the love boat

Life on the ship has been pretty good. The majority of the people on the ship are pretty old. I guess it's cause of the time of year we're going. The weather has been variable. Some ports are stinking hot and some are cold and raining. I regret not bringing many things with us - which I fondly remind Kel daily. The list so far:

1. conditioner - the water here is so hard and horrible for my hair. I've been stealing all the bathroom products from each hotel we stay at. The ship is cheap and has only a dispenser for shampoo.
2. laptop - Kel had decided when we booked this vacation that we would live in luxury while on land. Well - that means that all of our hotels are equiped with free internet...yet no laptop. Doh....should have brought it....
3. more ZOOM! - there were so many times when we needed a longer zoom lens for the camera....being on the ship - we're far from the things that I want to take pictures of. Plus there were occasions were having a smaller camera would have been good - like sticking a camera into the hole of a sarcophagus
4. another camera - having one camera between the 2 of us was sometimes futile as we struggled to capture what each thought was important
   
5. papyrus - in Egypt we went to the papyrus institute. Papyrus is that reed paper that Egyptions use to write on. Anyhow we had the opportunity to get one professionally made just for us. Kel thought it wouldn't go with our "Ikea" decor so he said no. We ran into a couple of other honeymooners our age and they got the famous "honeymoon scene" made with their names in cartuses and their wedding date. How romantic! Kel says "how cheesy!"
6. shoes - in the haste to pack - we forgot to bring more formal shoes. We only have runners and thongs. We celebrated our one-week anniversary at a swanky steak house. Looked kinda funny in our nice clothes and not so nice shoes. :-)

Overall the trip is going well. We're seeing and experiencing a lot of different traditions. We're trying to document most of it through pictures. :-) One thing we didn't get on the camera was our super-expensive spa treatment. We had a seaweed wrap and massage. It was Kel's first time wearing see-through underwear for a room full of esthetians. I think he was super embarrassed. I laughed as it was a "couples treatment" and I've reached the age where I alright walking around in my naked-flabbyness. You should have seen the look of horror on Kel's face when they told him that he would have to wash the seaweed off his body for the second part of the treatment. Less just say the see-through shorts became wet kleenex. Hahahha!!! We were feeling pretty ZEN after the massage - though I telling him he was disturbing my zen with his groaning and wincing (he had asked his girl to "beat him up" on the massage table as she was petite and didn't look very powerful). Oh did he ever get a beating! Lol...beware of what you ask for! Our zen dissipated when we got our bill. $600!! We blinked a couple of times and signed the bill. The thing about the ship is that we all have these magical cards that allow us to buy anything without ever having to pull out our wallets. The card also is our ticket on and off the ship, plus it is also our room key. They are are the only thing we carry so we never know how much we're spending as it all goes on our "tab". I think this is the point...

Anyhow - time to go find Kel. He's playing in another poker tournament and I'm left to amuse myself (again). The last time he got to the final table but didn't win.