Mal Voyage?

Our trip could not have gotten off to a worse start, or so it seemed. As one of my anniversary surprises, I'd made arrangements for a limousine to take us to the airport. (I mean, it's not every year you celebrate a 25th anniversary, so I wanted this trip to be extra-special.)

The limo was late.

Then, about halfway to the airport - way past the point of no return - I realized we'd forgotten to pack our passports. They were back home, in the same drawer as our birth certificates. So here we were, going out of the country, and no proof of citizenship on us.

Then, to make matters even worse, Bonnie got ill on the ride down to the airport.

By the time we cleared security, made a last minute bathroom stop, and boarded the tram to take us to our gate, we were hearing our names announced on the airport PA. Usually not a good thing.

We made our flight two minutes before they would have closed the door and blocked all further boarding.

Somewhere on the flight, I also realized that I forgot to pack my prescription sunglasses, as well as my swimsuit. By now I was in high stress mode.

Let me take a moment right here to stop and thank Miss Katie Lee, our housesitter, and the one person on the planet who was responsible for our being on this trip. She faxed a copy of our birth certificates and marriage license to the Port Authority, and sent our passports to Juneau via overnight Express Mail.

So, as we finally boarded the Norwegian Star late Saturday afternoon and waved goodbye to the city of Seattle (Space Needle, pictured above), we settled in to enjoy our cruise.