by Carol Nissenbaum

Created on: November 05, 2008

There's no question for me that returning from a vacation is way harder than preparing for one. We were fortunate enough to take a 9-day cruise this summer. Planning for that trip was almost as much fun as taking it! Buying cruisewear, looking online at all the ship's amenities, daydreaming about all the exotic ports we would visit - just knowing it was coming thrilled me!

I didn't even want to THINK about after the cruise, because then it would all be over. I loved having it stretched out before me, shimmering like a mirage, except this was real and was going to happen. I think the anticipation of the 4+ months before the actual voyage was nearly as exciting as the trip itself, and I even began to wonder at times if the actual vacation would be as good as I dreamed it would.

Getting my first passport was so exciting, and filling out all the necessary documents for the cruise line was even fun; each step brought me closer to my first cruise. I dreamily looked at all the excursions we could take, online and in the beautiful full-color brochure that became my bible. I could practically work for the cruise line, I knew so much about what they offered.

Gradually I acquired my wardrobe for the cruise. I had two formal outfits ready and made lists of the other clothes I would bring, along with the shoes and accessories. I bought a little travel bag for my passport and credit card. I bought bathing suits, cover-ups, a straw bag to take into town. I got a new memory card for my digital camera so I could now take 1074 photos. Each item was piled on my dresser and as the pile grew, so did my excitement. I found out about the long-term parking, no cabs for us, and printed out directions to the terminal. I bought cute little bottles of toiletries, half of which we didn't even use.

Although the first few months before the cruise seemed to crawl by, suddenly the date of departure was looming and I felt panicked. Was I prepared? Did I have enough clothes? Was I going to be able to fit everything into my suitcases? Time was running out. I felt almost scared; in a way I liked having the trip ahead of me rather than it actually happening. What if the actual trip turned out to be a bust after all the planning?

Well, we did manage to get off OK; the only hitch was that the day before we were leaving I suddenly realized we had no luggage tags! You cannot imagine what an odyssey that was, searching for luggage tags in prime travel season. We literally went to 10 stores and just found

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