R and J in the USA

We met Desiree and Jamey on our transfer tour from Anchorage to the cruise port in Seward, and they became the familiar faces we kept running into throughout our trip. A cruise becomes like a temporary, floating little town for a handful of days. From the get-go, Desiree and Jamey became the neighbors we kept running into in town. 

We first met them on the bus to Seward. They sat in the front and we in the back. Though we didn’t have much interaction, we had friendly banter as we navigated getting on and off the bus at the various tour stops. 

Then we ran into them on the first night of the cruise as we headed to dinner. They were sitting at the bar of the restaurant we ate at. Fellow first time cruisers, we compared notes on our rooms and the experience of first encountering the world inside this massive ship before each moving on with our nights. 

There were a number of couples on the transfer tour and a lot of people on the cruise, but somehow the only folks whose faces became familiar to us, and who seemed to recognize us as well, were Desiree and Jamey, and we all always were happy to see each other. It was nice to have a neighborly experience so far from home and the joys that come with rooted, stationary life. We ran into them in line to get back on the ship at the port in Ketchikan and a few other times in between. 

The final encounter was at the Vancouver airport, when Julie ran into them having a meal at the airport. For all the neighborly his and hellos over the last week, this was the first time a real conversation had occasion to sprout up. Julie shared about the trip and they shared tips about where to visit in Louisiana and Memphis, the latter being where they call home. 

It wasn’t long before numbers were exchanged and they offered us a shower and bed to stay in when we roll through Memphis. It’s nice to meet new neighbors 3,000 miles away from home.