Getting closer every day....

I can't believe that I have been off the Rotterdam for over a month already.... The time goes by very quickly. It has been fairly productive so far.... I have managed to take care of many little projects around the house and captured a lot of sun along the way. One of the first things I accomplished was to get a new passport. My old one just didn't have enough blank pages for the upcoming 258 days of cruising around the world and it was maxed out in pages. Once I received the new passport, I had to send it away again to get the 1 year multiple entry visa for the People's Republic of China that I was going to need. I got some help from Kristan (Holland America) & Irina (ZVS) which was much appreciated. Now that that is done I can breathe a little easier since all the other visas I'll need will have to be gotten once I'm on board. I just hope that HAL has reasonable prices for those visas.... I got my latest book done.... It is a 250 page photo journey capturing my 131 Grand World Voyage on the ms Rotterdam. I used a new publisher (printmyphotobook.com) this time and I was fairly impressed with their product. The 250 pages was a real draw for my since the previous publisher (mypublisher.com) was limited to 100 pages. The other nice thing with printmyphotobook.com was the ultimate flexibility they provided in designing each page. Mypublisher.com is very restrictive with there formats.... With a lot of projects out of the way, a new passport & visa in hand and some serious wanderlust nipping at my heals, it is time to depart again. I will be going on a beach, family & friends holiday for the next 12 - 14 days. I will try and do some blogs on my beach adventures. Once I get back home I have to get down to some serious packing. It will be a little more complex than normal since I go on the Voyage of the Vikings for 35 days, come home for just over 2 weeks and head out to Seattle to get on the ms Amsterdam for 223 days. There are so many climates, countries and cultures that I will be visiting that I will need a much broader selection of clothing that the norm. I also have never been one to pack light.... I like a fairly large selection once I'm on board. I will ship some bags to Boston for the Voyage of the Viking and take some stuff with me on the plane. Then, I will ship a couple of bags from the Maasdam to the Amsterdam at the conclusion of the Voyage of the Vikings and then ship the rest from home to the ms Amsterdam. It will take some planning.... bummer, sounds like work. I am really looking forward to my next voyage.... I'll be going back to the place of my birth for the first time since I was 3 months old.... Greenland, very exciting for me. I am also looking forward to seeing old friends on board the Maasdam and Aart & Yvonne in Rotterdam, Holland....very cool.