I think if you held my heart up to your ear you would probably hear the ocean…
Twenty night’s worth of theme and formal wear (including one, exceptionally difficult to track down white cocktail dress), make up and shoes to match, and five months’ worth of day wear and I’m finally successfully packed. Packing for the world cruise is, was and ever shall be the biggest challenge of the contract –and forget the idea of ever being under limit. It’s simply not possible to pack for that much with that many climates (and that many formal nights!) is just not possible if you’re working with a 55lbs limit. For this contract I always just accept in advance that I’m going to have to swallow a $150 worth luggage fees.
This year’s costume kit? Includes at least two flapper dresses (one of the grand balls this year is The Great Gatsby, and I couldn’t for the life of me decide which of my two suitable costumes to take as I have the full kit [shoes and beads included] in both black and white), one medieval gown, one vintage disco dress (that one almost has to be seen to believed), and the requisite two full length ball gowns (it would be three, but one of my best ones needs tailoring, I’ve really got to get the train on it shortened)
Since I’m thinking about work, the rest of it seems to be going smoothly – I finished the admin prep I had to do for the World last week, finalized the orders and prepped the schedules. The only thing left now to do is wait, and hope that I have enough space for the order when it comes in.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m quite ready to get on a plane tomorrow just yet (at least, not one that’s going to San Francisco, I might consider other destinations), there’s still things to do. I have book club books to review, laundry to finish (some of which has to somehow get added to my already full suitcase), accessories to buy and a pair of black wrist-length gloves to track down (seriously I know that they came home with me so where can they have gone??).
There is, I suppose, a certain comfort in knowing where I’m going before I launch into what is – for me at least – the unknown. I know what ship I’m on after this contract, but I have no idea what that ship is going to involve (I’ve heard good things and bad) or who exactly I’ll be working with (though hopefully I’ll find at least something about that out before I get there)…
I never thought I’d see the day when the world cruise would become comfortable, when it would be solid, and I would know how to handle it. I never thought I would be the woman that people depended on to be the veteran, the solid one, the one who knows how things work – I mean, I’ve always thought of myself as kind of a fly-by-night, a willow-the-wisp of a girl who kind of just floats at the edges of things…
And yet here I am…ready to do it all again…
And looking forward to it…in an odd kind of way…
Here we go again…