It started as a very normal 30 day cruise. No worries there – we felt we could ask our very wonderful neighbors to pick up our mail, and clear our driveway from the inevitable snow.

Now it’s going to be 91 days; that changes everything.

I started reading world cruise blogs and books, how did people cope with being away from their homes for up to 3 months over winter. I had previously read Maggie Thorpe’s book, Ships, Shoes & Maggiemou, for light entertainment. Now I had to read it again for tips on world cruising, and to find out what she and Mr. MM had done in each port.

Next there were the bills. I went on line and changed all of our bills to electronic bills, making sure that we could pay everything through online banking while we were away. I changed our bank and investment statements to online, as well as medical journals we subscribed to. We receive several catalogs a day, and I was able to find a service that stopped these coming. We plan to have our mail forwarded to our son in Illinois, and he has graciously agreed to look over it, and scan anything that looks like it needs immediate attention to us.