Had it been horseshoes or hand-grenades that I was playing today, I would no doubt have come out $8000 ahead....cause, as the old saying goes, those are the only games where "close counts". That’s been twice during the cruise that I have come "close" to a winner...oh well, I’m leaving Australia and hanging up my Bingo Dabber...no more Bingo for me!! I really don’t know what people see in it...well, I don’t know what the majority of people see in it...the ones like me... that never win!!
It’s been a busy day today of balancing accounts, tipping our service staff, and, of course, getting packed. We’re just getting ready for our last meal. We’ve seen all the shows and done all the gambling that we can do here on the ship, so tonight it’s off to see a final movie before bed and up early tomorrow for disembarkation.
It’s been a fabulous cruise, but our holiday is not entirely over yet. We have one final day and night in Sydney...and I got a pretty good price on a hotel room through Expedia. I opted to book a 4 star hotel blindly...although it wasn’t entirely blind...I had a strong feeling it was the same place we’d stayed when we arrived in Sydney...and it was...only it was somewhat cheaper this time...quite last minute, I guess.
After we get checked in and drop our bags, we’re heading for Manly, which is a suburb of Sydney and only a ferry ride away. It’s described by the Sydney locals that we met as a "must do". Apparently it has more beautiful beaches than Bondi Beach, which we visited the last time we were in Sydney.
So this will be my last blog before returning to Canada...and upon my return I’ll have to decide whether my blog will become a part of history...or will continue. It has really fulfilled it’s mandate of:
A) helping me ease into retirement; and
B) chronicle the planning and execution of this "trip of a lifetime".
So, whether you’ll hear from me again in this forum....time will tell!!
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: As I sit here on the balcony of my room on the Dawn Princess, listening to the waves lap against the ship as we continue on our charted course towards Sydney, I’ve learned that things and people are not always as they seem. I’ve met many people during the cruise from all over the world. Some were guests and some were staff. Everybody had a different reason for being here. Our waiter "Chai" is trying to improve his families financial position back in Thailand, and with every contract he completes, he keeps asking his wife "just one more?" Our new friends Bob and Mary are retirees from Australia and just enjoy getting away. The "president" and his wife, who sit close to us at dinner and are perpetually late (I say it’s cause they like to be the centre of attention....or perhaps they want us all to sing the Aussie National Anthem when they come in....thereby earning them the nickname "the president and his wife"), present themselves as "all that and a bag of chips"...but we happened to be behind them last night and discovered that these "upper crusts" don’t have "the presidential suite"...but an inside room very close to ours. There is also an elderly woman who we had dinner with one night when she was sitting all alone. She feels she’s too old to travel now, and only completed the trip because Princess wouldn’t refund her $$ after booking. She never went ashore once in 28 days....not once! She stays on board and reads. But, she says, this will be her last trip. It’s really been an enjoyable 4.5 weeks, but I don’t dread getting back home and back to reality... because just as it was with my job, the same will be with my retirement....just when I think I’m getting bored, there will be something new and exciting around the corner...and I can’t wait!!!
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