The end

It has been over a month now since we arrived back in Port Everglades and it has taken me all of this time to sort out the voyage in my mind. At first I was very sad. People would say, “Aren’t you glad to be home?” or “ There’s no place like home.” Most of the people are just being nice and don’t really want to know the complexity of all of my feelings about the ending of this unbelievable experience. I just said, “Yes, there is no place like home” because that is certainly the truth. Truth or not, it isn’t always the place I want to be. Where I want to be is back on board the QE2 going to exciting ports, experiencing more days at sea just feeling the ocean under the ship and watching the waves and occasional whales pass by. I learned why people go on annual world cruises.

I think I am in mourning for the loss of my new friends. There is something special about friends made onboard ships. Perhaps it is because you think you will never see each other again, and so you open up and really connect. I continue to think of them often and miss seeing their happy faces, playing games with them, having long discussions about economics, the state of the world, longevity and aging, women’s role in the world, what’s for dinner and taking more cruises.

A couple of people back in my real life recognized right away that we would be missing the daily adrenaline rush from the new ports, new people, and constant entertainment. I miss the cruise director, not the person, although he was a nice man who performed his duties well. I miss each night having his list of hourly activities slipped under my door to keep me busy, challenged, informed, entertained.

I miss not having to take care of the daily chores of living. I liked having my bed made with clean sheets and showering with clean towels that I dropped on the floor. I liked not having to plan menus and grocery shop. I liked getting up from meals and walking away from the table to rush off to the next fun thing. I liked having so many people to talk to about shared interests and differences. I liked visiting exotic places around the world and I liked living at sea. But I don’t like the economics of how that happens on the backs of so many other people from poor countries. My comment that it would be more fair if we switched roles every two weeks with the crew was ignored as too preposterous to even be acknowledged .

Planning this trip I knew we would see interesting ports, but I did not really know what it would be like to be away from home with the two of us living in a space about the size of our bathroom at home. We took a leap of faith that it would be enjoyable and rewarding and it was.

I also planned to do some inner exploration and think about what I want to do with the rest of my life, to find some answers to the big questions. I did the inner exploration and the thinking and what I found were more questions.

I have a renewed appreciation for the many good things about life in the United States. I was so surprised at the interest around the world in who will be our next president. Nearly every person we spoke with about the election wants Barack Obama in the belief that he will make the promise of America closer to a reality. They believe that the US president still impacts the quality of their lives and they want peace and economic stability and believe that Obama is the person who can make it happen.

I have returned home changed and still the same. I have a better sense of the size of the planet and the locations of continents and cities. I saw the differences between people and the ways we are all exactly the same all over the globe.

I want to do it again – and we will, someday…