I started looking at a bucket list of trips to take

 

To keep my mind active, I make up lists at work for the things I need to do.  Today, my focus changed a little, and I decided to make a list of places on this planet that I want to visit while I'm healthy enough to do so.

I placed trips into two columns.  The first contained cruises I'd like to take and countries I'd like to visit.  The other contained North American trips I'd like to take and cities I'd like to visit. And each one of these trips may have to be carefully planned for two reasons: (1) Cost and (2) My ability to travel as Marian.

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Key trips on the first list include the following:

1. Hawaiian Cruise (targeted for 2022)
2. Panama Canal Cruise (targeted for 2023 or 2024)
3. Alaska Cruise / Denali Land Tour (targeted for 2024 or 2025)
4. Great Britain & Ireland (targeted for 2023 or 2024)
   (This may be coupled with a Transatlantic Crossing on Queen Mary 2.)
5. Trips to Germany & Scandinavia
6. Cruise including a ring around Iceland
7. South America cruise including the Galapagos islands
8. Antarctica Cruise
   

Virtually all of these trips will involve some serious coin.  And only 2 of them can I be certain to be able to do safely as Marian.  So this got me thinking of a list of trips I can take in North America which included the following:

1. Yellowstone National Park
   
2. Grand Canyon National Park
   
3. Long Distance Train: West/Eastbound to/from Seattle 
   
4. Long Distance Train: West/Eastbound to/from Vancouver
   
5. Long Distance Train: West/Eastbound to/from LA
   (Southern Route via New Orleans)
6. Long Distance Train: North/Southbound New Orleans to/from Chicago
7. Long Distance Train: West/Eastbound New York to/from Chicago
   via Philadelphia
8. Long Distance Train: West/Eastbound New York to/from Chicago
   via DC
9. Cities:
   - Chicago
   - Los Angeles
   - San Francisco
   - Seattle
   - Philadelphia
   - Boston
   - San Diego
   

Again, some of these trips involve some serious coin.  But more of them would allow for me to get around as Marian either in transit, at destination, or both.

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Recently, I mentioned that I have a friend who'd accompany me on one of these trips.  She knows about Marian, but the logistics of this trip would have me travel as Mario.  Will this trip happen?  Who knows?  But I don't think it will happen next year.

If I still had my former cruise partner, we'd likely do another trip to the Caribbean. Cruising from a New York based ship is all too convenient to resist.  For me, I will take my next cruise on Norwegian simply because I can get to pier 88 via mass transit and a quick cab ride. That's more than I can say about the Brooklyn and Bayonne cruise terminals.  Traveling alone, I refuse to spend $40/day to park my car at the terminal when I can spend most of my savings on drinks while on the cruise.