Dearest Rachel –
Technically, yesterday wasn’t really all that; I believe that it’s still going to take an entire day to get down from Alaska to Vancouver, after all. But for all intents and purposes, this is pretty much it for the languid, lazy days at sea. Heck, this final day already saw me running back and forth, waking Daniel up, in order to get our clothes cleaned and presentable, because we’re not going to get the chance to do so on that final sea day a week or so from now. So as far as pure rest and relaxation goes, this is it.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to make sure that we have all of our paperwork in order for tomorrow; before we can set foot on American soil again, we have to go through customs and immigration. We’ve got our passports and room card, and the customs form is more or less filled out, but I’m at a loss with what they refer to as a B1/B2 visa, which supposedly should be located in our passport. Maybe it’s the sticker that Japanese authorities put in it upon our departure from Otaru? I’m not sure, but I guess we’ll find out when we make our appearance in the theater tomorrow morning before disembarking.
For the moment, we’re going to assume that this should be a straightforward thing, and what we really need to figure out is what to do with ourselves once we step off the ship in Kodiak. After all, the stops here in Alaska, while something of an interesting bookend to the trips we used to take as an extended family (especially since we’re making a point of contacting Dad every day regardless of where – and when – we are), are pretty much an afterthought. We signed onto this ride to take off from Tokyo and visit Sapporo; everything from there on out is just extra.
Which means we really haven’t a clue what to do with ourselves this morning. Oh, we have a shore excursion of sorts, as part and parcel of the cruise in toto, but it’s described as ‘Kodiak On Your Own,’ which is all but meaningless. The town is literally at the dock, from all that I can tell from the maps I’ve been looking at; where, exactly, is this ‘excursion’ taking us, and how is this different from our just getting off the ship and walking around the place, anyway?
This confusion, combined with the lack of real enthusiasm for the wild life of Alaska (as opposed to the city life of Japan) doesn’t do us any favors with regard to looking forward to today’s upcoming events. It all feels just a little perfunctory. Then again, it may just have to do with having not gotten quite enough sleep these past few nights, as we’ve been astonished by the fact that the sun has been up until nearly midnight – while at the same time being fully aware of what was happening:
I suppose it’s not all that dissimilar to how we get a laugh about how everybody forgets how to drive in the snow when first it arrives in the winter. Granted, it’s not nearly as funny when you were the one losing your grip on the road because you’re going too fast when you take that turn.
In a way, this feels almost workaday in comparison to the last week or so; get up at six in the morning (which is, yet again, an hour early than it was yesterday), shower off the sweat of being perhaps a little too covered up last night (as well as to wake yourself up), get dressed, grab breakfast, and get out there and see what you can do or see, even though you’re pretty clueless as to what’s out there. But this is our one chance in life to visit this town – and unlike some days in port, we’ve actually got some decent weather – so we’d darn well make the most of it, even if it does make a Saturday feel a bit more like a Monday, somehow.
So with that in mind, I’m going to sign off for now; I’ve still got a lot of preparations to make before we get off this ship. And until I check in with you again, I’d ask you to keep an eye on us and wish us well. We’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 