What Makes it Special: Place? People? Food? Culture? Alaskan Cruise Saga

 Years ago, the movie Insomnia made Alaska an intriguing destination for Mr. Husband. Years later, he expressed the wish to visit the place; it became his dream destination. On the other hand, I didn’t want anything to do with that cold, faraway place.

In January of this year, a call came from a friend in the UK—an invitation to join them and his siblings on an Alaskan excursion, a cruise. I loved the idea: the company of over a dozen people and Mr. Husband’s dream destination. I had never been on a cruise and was not very sure if I wanted to do this with just the boys, so this was an ideal situation.

A WhatsApp group was formed, calls were made, and after a couple of group Zoom calls, cruise and flight tickets were booked. Then Amma left the world. I rushed to India, and when I got back, my vacation plans for Switzerland and Alaska didn’t matter much. I was merely a passive participant. It was really hard, as she would have been more excited about these trips.

Finally, July rolled around, and things started taking shape. There were a lot of things to worry about. Ajey, our firstborn, moved to Vermont for work (250 miles from home, meaning Anand didn’t have the luxury of having his brother home for the weekend), and the washing machine broke. But thanks to my village, things started falling into place. Todo lists, In case of emergency lists were made, friends were informed and on a very early morning, the Pandeys left for the airport to go to Vancouver. My first stop was meeting my cousin after years in Vancouver before the rest of the group (16 of them) arrived.

My first saree on the cruise was a Chanderi, worn on our dressy night. There were many Indian families on board, but there was only one woman in a saree. I sure enjoyed being one of a kind.

My cousin's home. This stay will remain with me forever, She was very young when I moved out of India. I dont remember her as a person. Seeing her as a mom, wife, daughter in law and a caretaker was amazing in its own way. My baby cousin is a grown woman. We both made promise to do better and meet often. 

Whistler Blackcomb mountain

Night -2 on the cruise -Dressy night, Mr Husband agreed to dress up and posed for a pic that was a big deal