The first half of December was a waiting game. Waiting for luggage pickup December 2nd. Wishing and waiting for the Canada Post strike to end so that I’d have my renewed driver’s license and health card in hand before we left for the winter (otherwise my only photo ID would be my passport). Waiting for confirmation of our visas (we eventually had to call GenVisa to confirm they’d be issued as e-visas after embarkation).

Then, all of a sudden, things sped up. Last haircut. Final donation of no-longer-needed clothing to charity. Early Christmas with son # 2 and his family. Last video check-in with son #1 and theirs.

And then on December 17th, ONE DAY before we were due to fly out, Canada Post was legislated back to work, and…in our son’s mailbox…. ONE envelope…containing my documents!!

Happy dance performed!

Yesterday morning: apartment leftover food emptied and refrigerator cleaned; final vacuum through and bathroom cleanup. Final items into the carryons. Lights off. Door locked. Keys returned to lockbox. Host emailed to let him know we’re gone…

… and into an Uber to Coquitlam Central Station to board the SkyTrain to the airport.

Our Delta flight to Atlanta wasn’t until 11:00 p.m., but since it’s a whole lot more pleasant taking transit during the day, and since our Business Class tickets (theoretically) allowed us access to the SkyTeam Lounge, there was no reason not to go a bit early and enjoy a light dinner and drinks in the lounge.

BUT…. after absolutely zooming through security and customs, we found out that the Delta SkyLounge is in the international departures gate area, and we’re in the US gates.

That meant no complimentary 24 hour lounge access.

Instead, for $90 CAD (since we’re not AMEX card holders) for the 2 of us, for 2-1/2 hours (it’s a TIMED lounge!), we accessed the Plaza Premium independent lounge, which closes at 9, because we really wanted a comfortable place to sit. There was a limited selection of hot and cold foods (nothing like the SkyLounge, by a mile), a few desserts, fancy coffees (from a machine, not a barista) and a small selection of complimentary wines and beer – but the seating was definitely better than sitting at the gate.

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It’s unfortunate that our Business Class flights didn’t get us the usual lounge privileges, but that’s a function of the Vancouver airport’s layout, not Viking’s booking. It’s the kind of thing that’s not worth stressing about.

Even though we’re flying Delta Business Class, and overnight, we’re not on a plane with lie-flat seats. This particular flight is operated by Westjet, using a plane configuration where Business Class is 12 large seats at the front of the plane, with a dedicated flight attendant and a private bathroom. We started out with a hour of mild turbulence, which meant there was no option of a glass of Prosecco to help me nap, but I pretty much knew from the get-go that real sleep wasn’t going to happen en route.

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Nonetheless, I did manage to curl up in the roomy seat and nap a bit, which is more than Ted did.

Shortly after boarding, our flight attendant came around with a breakfast menu: a choice of herbed eggs with Boursin cheese, or a vegan soufflé, both of which would be offered about 2 hours into the flight, around 1:00 a.m.our time. Ted and I both declined, preferring to wait for a breakfast when our internal clocks said “morning”.

Around 2:00 a.m. (my iPhone showing 4:00 a.m. Chicago time) we both had coffees. Fruit, muffins, and yogurt were available, but eating in the middle of the night held no appeal.

Who can turn down a Mars bar, though? We both opted for one of those out of the proffered basket of chips, honey glazed nuts, and candy. Mine went into my purse; it’s always good to have an “emergency” snack available.

The up side to not sleeping was the gorgeous view out the window. Clear skies after that initial turbulent hour meant a clear view of city lights below us.

Because we had a strong tailwind, our flight was only slightly over 4 hours long, and got us into Atlanta around 6:20 a.m. The original flight schedule had us arriving at 7:00 a.m. local time, with less than 40 minutes to boarding time for our connecting flight to Fort Lauderdale, a situation that made us glad that on its world cruises Viking includes a service that ships our luggage ahead; a short turnaround in the United States’ busiest airport (over 104 million passengers flew through Atlanta in 2023!) is a recipe for luggage not making it from one plane to the next.

Fortunately, we went through U.S. Customs in Vancouver using the MPC app, Atlanta has strategically placed customs stations in each concourse, and we only had our carryons to take onto the airport8s “PlaneTrane” to our connecting gate.

Arriving in the Atlanta airport reminded us that “we’re not in Kansas anymore”, or more specifically not in Canada. There were hundreds and hundreds of impossibly young-looking men and women in fatigues everywhere we looked, all of them on Christmas leave and headed home. Never had the lyrics of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” seemed more poignant as we thought about all the armed forces members not lucky enough to be in airports right now, and only going home “in their dreams”.

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With an on-time 2-hour flight, we got into Fort Lauderdale at just after 10:00 a.m. and got our first glimpse of our ship waiting for us!

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We were met by a group of Viking representatives, who identified us by our red stickers, and taken as a collected group to a coach that transported us the 10 minutes to the port.

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Surprise # 1 of our trip: meeting old friends Jacqui and Doug Eger in the airport. We met them on the second last day of our very first Viking Ocean Cruise in 2019, only discovering on the ship that we were practically next door neighbours in our VRBO in Collingwood. They’ll be on the Sky just until Los Angeles.

A very efficient boarding system got us onto the ship within minutes, in stark contrast to the experience we had in December 2021, when – after 4 separate Covid tests – the CDC decided that their staff needed to retest everyone boarding the ship, in the cruise terminal. It was a mess.

We were far too early to get into our stateroom, but were allowed to drop off our carryon luggage and hang out in the public areas of the ship.

After over 160 previous days on Viking ocean ships, each of which has an identical layout and décor, it feels like coming home.

Food was a priority, so we headed directly to Deck 7. Ted grabbed some very tasty chicken Cordon Bleu in the World Café, I got a Viking Burger (bacon, caramelized onion, emmenthal cheese, and barbecue sauce) from Talent (by name and cooking skill) in the Pool Grill, and we met our friends Al, Karin, Don and Katherine for lunch.

Once both we and our shipped luggage made it into our room (thanks to our cabin steward John – one half of the team of John & Bernie who’ll be looking after us) and our safety drill was completed, it was time for my embarkation routine: unpacking and organizing closets and drawers; doing a marathon ironing session in the laundry room (things have been folded in our suitcases in some cases for MONTHS); and then – changed from travel clothes into cruisewear – seeking out Ted, Paolo the acoustic guitarist, and a pre-dinner Aperol spritz, all to be found in the Explorers Lounge.

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Our first dinner on board certainly set the bar high for the months to come. The same 6 of us that enjoyed lunch together shared our inaugural cruise dinner in the main restaurant.

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After dinner, despite being really tired, we popped into Torshavn for a nightcap and to check out the Viking Band and vocal duo Arlando & Elsa. On our last cruise, we absolutely fell in love with the band and singers, so imagine our joy to see Enrico Agudo at the piano! Ric was one of our favourite musicians, whether with the band or on his own as a solo classical pianist. He’s actually the solo pianist on this voyage, until March, but until January 5th is sitting in for the band’s keyboard player, who had to leave to deal with a family emergency.

It’s shaping up to be another wonderful Viking experience.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so I’ll be looking for the Hotel Manager (to set up the 21/22 World Cruise reunion party), the fellow traveller to whom I owe money for school supplies that will be delivered to a school in Zanzibar, and checking out the options for our first day of activities.