Goodbye, Hampton Roads!

With Lazy W safely stored on the hard at Ocean Marine Yacht Center and our bags packed, we are ready to set out on the adventure we had dreamed of for years – a whirlwind three month tour to include a month in New Zealand, a month in Australia and a month in Thailand where we will visit our son Jon, his wife Nancy and our two-year-old granddaughter Ashley.  Our first stop – San Diego!

But first a few words about all the pre-trip planning.

The logistics for such a trip sometimes seemed overwhelming.  We started with investigating all the necessary paperwork to enter New Zealand and Australia and to legally stay in each for a month.  New Zealand does not require a visa for stays of less than three months but arriving passengers must present travel documents to prove that they are indeed leaving and evidence that they have enough money for ‘maintenance’ while they are visiting. (Listen up, U.S. Customs and Border Protection!)  Australia requires an electronic visa linked to your passport; we purchased such visas online and hope that they have been linked to our passports!

And then there were plane reservations to be made.  Prices on the Air New Zealand website seemed to change by the hour!  When we finally found a great deal on airfare from LAX to Christchurch, I began the onerous task of entering our personal data into the online booking form only to find that the great deal was no longer available by the time I hit ‘enter.’  I didn’t know I was racing the clock!  We settled for the higher airfare.  Arrival dates!  Departure dates!   Auckland to Melbourne! Perth to Phuket! Phuket to Tokyo! Tokyo to Portsmouth!  Be sure to be back in New York by mid-December for Mom’s 90^th birthday! Our heads were spinning!

  

Boat maintenance was another daunting undertaking.  Would the Captain be comfortable leaving Lazy W in the water, unloved, while we were gone?  Obviously not!  So even though we were enduring the heat of summer, there were winterizing chores to be done on both Lazy W and the dinghy.  And leaking boat windows to repair/replace. And unforeseen last minute teak maintenance.  And a galley to be cleared of anything that might appeal to foraging critters prowling in the boat yard.  (A word of thanks to our always hungry eleven-year-old grandson, Cameron, who visited for a few days in July and was a big help to Grandma tackling that chore!)

Packing for a three month trip to widely varying climates is an adventure in itself.  Taking a cue from intrepid world traveler and author Lynne Martin writing in her book Home Sweet Anywhere, we tried our best to whittle down our wardrobe choices to the minimum yet most practical pieces.  I think Frank might have done a better job than I did.  As the departure date neared, I feared that perhaps my newly-purchased 26-inch rolling duffle would not be nearly large enough to haul all my essential gear.  While I am by no stretch of the imagination a ‘fashionista’ or a ‘clothes horse’, I was having a hard time following Lynne Martin’s packing guidelines.  Seriously, who can get by for 3+ months with only 5 pairs of undies, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 dress, 2 sweaters, 1 raincoat, 1 pair of slacks and half-a-dozen shirts – all in black or white??  The list needed some fine tuning to suit my needs but I did not forget to pack the corkscrew – thanks for that reminder, Lynne!

The Nissan is securely parked in the boatyard at OMYC and the Toyota is tucked into her monthly parking space in Olde Towne. We said goodbye to dear friends, Peg and Greg, to whom we will be sending daily positive vibes while we are traveling!  Charlie dropped us off at Norfolk International Airport and our luggage is checked through to San Diego.  (Special thanks to Bonnie and Charlie for guest accommodations in P-town.) There seems to be nothing left for us to do but board our flight and savor the building excitement.   Goodbye, Hampton Roads!  See you in December!