Sydney, Australia

Sorry for the lack of communication, but I had trouble uploading in the middle of the ocean, but we are back with you.

We sailed into Sydney Harbor 2 days ago, and of course, are unable to leave the ship. Luckily, we had some stunning views of the harbor (the prettiest I’ve ever seen), and the city, which was pretty spectacular at night.

I believe the last time I wrote, Jeff and I had plane tickets for the 18th. Obviously, those didn’t work since we were still at anchor then. Jeff stayed up all night waiting in line for a “chat” space to change our tickets. We had 987 people ahead of us. I took over when we got our spot and spent the next 4 hours getting tickets to go home on the 20th. I’m glad we didn’t select the flight that changed planes in Qatar since they closed all air traffic today. We will be flying through Honolulu with the thought that if we get stuck there, at least we’ll be in Hawaii. Please keep your fingers crossed that we actually get on a plane. By the way, there were only 2 economy seats left so it will be an interesting 10 1/2 hours, but we were happy to have them. Unusual way to spend our 27th anniversary!

As I said before, we are just being inconvenienced. Our hardship is nothing compared to what is happening all over the world.
Everyone on the ship is quite somber. I know that Jeff and I felt the weight of reality as we pulled into Sydney as I suspect everyone else did too.
We have been existing in a bubble for a while now, but this will not remain a safe place forever. We all recognize we are about to join the rest of the world in the fight to stop this virus by carefully getting ourselves home and isolating as long as we need to. We are lucky to have a great support system, our house is stocked by a good friend and our car will be left at the airport for us.

We saw a jet fly over today and it seemed hopeful that we might get home.

I post again as the next part of our trip advances forward!Read more