Note: Due to WiFi issues, our paragraph spacing is impossible to change.
With only twelve days left until February 10, the calendar has begun to inch closer to our departure. The date sits there reminding us that we will soon be heading back to Auckland, New Zealand, only to turn around and fly onward to Hobart, Tasmania. As always, when a stay begins to wind down, we find ourselves doing mental inventories. Not of memories, though those matter deeply, but of food. How much do we have left? How many meals can we stretch from what remains? Can we make it to departure day without one last grocery run?
- This ritual has become part of our departure process after so many years of moving from one place to another on this long and winding journey around the world. Each holiday home brings the same quiet calculations to a close. Jars opened and half used. Freezers peered into with hope. Shelves are examined with creativity rather than desire. This time, the stakes feel slightly higher because the grocery stores are far away, and the drive is long enough to make us both pause before heading out. We would much rather stay put, savoring the final days, than spend hours in the car for a handful of items we might be able to do without.
- Based on what we have counted so far, it looks promising. We should be able to make it through without another trip. Mostly. The only snag is that Tom runs out of rice tomorrow. Rice has been his dependable side dish, accompanying every meal I prepare. Without it, there is nothing obvious waiting in the pantry to take its place. I have already begun thinking creatively, wondering what might step in without disrupting our carefully settled routine.
We stopped eating salads some time ago, and I miss them. Tom, not so much. They seemed innocent enough, but they quietly stalled our weight loss, and we are too close to our goals to ignore that. We have stayed committed to our intermittent fasting plan, with one healthy, nutritious meal each day. It has brought a simplicity that we both appreciate. Tom is now within 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) of his goal weight. I am within 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of my goal weight. For the first time in years, we are both on track to return to the weight we were when we first began our travels in 2012.
There is something deeply satisfying about that realization. We are still losing about one pound, or half a kilogram, each week, steady and calm. It feels sustainable, not rushed. Especially after the last cruise, where we both indulged far too freely. We gained more than we wanted to admit at the time, but now it is all gone, gone, gone. That chapter feels closed.
On our upcoming cruise, returning to Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas in April, we intend to be far more mindful. This may well be the last time we sail on a large ship. With nearly four thousand passengers, it has become a breeding ground for illness, and we are tired of paying that price. In Tasmania, we plan to visit a doctor to secure enough Tamiflu to carry us through the twenty-five-night journey. From then on, we have decided that only smaller ships will do, seven hundred passengers or fewer. When we sailed on Azamara in 2023 with around six hundred passengers, we never got sick. That experience, along with getting so sick on the recent 47-night journey, changed how we think about cruising.
Today, though, none of that feels urgent. It is warm and sunny, one of those days that invites an easy day rather than a lot of planning. We will enjoy it fully by stepping outside often and watching for any visiting farm animals or wandering wildlife. These quiet moments, surrounded by sunlight and simple routines, feel just as meaningful as the miles we continue to travel.
Photo from ten years ago today, January 30, 2016:
