As with all voyages that have a soft sparkle on the underside of their bellies, this journey too has it’s own special beginning.

Fading back to January of last year, we were having one of those talks that couples have, on a free and lazy Saturday afternoon when fantasy is a dust in the air that sometimes settles on us.  It was a conversation that had no real beginning, but thrust us forward to new inspiration at the end.

It was magical conversation because if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be writing about it. It is a story of islands yet to be explored, exploits of the past (Philippines, Hawaii, Guam), and waves like magical pancakes slathering on beaches somewhere in places to be visited in future days.  It is a story of explorations to be had, unseen things to be discovered, unusual animals to be encountered, and dreams to be unwrapped.  It was Kashmir’s dream, and I was there to help weave it’s inception.

So anyway that story is now, and the parts in the chapters for this tale are in the Caribbean Islands, the adventure beginning with a soft landing in Fort Lauderdale (the Venice of America) and moving on to welcoming in the New Year with a little bit of Cuba to be found at one or many of the Miami Beach nightclubs.

This trip is like a  fantastical imaginarium of night time story tales put together as a child.  A bunch of childhood fantasies unearthed and rediscovered in that brief moment when  matted layers of adulthood are momentarily peeled away, and becomes that soap bubble that finally settles on the tip of a tree without bursting.

These moments are rare, and this trip is THAT soap Bubble.  Now THAT- is what I am talking about.

So let’s begin this little adventure …

December 26, 2010.

8:00 am.

Ok it’s the day after Christmas, four days and a wake up until the flight to Ft Lauderdale, Florida.  Christmas was ok this year, but it was like an appetizer for the things to come.

It’s not like we went through the motions or anything, but face it, we are here in Lubbock Texas, basically a small scrabble board in the middle of the dessert.  Both our families are in Michigan, and conference phone calls while we open our presents just don’t quite hack it.  I found myself wishing we had hologram technology, so we could at least fake opening our presents with our families.  Even our dining hall table resembled an airstrip.

09:15 am

Kash is still asleep as I write this.  She stayed up late reading, and no doubt worrying about packing everything for the trip and not forgetting anything.  She is going with Sue (a close family friend), countless hours spent on the phone, facebook, and emails to one another,  making plans and then reworking those plans to the  nittiest of grittiest details.  The countdown  they have been doing  for this trip  would embarrass even NASA.

Being this year’s holiday mule, I got up early  transformed into a Christmas Troll and packed away all of our Christmas stuff to make room for a Launch Pad for Kashmir’s upcoming Caribbean Island Cruise.  Just like that, Christmas was wiped away to make room for a worthier holiday event.

We use Launch Pads when we get ready for an adventure, or somebody has to go away for an overnight trip.  It helps us organize our lives, and basically becomes a big comfort blanket for our worst fears (like forgetting your passport or something horribly wrong like that).

11:15 am:

Kash likes the blog entry.  We discuss her suitcase strategy.  We decide to have our before-she-leaves-date on Wednesday, the day before she leaves.  She decides a new garment bag and some black soft soled shoes are in order.

Next stop:   Ze Plane…