Saturday, September 01, 2007

Wee Morning Hours

by Brian Mullen

As I write this, it is 3:45 a.m. on August 24th. My wife is "meditating" for a few minutes before I force her to get up and get ready. We are going on vacation. Our plane leaves Pittsburgh Airport at 6 a.m. (or thereabouts). We are going on a week-long cruise to Alaska.

Because of the amount of work that goes into making sure our jobs will run semi-smoothly without our hands on the rudders, so to speak, we've barely had a chance to get excited about the trip. Last night, however, I bought a 2007 Alaskan cruise travel guide highlighting much of what we can expect. So, even though we were supposed to go to bed "early", we stayed up reading excerpts and getting excited.

We are entering a strange world. The cities we will be seeing have smaller populations (in some cases) that the capacity of the cruise ship - Seward has about 300 locals - our ship has 2100! Each strives to maintain an appearance of historical authenticity while having all the modern day conveniences.

As a writer, I hope to get inspired by new locations and new experiences and come home with a Jack London "Call of the Wild" kind of destiny. Odds are, however, I'll just come home about 10 pounds heavier.

Still, it's early in the morning and a whole new world awaits. Once we get through security, that is.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, Brian, HOW WAS IT?

Anonymous said...

Brian, my husband and I went on an Alaskan cruise in 1995, and it was awesome! We went to Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, and Glacier Bay. I want to hear all about your trip!

Anonymous said...

It was a phenomenal trip - the best vacation we ever had! I plan on writing all about it for my next blog!!!!

Unknown said...

Can't wait to hear how the trip went. I've been trying to talk my husband into going to an Alaskan cruise. Since he is a Polynesian, he wants to head over to Tahiti. That's what happens when a small-town country girl marries an inner city Samoan boy. But we love each other and that's what counts the most.

Martha Reed said...

Hey! Extend your trip and go to Bouchercon!