Last day on the ship – here we are in Belgium, a place we didn’t plan to visit. We’ll make the best of it with a good Belgian lunch (mussels and fries, no doubt) and a walk around Bruges. Then tonight we have a final dinner planned, a Nordic seafood feast in one of the ship’s pay-extra dining rooms.

Tomorrow (Sunday) it’s hustle off the ship at 7am, catch a flight to Amsterdam at 9am, then crash in Amsterdam for about 24 hours. On Monday we catch a 12 hour nonstop flight from Amsterdam to LAX. With a nine hour time difference, we arrive in LA about 3pm local, three hours after we left. Probably home by 630pm. The drive from LA to home will be dangerous, as I’ll be jet lagged and we’ll be right in the middle of LA rush hour (great planning, right?). The only car wrecks I’ve ever had were due to sleep deprivation, so…gonna have to be careful. Remember to drive on the right side this time. Maybe a ton of coffee.

The best things I can say about this trip are (1) I like Norway a lot. Could see visiting here again, maybe in the summer. (2) We got to see the Aurora, so that’s done. (3) I finally got the rest I needed after the summer/fall of funerals and COVID.

And OK, (4) Cunard is a pretty nice cruise line. Very formal, very staid, but well-run with great service. It’s octogenarian heaven. Not my cup of tea (pun intended, you have to see the afternoon tea hour to believe it), but it’s a bit of British calm in an otherwise crazy world.