My Life: A Cautionary Tale
As some of you may know from my online dramas via Twitter (@jillremensnyder) and on Facebook (Jill Remensnyder) I’ve been whining about a tropical, exotic vacation for some time now. My husband promised me this as a reward for my nurse skills May-July when he was recovering from a broken ankle and leg. I could set up a hotline to answer questions on cruises, port of calls, tropical islands and things to do. That’s how much research I did.
So, here’s the wild card… I get a call from one of my oldest/bestest friends and my college roommate, Sonja. She lives in Maui and even though she’s lived there for like 10 years or more and I’ve never taken advantage of cheap airfare to visit- she calls and extends an offer for us to visit her and stay with her… IN NORWAY! Did I mention she’s Norwegian? She has to go back home to take care of some family business and has extended an offer to stay at their family home, handle transportation in the country and be the host who’s fluent in the language and the region.
So, it’s not exactly tropical- but it’s exotic! Brett is more of a no light/cold/snow type of guy so this is a dream come true. I could care less about the cold- Sonja and I could turn a monsoon or blizzard into a party. Thank God we’d have a free place to stay- as it turns out, Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world- Stavanger noted as one of the priciest cities. I guess this means we’ll pack a lot of Odwalla Bars for our journey.
But, that’s not all! Brett has wanted to go to Iceland for years. When we lived in DC Iceland Air (whatever the airline is) would offer these amazing deals flying out of Baltimore and although we said we’d book one, we never did. We’re going all out and making a stop in Iceland for a couple days, then on to Stavanger. This could be my big chance to eat boiled puffin or fermented shark.
We debated between Denmark (by far, one of my favorite places I’ve ever travelled to) Sweden (another place I visited but had a pretty awful time) and Reykjavik but decided since I wanted an island experience I should shut up and take what I can get.
I’m letting Brett do most of the travel arrangements- even though I should have learned my lesson after our honeymoon. Our wedding gift from my parents (in addition to a wedding) was roundtrip airfare for our honeymoon to anywhere but Africa or Australia. I think Asia was on the list too. They figured if there was an international incident- which I was prone to back then- it would be easier to work with the other embassies. Since I got to plan the wedding, I let Brett do what he wanted for the honeymoon.
He promised me something memorable. Something that would appeal to my interests in theater. The experience of being surrounded by water. Obviously a theme cruise devoted to Broadway Musicals making stops throughout the Caribbean. Duh.
Scotland, England, and Wales. In April. Unique. Definitely a 2 week adventure, but there were some interesting patterns during the trip. Every city he planned stops in coincidentally had Virgin Mega Stores and/or some other Euro music store, or it happened to be a city one of his favorite bands came from. You really have to be in the right frame of mind for Manchester to be a romantic getaway. Somehow money that most people would spend on candlelit dinners and beautiful hotel suites (as one may expect on their honeymoon) was redirected to CDs- UK singles that can’t be purchased in the US. I don’t know how much he spent but it was enough to fill a backpack that weighed about 40 pounds. I’m pretty sure I’m not exaggerating.
With that experience seared into my memory I’m a little worried about this trip. Not so much about Norway’s death metal band scene, but I can see Brett turning this into a “Hey, while we’re in Iceland let’s find Bjork” adventure.
Not only that, but this will be a photo vacation. I’m hoping we can keep it down to only one pelican case of gear and maybe a small backpack. I’m determined to get a GoPro into the water for some ice-fishing action. Why not?
We set sail in December.
