinking that later will get more frantic. It will be a good chance to put together a talk for an encore of my debut cruise speaking as we’ve decided a return trip would be great. Not going to be this year for MANY reasons (lack of $, time and short notice being paramount but not the least that eight presentations are required and I could at this point muster one) but this one sure got me drooling and the icing was that it was even ½ off my agent’s fee. Ah to dream.

ITINERARY

1New York City (Manhattan or Brooklyn), New York
2At Sea
3Halifax, Nova Scotia
4At Sea
5St Anthony, Newfoundland
6At Sea
7Qaqortoq, Greenland
8Nanortalik, Greenland
9At Sea
10At Sea
11Grundarfjordur, Iceland
12Isafjordur, Iceland
13Akureyri, Iceland
14At Sea
15Shetland Islands (Lerwick), Scotland
16Bergen, Norway
17Kristiansand, Norway
18At Sea
19London (Dover), England

Doing the calculations for the 60+ presentations required for a world cruise. So lets see… 60 - 15 = ? Oh never mind, a ways to go yet!

Speaking of cruise speaking I’m in the contemplative mode about a Canada/New England run out of New York for 13 days. Here’s the itinerary and those of you with highspeed internet which would be EVERYONE ELS E BUT ME can just Google the Celebrity Constellation to see the ship – it’s Millenium class and about the same size (though newer and spiffier) than the Sea Princess which I sailed on twice last year.

13 Night Canada & New England Cruise on board Celebrity Constellation

Destination:
Canada/New England on 03-Oct-2009
Cruise Ports:
Cape Liberty, Bayonne, N.J., Boston, Massachusetts, Portland, Maine, Bar Harbor, Maine, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Quebec City, Quebec, Charlottetown, P.E.I., Cape Liberty, Bayonne, N.J.

Mostly I’m considering because the agent specifically targeted me as a local speaker and that’s good for my ego. There are some pluses – it’s with Celebrity so is the next tier up (read more expensive) in cruise lines which I can do now after doing entry level Princess gigs, I’ve already got the presentations done as it is a close itinerary to last fall, it would certainly be about the ship not the ports so very low stress and the shore captain isn’t interested as he’s into the hunting and gathering activities that time of year, it is a bit earlier than last time so would likely / hopefully be a bit warmer, I have the week before already booked off to visit with daughter # 1 so can get ready, it’s round trip airfare not two one ways so easier and cheaper. On the negative side there is still a cost, air miles to use etc., it’s a more domestic itinerary, I’ll have to leave two days before the daughter heads back to western land although she’s given me permission and it will mean three weeks off work in a row and things are getting a bit wild, however coming back is always frantic no matter the absence. But tempting, tempting and if it all comes together by the end of the week, it’s meant to be; if not well….there’s always another chance.

Off to rest my head as I’ve been staying up late enough so my mind doesn’t race when I lie down but….this is not conducive to getting up in the a.m. and heading in to set my mind racing again.