Countdown: Seven, Six, …

In seven days, if the stars align and the creek don’t rise, Anne and Ric embark on the MS Zuiderdam for their around the world adventure. Or misadventure. (Had we known the effort and angst involved in getting us to this point…) But here we are with at least one show-stopping issue solved—we now have meds for the entire five months duration. But we don’t have our Brazil visas, which we were told were required to board the ship, but then no one else does! The new e-visa system that Brazil initiated recently is not working. Holland America is aware of the problem and working to resolve it, either by getting Brazil to lift the visa requirement so we can sail up the Amazon, or by changing our entire itinerary to skip Brazil! Wow! This problem must apply to anyone trying to visit Brazil, whether for work, school, tourism, … Unimaginable incompetence. Where is Bolsonaro when we need him?

The other possible modification to our adventure is rerouting to avoid the Gulf of Aiden, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal. Anne, the pessimist in our marriage, is sure that we’ll be rerouted around the Horn of Africa, just as so many ships are doing since their insurance coverage is voided in war zones. I, the optimist of the family, assume that Holland America will just issue flak jackets along with life preservers and steam ahead. Seriously our itinerary has already been changed to exclude Israel, with added days in Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. Interestingly, our Road Scholar Group Leader, Jill Rosenfield, is Israeli. I suspect that she and we (our group) will avoid the discussions of the current conflict.

Click Road Scholar program: 22764 to view our program, “World Academy: Discover South America, Hawaii, Japan & Beyond on the Zuiderdam.” You should find a program description, including our current itinerary, assuming we still do Brazil and the Middle East.