Day Seven: All Aboard the Viking Orion

Dear All,

Today we boarded our ship around noon. After traveling for a week and schlepping our bags all over, we were ready to get on board, settle in and unpack our clothes. It took us a bit longer to get on because I answered the health survey honestly and said we had spent four nights in Honolulu. Big mistake. They took us aside and “quarantined” us until the ship nurse could come and take our temperature. While we were waiting I worried needlessly that I was running a fever because I was so hot. Luckily, I was heat hot, not fever hot, and we were allowed on. Yay! Not sure why Honolulu was a problem, because people who came from the Continental US were fine to board.

While we were waiting to board, we went shopping to find Doug some sunglasses. I noticed that several places were selling “Possum Merino Cashmere.” Since Merino is a breed of sheep and cashmere is from Kashmir goats, I found this pretend possum product perplexing.

Should possum and luxury ever be in the same advert? I think bloody not!

Who Knew? Daily Fun Fact:

In about 1837, the brushtail possum was introduced in New Zealand to benefit the fur industry. When fur became an unwanted commodity, the possum population had no natural enemies and grew to 70 million. And since they spent their evenings munching though the bush, they became the biggest pest in NZ. Plus, they are really ugly. So there is a cottage industry here to turn their pelts into fine clothing. And the carcasses are either made into a dog food called Possyyum, or shipped to China where they are considered a delicacy. One of the cute little guys pictured below: