My friend Mabel called. Would I like to join her and two of her girl friends on a Southeast Asian cruise on November? About ten days, she said. Two consecutive cruises. We’ll fly to Singapore, board the ship there then cruise to Malaysia and Thailand and back to Singapore. On the same day that we return to Singapore, we board the ship again for the second cruise. It took me all of two seconds to decide. That was all I needed to figure it all out. A couple of phone calls more within the same hour and it was arranged. Not Star Cruises but the Royal Caribbean. Grrrreeaatt!! Mabel e-mailed the details half an hour later.
1. plane tickets (Manila-Singapore-Manila via Cebu Pacific) 7303pesos@
2. cruise
nov. 20 – 23: $333@
nov. 23 – 27: $392.50@
The great thing about the two-consecutive-cruises arrangement is that I can scout the destinations on the first cruise and do my usual eat-research-and-write routine on the second cruise. Between destinations, there’s all the time to relax aboard the ship where I know we’ll get royal treatment.
I knew the hard part would the four-and-a-half-month wait. The excitement had already started to build up… No, that would be an understatement. There was a huge adrenalin rush already. But then again, waiting for four and a half months is better than no prospects of going on vacation at all. Told myself waiting should be that much of a problem.
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