This Time Next Year

by Pa Rock
Traveling Fool

I used to have two definitions of "hell."   One involved being at sea on a Disney cruise ship with a thousands of screaming kids - and the other was being trapped on a tour bus crammed with complaining old people.  About a dozen years ago I survived my first foray into the bowels of hell when my son, grandson, and I took a Disney Cruise across the Caribbean, a trip that was far less awful than I had anticipated.  In fact, if I am going to be completely honest, I would have to admit that it was a lot of fun watching Nick and Boone each experience cruising and exploring the islands of the Caribbean for the first time in their lives.

Now, several years on and well established in retirement, I am looking toward another encounter with hell.  This adventure will be a senior citizens' bus tour to New York City next Thanksgiving to see the famous Macy's Parade.

My sister (who is also retired) and I, both being Macys and cousins (many times removed) of the founders of the famous department store, tried to take that same tour back in 2016.  We registered with a tour company out of southwest Missouri, paid all of our fees, and were a couple of months short of departure when the company suddenly cancelled the tour and refunded all payments.  There had been some terrorist activity in New York, and a couple of fellow travelers had backed out - leaving the company short of the number of people that it needed for the trip to be profitable. 

For the next couple of years the tour company never offered the Macy's Parade tour again, but this year the new catalogues revealed that the trip would resume over Thanksgiving of 2021 - and those who wanted to go needed to start getting their names on the roster.  Abigail and I each still had the trip on our "bucket lists," and she elected me to call the company and get our names on its roster.

I made the call earlier this week and spoke to a nice lady who sounded to be in about my age range.  I requested a flyer regarding the trip and told the lady that my sister and I were interested in going along with the tour.  She spent about ten minutes going over the details with me - mentioning the name "Macy" a dozen times or so.  Then she asked if she could put our names on the list.  I agreed, and she said, "Okay, Rocky, I will need your last name."

"Macy," I told her.

"Yes," she replied, "And is that M-A-S-S-E-Y?"

"I't's "M-A-C-Y," I answered back, with a bit of a chill in my voice.

"Oh.   OH!   OH, MY!  Like the store!  Well, you MUST go on this trip!

But she stopped short of giving me a family discount!

Gail and I have travelled together before.  In 2015 we took a cruise along part of the Alaskan coast, and we had plans to go to Nantucket - with our favorite cousin - last March just as the pandemic broke out, but cancelled those at the last minute.  Hopefully we will be able to get that one rescheduled.  We are also talking about driving to Pacific Northwest this spring to see my Oregon grandchildren.

All of that upcoming travel is, of course, dependent on the COVID pandemic being brought under control.   We've all been at home too long now and it's time to go out and kick up some road dust!

Happy Thanksgiving!