Packing for Florida

For those of you who are just hearing about my great new adventure, here is a short synopsis.

March 2024, I heard about a new concept to see the world from a Cruise Ship. After learning more, I decided that this was an opportunity I did not want to miss.

April 2024 I began the process of purchasing my Villa (I call it a cabin) aboard the Villa Vie Residential cruise ship, Odyssey. We will be cruising around the world for 3.5 years on a 680 ft ship. Just a little bit bigger than my former sailboat Cloud 9! We will be visiting many cities, sites, countries, islands, and oceans. This is not your normal cruise ship as we are all residents who have purchased our Villas. A maximum of about 1000 of us. Our own little cruising community. We come from many countries and many states within the US.

April-Today 2024 I have been the process of dispensing with all of the stuff that I have accumulated over the last 15 years while living in North Carolina. The "stuff" is easy to part with, but I am discovering that leaving the very close friends I have made here is getting harder every day.

September 2024 Even though I am not planning to board Odyssey until December 17, 2024, I had to take all my belongings to Pembrook Pines Florida so they could consolidate my "stuff" with other future residents and take everything over to the Bahamas in late October. We will be following the Sun, so thankfully I didn't have to pack any winter clothes. So, I loaded up (literally) the car and headed to south Florida. Just a quick turn-around trip since I still had lots to do back in North Carolina.

October - Mid November 2024 Continue to decided what I want to keep and what I won't need for at least 3.5 years. In addition, I'm trying to fit in some fun lunches & dinners while I wrap up all my volunteer obligations and positions. My friends are throwing me a couple of Bon Voyage parties that will, again, be hard to say goodbye to these friends.

In November I'll drive to Houston Texas to sell my car and spend Thanksgiving with my sister, Kay, and her husband. I see a lot of wine and Pain Killer cocktails in my future. And then on December 16, 2024 I will fly to Panama and climb aboard Odyssey, my home for 3.5 years. After that, who knows...I certainly don't.

I hope you will join me on my adventures by subscribing to this free site and following along.