Denton County Living Well Magazine Summer 2015 | Page 13

“It’s never
too late to
live happily
ever after.”
By Virginia Langston-McDaniel

T

hose are the words on a
plaque I received in a random door prize drawing. I
was at an employee party
the last Christmas I was working full time. “Yes, exactly” I said to
myself. “It is never too late.” I was
widowed when my daughter was
two years old. As a single mom I had
raised my daughter and developed
my career. As rewarding as my career
was, it involved long work hours and
years away from home. Finally and
unexpectedly, the happily ever after
was about to begin. I met the love of
my life and married him in 2006 after
being single for 33 years.
My husband retired and I was planning retirement as we talked about
what we wanted to do with our free
time. Ever since I was a child I had
wanted to travel and see other places,
cultures, and people. I began to think
travel for me as I had dreamed would
never happen. I was 60 when I had
the opportunity to take my first ocean
cruise right out of Galveston, Texas.
What a world that opened up to me––
affordable, fascinating travel to parts
unknown. Having recently booked my
12th cruise, I recommend cruising to
everyone I meet.
We took our first two-week cruise this
past November. We sailed out of New
York City to the southern Caribbean
on Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the
Seas. We experienced high seas and
rainy weather for three days out on
the Atlantic (not my favorite traveling
weather). The big ship took the seas
very well. We hardly noticed the turbulence from our mid ship 9th floor stateroom until our captain announced that
a rogue wave had hit the 4th deck at 5
a.m. and disabled two of the lifeboats!
I was put at ease by the way the crew
responded to this unusual event. At
each of the next seven ports, the crew
conducted lifeboat drills, actually deploying some of the lifeboats into the

ocean. They had to make adjustments
to the emergency procedures, re-assigning some passengers to different
lifeboats. The passengers that were affected received letters with their re-assignments. (Tip: you learn a lot if you
attend the scheduled times passengers
can talk with the captain of the ship.)
He assured us that we had enough lifeboats on board as we were not sailing
with full passenger capacity.
By day three, we could feel the warmer
temperatures when we strolled on deck.
We were headed toward our first island,
St. Martin or St. Maarten, a small island
that is both Dutch and French. We visited St. Lucia, Antigua, Barbados, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. Our favorite
island was Curacao. It is just north of
the Venezuelan coast. It is part of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands and looks
like a little Amsterdam. It has brightly
colored buildings on each side of a canal. Some of the buildings are hundreds
of years old and made from coral and
sand. The locals are very proud of how
well they maintain their buildings. They
have been designated a world heritage
site. Standing on one side of the canal,
we saw a ship pass through. A swing
bridge had to be opened as the Vision
of the Seas passed through. It happens
that the ship we saw is the very ship
we are booked on next to take our first
Mediterranean trip!
On the last few days of the cruise, the
seas were wonderfully smooth. As we
sat on our balcony, we were mesmerized by all the shades of blue of the
Caribbean ocean.
We love travel so much that I have
become a part-time travel agent and
group tour coordinator. I am currently
working with LIVING WELL Magazine
and Collette Travel to get a group together to visit the Christmas Markets in
Germany, France, and Austria beginning December 6, 2015. This is a fully
escorted land tour.

If you would like to hear more about the Christmas Markets tour in
Germany, France, and Austria, register for a live webinar presented
on June 18 at 6 p.m. Register now at http://tiny.cc/Invite or call
Virginia Langston-McDaniel, travel consultant, at 940-367-0714.
DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | SUMMER 2015

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