I'm not sure I'm ready for this

I just got home from work and in today's mail is a save-the-date card from Mr. A's niece, who's getting married this summer. On a cruise ship in Mexico.

They had been planning to do it right here in my quaint little town. People come from all over the world to get married here and it's got all the accommodations, services, romantic locations, leisure activities (etc.) that people want to build in to their destination weddings. I loved that idea – celebrate the wedding and party with the family, and head home on my own schedule, to sleep in my own bed. I even could've ridden my bike to the ceremony!

The only trouble is, the day they picked for the wedding has turned out to be on the same weekend as some ginormous NASCAR thing, and the whole town is booked. Rescheduling the wedding is not an option. So Mexico it is.

I'm fine with it, I guess, except the cruise ship part doesn't really sound that fun to me. Most of my impressions of cruise ship life, I will admit, were formed while watching endless reruns of The Love Boat during my formative years ... and maybe it really isn't like that. Still, I can't help envisioning it as a small-scale Las Vegas on the water, except that unlike Las Vegas, you can't leave when you want to – you're basically trapped in a gigantic hotel in the middle of the ocean. Lots of noise and activity, strange, perky people everywhere trying to convince me to do "fun" things I have no desire to do, no place to escape for privacy except back to the room which has a weird smell and/or no fresh air ...

When I imagine a fun vacation, I think of hiking in the shade of enormous redwoods in a cool, silent forest carpeted with moss and ferns. Or walking up a foggy, boulder-strewn beach with the dogs, toward a rustic cabin with a huge fireplace and a long shelf of interesting books. Mesa Verde and Arches were fun. A snowed-in ski lodge could work, if there were enough food that we didn't have to leave (and I could bring my own pillows). I could be convinced to try the tropics, as long as I was sure I wasn't going to be stung by a poisonous sea animal, sunburned, or forced to drink margaritas.

But – this is not a vacation, exactly. It's a wedding! And I do love weddings. And aren't I the one who's always reminding myself to break out of my routines every once in awhile and try something different, something to broaden my horizons and reawaken me to the wonder and beauty that is my own life? Surely on a boat that size there must be at least a few things I could enjoy doing – there's a pool and a hot tub, and a bistro, and a yoga class, and if nothing else it might be nice just to sit in a deck chair and read.

And I guess at some point the ship docks in Mexico and you can get off and look around on shore. I can just imagine the kinds of shopping and tourist-oriented activities they'll have set up for people to do though ... not really my bag. When I picture exploring Mexico I usually think more of jungles, mountains, ruins, villages – you know, like Che Guevara, or Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg in On The Road. Not "Ye Olde Tequilarium, Sombrero Shoppe & Tanning Beds, Inc."

On the other hand – Mr. A hates to travel, and June is going to be busy for both of us already, and this is not going to be a cheap trip. Maybe we'll end up not going at all. Maybe we'll just send a really, really nice present instead, and take them out for dinner after they get back from their honeymoon.

Or maybe we'll go and it'll be super fun! Most everyone I know who's ever been on a cruise has said it was a blast. I'm going to keep my mind open.