Dip and Glide

Let me just state up front that I ride. Upside down, loops, drops, spins, I love them all. But here I sit in my cabin, gently rocking back and forth and I’m a bit undone. I went up to breakfast and staggered so much that Steve had to lead me back down. Thankfully our cabin is in the center of the boat and the rocking is not quite so bad.

Steve can barely feel it. It’s a big ship; so the issue of rolling is not supposed to be as bad. It’s not like I’m green and leaning over the banister. I’m just disoriented. Having a bit of trouble walking and I’m not sure why I feel this so extremely. I’ve been on so many small boats and roared with pleasure at the rocking and bumping from other boats’ wakes.

But this feels as if my whole world is very gently sliding off-balance. And I’m confused by it.

Let me backtrack a bit. Yesterday after my post, we walked down to the Pike’s Market area in Seattle. What an experience! There was the usual tourist flotsam (in keeping with the nautical theme). However bright chili and pepper swags hung in bunches – not just the garlic braids and chili wreaths but long collections of multi-colored peppers of all kinds and sizes. And flowers, everywhere. Not just vendors and booths full of flowers but growing all along the edges of the stall roofs.

And the pastries and breads! And, of course, the fish. I guess we were too early in the morning for any fish-tossing, but that was just as well. Then with a respectful nod to coffee, we dashed into the original Starbucks. It had real character – worn, rustic and unadorned. My favorite, though, came as we walked back up the hill toward the hotel. We passed a coffee roaster that had one of its doors blocked off with huge hopsack bags of coffee beans piled high.

It IS all about the coffee in Seattle.

We got our things together and trooped downstairs at the hotel to grab a cab. I’m going to wander down a little trail for a minute. Let me tell you how clever my husband is and clever I am not. We decided that we would check three bags in at $23 a bag. We would carry on the last one which would be our overnight things for Seattle. I’m accustomed to carrying a purse and a computer on board a flight. All the things that I cannot take through security are really not an issue for me. So I packed what I would need for sundries that evening and for the trip.

You guessed it. I had included large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body spray, hair spray, etc. Our TSA agent thankfully was quite sweet and had a patient spirit. As she set aside what we could not take, I began to add them up and, as opposed to only $23 a bag, we were definitely coming out on the short end of this deal. But we were at the airport in Florence, South Carolina; so our car was only parked a short distance away. Off Steve went to deposit all our items in the car. I wasn’t losing them; but I would have to get them for the trip.

Here’s where Steve’s ingenuity comes in. On a Starbucks run, he discovered an IGA not far from the hotel and talked the checker into letting us come and buy a boxful of those items plus soft drinks and such, pay for them, and leave them. Once we had our cab and were on the way to the pier, we simply stopped in and picked them up!

There’s no need to be concerned about pages of more detail on our checking in, taking care of bags and such. It was handled in such an efficient way that in minutes we were upstairs by the gangplank waiting for boarding to begin. We had seen the ship from the street, but the boarding process between the loading area and the ship made my heart race. Too exciting.

Our cabin is much roomier that we anticipated and there are so many little cubbies! Space has definitely been optimized. Our balcony is plenty large enough for the table and two chairs and it is completely open, yet private. We spent the hours until the time when we were to cast off just exploring the ship.

They had opened the buffet on deck ten (read tenth floor) for early boarders. I got my first inkling of two shipboard facts. First, food – as much (actually way more) than you could possibly eat, any time, anywhere.

Second issue. Heights and an uneasy floor beneath my feet. Steve and I sat down on that first day and admired the view out the window. I looked down to adjust my chair and found that I was sitting on a glass disk ten floors above a rolling ocean! And so began my romance with shipboard disorientation. Who knew I’d feel the need to get on a tilt-a-whirl to get my equilibrium back in the right place? Which is why I found myself at breakfast the next morning staggering into my shipmates.

Next, the fear of food.