Some Explaining To Do...

First, I would like to say thanks for coming to check out my blog! Those of you reading this now probably have some idea of how my parents and I ended up on this 3 1/2 month voyage around the world. Allow me to explain the whole story in case you missed a few details.

Well, in 2002 my family went on our first cruise on the QE2 from London back to the US. Since we were just crossing the Atlantic, the ship didn't make any stops along the way and therefore needed lots of entertainment during the day. I think I remember seeing the Lamb Chop puppet lady and some little kid talent shows. There was also an author talking about writing and promoting her new book. My dad is a journalist and wrote a few books in his time and I guess after seeing this somewhere the Joey light bulb flickered on..."Hey, I can do this."

So when we got home he did some research and wrote up a resumé-type thing to send off to a bunch of cruiselines. A lesser-known, but pretty upscale cruiseline called Crystal replied and was interested in having my dad do some speeches on his books. He would do about 3 talks in exchange for a free cruise for him and my mom and a discount for other guests he brought. Pretty sweet deal.

My dad did this for a few years and went to some interesting places like Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and through the Panama Canal. My brother and I were able to go to Alaska and I managed to cozy into my parents cabin for the trip to Mexico. I'm pretty sure the couches in those rooms aren't meant to sleep on and I woke up with back pain everyday, but hey it was the small price I paid for a tan that winter.

Anyway, in recent years Crystal has been offering a "World Cruise" and since my dad likes to travel, this really fascinated him. One night at dinner he told us about his idea to teach a memoir writing course on the 2007 world cruise. I'm not going to lie here, I didn't think high-and-mighty Crystal would be interested, but wow, was I wrong. They loved the idea. My dad was pumped, my mom a little hesitant, and I was completely uninterested at the time. "Missing half of senior year? There's no way...and my friends, dad! I'll dieee without them."

This whole thing is about a year in planning, so my family had a while to convince me that this was an awesome opportunity. I talked to my guidance counselor at school and she was really helpful and excited about it. Basically all I had to do was take an English course over the summer and fulfill all my credits in the first semester of senior year. Oh, and keep a blog.

So here I am, about 9 days until we leave...not yet packed or organized in any way, a little nervous yet very excited. I expect this week and the next to be a shopping, packing, and life-organizing frenzy that will lead to a lot of arguing and probably my dad giving my mom and I a limit on how many shoes we can bring (the horror). But I have a feeling that everything will fall into place in the very end. Hopefully.