The journey begins. Our travel day and first day aboard ship.

We're on our way, finally, just a few months shy of two years after we signed up for this cruise.  The anticipation had been building, especially lately, to the point where we both were intensely feeling that we needed to get past the planning and preparation stage and get this show on the road.  Yesterday was our day to get from our home in University Park, Florida to the ship at the Port of Los Angeles.  We set the alarm for 2:30 a.m. and, after saying goodbye to our dog Annie and our friends George & Bobbie Gordon (who are taking care of Annie while we're gone), we were on our way to Tampa International Airport by 3:15.  Soon after we arrived at the departure gate, three other couples with Viking baggage tags began to appear and, in short order, we were engaging with one another as we waited to board.  The flight was uneventful.  By late morning, Los Angeles time, we were walking up the ship's gangway.

 Our first priority onboard was to get some lunch.  In finding our way to the casual restaurant, we passed through a few areas of the ship that made clear this is one big beautiful boat.  After lunch we tasked ourselves with unpacking, a major chore since between us we had four large suitcases, carry-ons, etc.  Although we wondered where we would put everything, we managed to find spaces throughout our well-designed stateroom that accommodated all of our stuff.  Here are a couple of photos that show our stateroom after we were all unpacked and ready to call it home for the next four months.



Quite spacious and very comfortable.  This is a brand new ship (launched in 2017) with a guest capacity of 930 people.

After a mandatory safety drill late afternoon but before dinner, we attended a welcome reception that was spread out on two decks.  By this hour of the day the weather had changed from sunny and clear to quite foggy and overcast.  Here's a shot of the stage at one end of the pool area where a band was playing.  Although the pool itself is not very big, the pool deck area is quite large and can be open to the sky or closed in inclement weather.

Just before the actual sailaway around 7 p.m. we were treated to a very impressive bon voyage fireworks display.

We called it a day quite early given the time difference and the ungodly hour we woke up to start this journey.  After a very good night's sleep, Janis started our first full day, today, with a 2-hour workout in the impressive gym.  So far today we've explored the ship, discovering any number of incredibly attractive spaces in which to spend time, eaten well and attended two lectures, the first on the subject of The Bayeux Tapestry, which dates back to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings, given by one of the several scholars-in-residence who will be aboard at various times during this lengthy cruise.

 Time to get ready for one more lecture and then dinner.