How quickly life changes
At the beginning of the year, I won a cruise. The cruise is free but I needed to pay for the port fees, get my passport and the flight to New Orleans. My savings depleted, I needed to find work or sell some stuff quick if I was going to manage that — not to mention half the property tax was due. I did find work as you know. Due to my sedentary habits, I decided I wanted a physical job so found a warehouse job that pays decent wages and has medical. In two months of 10-hour days, 4 days a week, I lost 14 pounds. Woo hoo. I finally got down to 178.4
First paycheck, caught up on my bills. Second paycheck, paid half my property tax. Third paycheck was short. I went home sick one day with a temperature of 102.4. It was a few days before I got back to 98.6 again. So even with missing a couple days of work, I still managed to squeak in a flight to New Orleans for $384 on Southwest — no food but they let you have two bags for free. I had to rush my passport too because I was leaving in a little over a week. Luckily Tucson has a passport facility so for an extra $60 rush fee, I got my passport in two days. Lori, the friend who accompanied me, lent me the port fees and I managed to scrap by.
Seven days on the water. Have you ever been on a cruise? It’s both hedonistic and relaxing. A ton of food. You know that 14 pounds I lost in 2 months, I gained it back in one week. No cooking. The buffet and several restaurants are complimentary and food is available 24-7. Free entertainment. A bit dangerous because there was also a casino on board but luckily I was already broke so couldn’t lose much. Then you have your stops. Obviously, I didn’t have much money but I did manage to get in one tour. It was an incredible experience.
I’ll be sharing some pics with you all over the new few weeks but I’m working overtime due to the holiday season so as you probably already figured out, it won’t be daily. Good thing on the overtime; I need to take that ten pounds back off.
Have you ever been on a cruise? If so, what was your favorite cruise? If not, where would you like to go?
19 Replies to “How quickly life changes”
Wow! Congratulations on winning a cruise! That’s a pretty neat prize! I am glad you enjoyed yourself. A break from the hustle and bustle of life is always nice, isn’t it?
Congratulations on the new job too. I hope you enjoy it. Makes for a much better work week! Getting caught up on bills and being free from some of the major financial stresses is always a nice feeling.
Hubby and I have neither one ever been interested in going on a cruise. We both love the water and find being on a boat relaxing. But the number of people in one very small space secluded out on an ocean — ehh, we’ll pass! 😀 I do think the one around Alaska would be breathtakingly beautiful, though!
Welcome home. I hope life is treating you well my friend. Sorry I’ve been so out of touch! 2019 was a doozie! ?
Thank you. I am still querying the wisdom of a physical job but it does balance out the sitdown blogging at home. The problem is I’m not recovering as fast from being tired so I’m not doing the sitdown blogging. It’s a lot harder to do heading into 60 than when I was 20. We’ll see. This week I feel a lot better about it as I’ve started blogging again — here and on CactusHaiku.com
It is a lot of people on a cruise but I live in Tucson, used to live in Oakland, Phoenix and visited San Francisco a lot. So I’m used to cities. Honestly a cruise boat is like a busy mall or casino. It didn’t feel as crowded as I expected although the corridors are narrow when you go back to your room. You can always find a seat at the buffet and most of the time even a window seat if you’re not afraid of water. I was in a photographic club back in Oakland and knew someone who took a trip to Antartica. He had some amazing glacier photos. Now wouldn’t that be cool?
No worries on being out of touch. I’ve been really bad for the last 6 months. Wholenesshaven.com? I haven’t seen that blog of yours. I’ve been to your cat blog though. I’ll head over there right now. Hope your 2020 is a great one.
Charlee: “Happy New Year! We are back!”
Chaplin: “And we are sending lots of purrs that you have a great year!”
Lulu: “And tail wags, too!”
Charlee: “As for cruises, we haven’t been on one.”
Lulu: “Do they have cruises for cats?”
Chaplin: “Probably not.”
Charlee: “And Dada hasn’t been on one either. He says he hates boats.”
Chaplin: “Something about getting seasick.”
Lulu: “He once got seasick on a pier. A *PIER*.”
Charlee: “Mama went on a cruise to Alaska once, though. She really enjoyed it.”
Lulu: “And Dada? HE GOT SEASICK ON A PIER!”
Pinkie and MIdnight meow “Happy new Years!” (from separate rooms so meowing at the top of their voices). Pinkie thinks about it: “Don’t oceans have lots of fishes? then of course they should have cruises for cats because we love fishes. And I heard they have 24 hour food. Hmmm maybe that was a dog cruise. We cats are a little more finicky than that — well maybe 24 hour treats would work.” Midnight says, “I’m sorry your dada got sick on the pier. That must not have been fun. I heard they had huge fish in Alaska and that the salmon swim back there. I would love 24 hour salmon on the slab. That would be a good cruise.”
I’m so glad you won this, it’s an incredible thing to win and it sounds like a fantastic experience! Obviously though we things like this it’s not entirely free when you still have parts to pay for, but hopefully it was all worth it. I’ve never been on a cruise. I never wanted to either, until more recently, partly because I thought there wouldn’t be much to do on one even though they can be so expensive, and partly because I find the idea a little terrifying! Apparently some of my extended family go on a cruise every year and I then found out just what they can be like and how much there is to do on one of these boats, so I’ve changed my mind – sign me up!
Caz xx
I think you would enjoy a cruise. Actually I talked to one guy who checks a couple of bargain travel websites and he goes on a cruise for $200 every year — not including the extra addons he does. You have $15 a day gratuity basically for all the people so that another $100. And the plane fare to get there–departure is usually Miami, New Orleans and Los Angeles I think. But other than that — there is a lot of food which is free and coffee, tea and water. Other drinks you pay for. A lot of free entertainment too which was quite good. I wish I could remember what bargain travel website he said he went to. I don’t know if you have special needs for dietary or medical that you need while traveling. I don’t know about how they cater to special needs but I knew a guy who was going on a cruise with his partner who was on dialysis. And they were able to find one that could handle that. Unfortunately they did not go because his partner passed just before the trip but it does show that some cruises have facilities for some special needs. I don’t know how that would affect pricing though. Now that I think of it, it would make a good blog post though on how to check if a cruise can handle special needs.
I have always wanted to go on a cruise along the Inside Passage from Seattle up to Alaska. I been saying that for years but never seem to do it. It is hard to lose weight but very easy to gain weight! I would have to spend my time each day jogging around the deck! We’ll see if I make it. My travel plans always have a hitch one way or another. ? Looking fwd to some boat pics.
I’ve heard the Alaska cruise is great. I saw a lot of people walking the outside deck in the early morning. Luckily I lost the weight in 2 weeks working OT at the warehouse. Now I am slowly gaining it back though. If you do go on the Alaskan cruise, it’ll be cool to see your pics. I’ll be posting my cruise pics little by little on Sundays.
I am glad you had a lovely time. We cruise regularly and in the early days used to put on a lot of weight, but now it is only a pound or so. My favourite cruise was Alaska with Hawaii a close second.
I can see that — after I have more experience with cruises, I can imagine pacing myself better with the food. it was just so nice having it available any time. And dessert too. How long was the Hawaii cruise? That would be a cool one. I am reading an Alaska mystery so that would be fun too.
The Dad and Mom have been on lots of cruises before there were so many of us to care for and they always had a grand time too. I’m really glad you got to go and enjoy the experience.
Yeah, it would be hard to leave you all behind. I was worried about Midnight and Pinkie and arranged for two friends to check on them. I had a grand time like your Mom and Dad too.
The ‘like’ button has also gone on holiday, so here is the ‘like’ – sounds like a good deal!
It was. I had a great time and will probably do it again in the future. Although I think flying in and staying longer in one spot is still going to be my preferred mode since I like to take photos, I have to admit a cruise is very relaxing.
I’m glad you had a great time, but that’s a lot of eating to gain 14 pounds. I’m glad you had a great time. Hedonistic rings true for our experience.
Have a fabulous day. ♥
I lost the weight within a couple weeks coming back with the Xmas overtime so that was good. The extra day walking did it. However, I’m slowly gaining it back — the 75% Christmas chocolates sales have busted me. I couldn’t resist. I think I’m going to have to learn to balance. I don’t want to go back onto the strict diet again but I need to find a maintenance diet that works as I seem to be going overboard these days. I guess that’s going to be one of my themes for 2020 — balance.
Have a great day!
I have never been on a cruise. For me, being confined while surrounded by water is the worst, so cruises and sensory deprivation tanks are at the top of things I don’t want to try. Reading about cruises is ok, though, so I am looking forward to your pics and stories!
Yeah, it sounds like you would not like a cruise. You can’t avoid being surrounded by water. The ship is so huge though, it feels more like you’re in a huge apartment building/mall. Just don’t look out the window! About the only time you really feel that it’s small is walking to and from your room, the corridors are small. It reminds me of a small Japanese hotel as the room is that small too. I think flying to your destination so you can spend the extra time at the place is much better instead of spending somuch time traveling whether you’re on a boat/train/bus. But you can’t beat the abundance of food on a cruise. It’s amazing. Lots of options for entertainment too and everything is conveniently walkable. I wish they would have let us take pics at the shows so that I could have shared those too. They were wonderful. I’ll be posting the pics on Sundays.
Looking forward to reading about this!