Friday 25 October 2013

Anniversary 1978-2013

This is our anniversary trip, our 35 years, so we decided to go on this cruise with Azamara, a line we like we have travelled in the past with them.

At first we thought of going across the Atlantic but at this time of the year when most cruise ship reposition themselves for the Winter traffic in the Caribbean, the crossing from Europe to North America can be choppy at best. I have sea legs but nonetheless, we thought best not to attempt it.

Well 35 years is a long time in anyone's life and we have been through so much including 32 years of Foreign Service with 8 postings around the world. We lived in so many places and had 4 dogs.
Bundnie, Reesie and now Nicky and Nora, all dachshunds, short hair, long hair, wire hair, born in different countries Egypt, USA, Italy.

Through the years we bought two houses and sold them, we lived in Crown Accommodation also know as Staff quarters on post with the same banged up government issued furniture from Colonial in Ottawa. You made the best of what they gave you, being inventive was a plus on posting. We lived through wars, riots, violence and food shortages, learned to be flexible and have a stiff upper lip. Most of it was at a time when the only means of communication was a postal box or a landline phone, there was no computers, internet or email, not invented yet. There was a job to do and no need or time to mope, you could not go home to Canada if you did not like where you landed. We maintained a long distance relationship when for many reasons it was not possible to be together at a given post.

So we are celebrating our life on this anniversary trip and we will have a dinner celebration on our cruise.  Azamara has 2 ships, we will be on the Quest, a 30,000 ton ship, 180 meters long, with a capacity for 690 passengers and a crew of 400. Smaller cruise ships are best.



I remember our last cruise with them, the crew was great and we had the nicest of time. The ship is beautiful, clean and the service, food and drinks top quality. What I liked most was the fact that the barman poured the drinks and did not measure, made for a nice stiff drink the way cocktails were meant to be at sea.

We have taken so many wonderful trips of anniversaries like the one to Vietnam for Will's 60, that was a great trip, full of fun memories from the Northern border to the South. Our annual trip to Salzburg to the Whitsun Music Festival, our trip around the island of Sicily or our cruise to Alaska or the Baltic Sea or again our 30th Anniversary spent on the slope of Mount Parnassos in Arachova and Delphi. Or that funny trip to Dresden for no purpose other than to see the City and the massive rebuilding efforts. The trip on the Danube from Budapest to Nuremberg was also spectacular though I was very tired on that trip, still beautiful.

So here we go, stay tuned!







2 comments:

  1. What a marvelous story. You two are so fortunate. Congratulations and have a splendid trip.

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