The Itinerary

Now committed to a specific cruise, I received from Stacy a huge package of material, covering the many practical details of the trip. It was so thick it reminded me of formal orders, from my time in the US Army. (And in the end, it was almost as regimented.) I would be traveling, the instructions said, on the Regent Voyager, the flagship of the Regent Seven Seas cruise line, a ship that held about 700 passengers. The ship would leave Cape Town, South Africa, on November 21 and cruise first up the West Coast of Africa to Walvis Bay, Namibia, where it would remain overnight. I'd never been to either place: Cape Town, home to Table Mountain, and Walvis Bay, with enormous sand dunes, each promised great opportunities for photography. The next two days at sea would take us to St. Helena, a British island in the South Atlantic so remote that it was where Napoleon was sent into exile after the Battle of Waterloo. Poor man; he died there, some say of arsenic poisoning. (There's a theory the arsenic was not deliberately administered but that he got it from exposure to an element in the paste used to wallpaper his bedroom.) Then four days at sea to Rio de Janerio, where I've been, but so long ago, and at a time when I celebrated carnival so thoroughly that my recall of Rio is mostly limited to sun, sand and a samba beat. After three days in Rio, we'd travel up the coast of Brazil to Salvador de Bahia and on to Forteleza, both places new to me. Four more days at sea - one crossing the Equator (would they keelhaul all newbies, as they did in pirate days?) - would bring us to Barbados, where I once lay mostly in the sun at a broken-down Cunard resort hotel and first read Stephen King, to pass the time. Then on to Antigua, a port I once visited on a gay cruise, where we sailed into the harbor with many colorful flags flying and Donna Summer screaming "The Last Dance" through blaring speakers at a disco-tea-dance-on-deck. "Oh, you're from that ship," the shopkeeper said the next day, when my friend and I bought some unusual, duty-free souvenirs. After Antigua would come San Juan, in Puerto Rico, where many years ago I met a Spanish hairdresser from New York with whom I had a short but passionate affair. Like most Latin lovers, he was extremely solicitous and gave me many gifts but in the end, his jealousy did me in. I didn't want to be an object, owned by anyone. Finally, two more days at sea would take us to Fort Lauderdale where I would leave the ship for home. While travel on board the Voyager was free in exchange for my hosting responsibilities, I had to get to Cape Town, and home from Fort Lauderdale, at my own expense. Coming home wouldn't be a problem - Air Tran has a direct and inexpensive direct flight to Baltimore - but getting to Cape Town would be long and arduous. Through her in-house travel agency, Stacy offered me a special "marine" booking, available only to one-way travelers going to sea, for about $800.00. It was a great price but I dreaded being in steerage for such a long trip and asked her to hold the reservation while I evaluated buying a regular ticket and using my frequent flyer miles to upgrade to business class. Before I had to make a decision, I got lucky. One of my guests at a dinner party here at home inquired about the trip and when I described the downside as getting there (in contrast to Cunard's traditional slogan that getting there is half the fun), he said that needn't be a problem and offered me some of his many frequent flyer miles. Two days later, he called to tell me I was booked from Baltimore to Miami, Miami to London, and London to Cape Town, all in first class. What a gracious gesture! I owe him bigtime! My meatloaf must have hit the spot.