It is with some trepidation that I embark on my first long cruise, ever. Jack and I have done overnight from Scotland to Belgium. I sailed once from Ireland to France as a student. But this is our first time on a floating city tour boat.

We wouldn’t normally want to do a cruise, especially as COVID rates are on the rise again, but this is the Alaskan fjords. Of all the things I have wanted to see in the world, only Alaska and Finland’s fjords remain—well that and hiking the W in southern Chile, and my friend Cami and I are doing that for our sixtieth birthdays.

I have sought advice from many friends who have lived in Alaska or gone on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. They have poo-pooed the need for waterproof clothing unless we plan to do serious hiking (we don’t).  They told us to book the Skagway scenic rail adventure (we did). And they said pay extra for a balcony room and don’t buy the internet package.

My friends are very smart people. I plan to spend the seven days of sailing and port-hopping sitting on said balcony, low-alcohol cocktail in one hand, book in the other. I will be writing or reading books all week long on the balcony, happy as a clam, emerging only to visit the heated adults-only pool at the far end of the ship, or hit up those famous buffets I keep hearing about.

Five books are packed in my bag, and one is on my computer: Immune is the story of how our body’s defense systems work, and while it came out at the time of all-COVID all-the-time it’s about viruses and bacteria. I like the way the author writes (having started the book twice and gotten interrupted by life and other circumstances). He was describing sizes of a defense cell and an attacking virus once, and he said, “Picture an average height person staring at a bunny.” That makes it accessible.

I have Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Nope, never read it. (That’s probably grounds to revoke my Appalachian card.) And I have a collection of short stories from a local author under the charming title of The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms. That’s fun because I’ve started mushroom foraging of late, and because my first story for West Virginia Public Radio as an Inside Appalachia reporter is on the recent rise in popularity of mushrooms.

Then I have my friend Janelle Bailey’s debut, An Invitation to Read, in manuscript form on my computer. I’m looking forward to returning the favor she did for me during my NYT Short Story Contest rounds (made it through Round 3!). Janelle did a LOT of reading and content editing on the fly. (The deadlines go down to 24 hours by round 4.)

All in all, between the waves and the words, I am looking forward to forgetting I am on a floating city and cozying up in my fleecy sweatshirt to some non-stop writing and reading time. And of course gawping endlessly at the scenery, weather permitting. Sail by, mad world.