Pick Me! Pick Me!

17 days to embarkation

We love to cruise.  This cruise will be our fifth.  In previous episodes, I was the guy lugging a huge roller board, a smaller roller board, and a carry-on.  Here is what I think I may have possibly learned (maybe).  I take too much stuff.

So I have decided to be very intentional about what I take.  I have scoured the internet for the packing lists of others.  I compiled one huge master list of all they recommended .  I then began to (shutter shutter) delete items from the master list.  Admittedly, I felt no pain deleting multi-purpose skirts, being a male out of touch with his Celtic roots.  But what of the electronics and camera gear? and my dear-dear wardrobe? my personal (and sanitary) snorkel?

I have a history of taking multiple cameras, a camcorder, and have been known to even lug a full blown tripod along.  Of course one needs one’s laptop computer, right?  What about a webcam in case I get a chance to video chat?  No iPhone?  Are you kidding me?

Then there are clothes to think about.  Royal Caribbean offers everything from dress up formal dinners to lying with nothing but a towel over one’s bare behind (in the spa).  Now, assuming one neither wants to swim in one’s tux or dine au natural, one must have with one a variety of clothing.  Not wanting to be found wanting, I have in the past brought different outfits for every day as well as every imaginable mode of attire.  This packing technique is sometimes also referred to as emptying one’s closet.

Second in travel pleasure only to not having a middle seat on the airplane, is snorkeling in pristine, tropical, fish-filled waters.  That pleasure is, however, somewhat diminished if one detects that the previous user of one’s rental snorkel left a noogie behind.  Traditional solution?  Pack your own snorkel and maybe even fins.

So who goes and who stays?  Stay tuned.