Chasing Summer –

After the dissappointing no-go on the last world cruise, I’ve been pretty low key about my new adventure plan, but it has started.

Life at Seas was a bust and after a lot of requesting/demanding and hiring a lawyer in Turkey to send Miray notice, I finally received half of my money back in April. The rest should be coming to me in a week or so. We will see if this promise is kept unlike most of the past assurances.

I did end up with Villa Vie segments with the hope this time it would actually happen and I liked that rather than paying for the whole cruise I could just book the pieces I liked, so it saved me some money. The good news is they did get their boat and are in the process of dry dock to update it. Cruise Ship Handed Over to Buyer for 3.5-Year Residential World Cruise (maritime-executive.com) The bad news is that they had to delay their launch 15 days which meant Scotland was being cut from the program. Nooo. It is one of those places I always wanted to go to.Villa Vie Residences: Your All-Inclusive Cruise Home

Scotland is one of those places I always wanted to go to.

So I made the decision to keep my original Paris plans which I had booked and paid for months ago and add ten of these extra days to travel to Scotland on my own. The boat was originally going to leave from South Hampton on May 15th, and I had planned to meet her in Le Havre, France on May 18th, since the flight to France was half the price of the South Hampton one. I had booked 3 days from the 15th to the 18th in Paris hotels and had purchased a Paris pass The Paris Pass® | Save up to 50% and booked tours. I also used my points for my flight to Paris from Calgary so it wasn’t to bad for cost.

Villa Vie’s boat, the Odessey is now leaving from Belfast rather than South Hampton so I also wanted to sent my large suitcase to Belfast without me dragging it around Scotland. The small tour in Scotland I planned on taking also doesn’t allow large luggage to be brought so I had a bit of a dilemma. The Ville Vie group finally got an address in Belfast for us to send luggage too and I booked a pickup from Send my Bag. Send Luggage and Ship Boxes with Send My Bag® Luggage Courier and Delivery Service

Since I am shipping from one UK location to another I don’t have to worry about customs which is good. The bad news is that they only pick up during the week. I’m on tour during the week, so I have to hope that my hotel, The Palmerston Suites, is okay with my bag hanging out in reception on Monday waiting for the driver. Fingers crossed. It is very cheap to use the Get My Bag service, a cost of $30US per bag, but I also got a discount so even with cancellation and insurance it only comes to $12 US. I can’t fly with it that cheap.

With all of this figured out all I needed to do was pack. A carry-on and personal bag that could hold everything that I need for France, Scotland and a couple of days in Belfast before I board the boat, and one large suitcase that holds everything else for the 11 months I had reserved.

Easy right? Wrong. As soon as that large suitcase was opened I start throwing clothes in there as if I’m going to have explosive diarrhea and need multiple outfits for each day. I packed everything I wanted first and then weighed the bag. It was about 10kilos overweight. So, I took everything out and put some of the extras away. I repacked and was closer at about 3 kilos overweight. This is when the harder calls come in and choices are made.

I decided to bring only a few t-shirts since I would buy shirts in the countries I visit, same with socks. I will wear my athletic sandals most of the time, so not many socks are needed anyway and I love to buy them as souvenirs. Colder weather clothing is minimal, only two long-sleeved shirts were packed. We are traveling in the summer after all. 

Layers and versatile clothes are the key. I have a scarf that can be a bathing suit cover, a head or shoulder cover for visiting some modist sites that require more coverage, a towel at a beach, and an actual scarf if I’m chilled.

Once I’m on the boat I’ll take a video of my treasures and post it here so everyone can see what actually made the cut.