It's not a vacation, it's a lifestyle.

Cruising isn't a vacation, it's a lifestyle. There are so many people on this ship who go from ship to ship to ship (referred to as back to back cruises) throughout the year such that they spend 300-330 days/year on a cruise.

There's a gentleman on our ship that has a lifetime total of 2500 ship days. He's in his 70s, widowed, no kids which would lend itself well to this lifestyle. No cooking, no cleaning, no dishes, no grocery shopping, no laundry, (elite status includes free laundry), no car, no car repairs....etc, etc, etc. It's a very unencumbered life.

But add a few kids and grandkids into the mix, suddenly, it's more complicated..at least for us. After now being on this cruise 60+ days, I know for 100% sure, I never want to be away from my family this long ever again. Don't get me wrong, we're still having the time of our lives, but as time goes on, we miss our kids and grand more and more.

Though I had an interesting conversation with a woman about 2 weeks ago and I mentioned a married couple I know who retired far from their kids. I said, "I just don't know how they did that" and she made it abundantly clear she disagreed with me. She said the kids have their own lives and the retirees have their own lives. At this point, i suspect she was really referring to herself. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

The point is, since we're now past the 50% point of the trip, as much as we're thoroughly enjoying it, I'm not ready to make it a lifestyle.

Other than that just one update. I wore my new favorite shirt to dinner last night. A couple we're friendly with joined us. Here's a picture of our unplanned matching elephant outfits. We were all laughing hysterically as did everyone else who noticed.

Elephants are considered lucky which I can attest to since a had my best night in a long time at the casino later that evening.

Tomorrow's another sea day and I'm going to skip a blog post. Our next port is Sri lanka, which will be interesting.