A few years ago I got it into my head that for our next big wedding anniversary I'd really like to do an Alaskan cruise followed by a trip over the Rockies. In my head it was a train ride over the Rockies but over the years that's developed into a road trip as the scrapbooker in me needs to be able to stop and take photos and a husband driving a car is much more likely to do that than a train driver. It's been one of those dreams, you know those dreams that you can think about for hours but you never think will actually come to pass, expecially with the current economic climate.
Then, a few weeks ago, Disney announced that one of their cruise ships, The Disney Wonder, would be doing Alaskan cruises in 2011 from May to September. Our Anniversary is during the very last cruise. And, we could use our Disney Vacation Club points to pay for it. Suddenly it was looking very possible.
Could I really just book a cruise for two years ahead when I hadn't even finished planning next year's holiday yet? What if our financial situation changed? What if? What if?
I dithered for a couple of weeks, while doing extensive research online into the Disney cruises, the staterooms on the ships, the Alaskan cruises in general, the rough cost of flights etc. etc. Then, I took a very deep breath, phoned member services and booked it. I got the date I wanted and the exact stateroom that I wanted. When I put the phone down I just sat there slightly stunned. I had just booked a 7 night Alaskan cruise. I was going to Alaska! Holy cow!
I think I may have told everyone I came into contact with over the next couple of days. My colleagues were getting slightly worried that I was going to keep up that level of excitement for the next two years. I have now calmed down slightly, luckily for them and for everyone else that I know.
What I need to do now though, to ensure that this is a holiday of a lifetime, is to plan for all I'm worth. The rough plan so far is to fly into Vancouver and have a few days there before the cruise. Then after the cruise we'll drive to Calgary and fly home from there. I need to plan the route we take from Vancouver to Calgary to make sure we take in as many highlights as possible and do the research to find out where to stay along the way and for how long. We'll probably take three weeks to do it all. Possibly a few days more.
Once I've got a better idea of our route across the Rockies I'll blog about it, with some notes about the places we plan to visit. I also need to pick shore excursions for our cruise. I've been looking at some typical ones and they're amazing. The things you can do! Must start saving my pennies...
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