Life Onboard The Villa Vie Odyssey
It is quite an adjustment, mentally and physically, when all of the structures and routines that govern our daily lives are stripped away.
On board, we are untethered from so many of the things that kept us grounded - the scaffolding of life. Every day is a fresh slate, an opportunity to learn, create, reinvent, reflect.
At the same time, it is disorienting. For so many years the rhythm of each day has featured dog walking, time with friends, laundry, shopping, food planning and preparation, and work. Although sometimes mundane and repetitive, these things have also given our lives direction and meaning. Now they are stripped away, leaving palpable empty spaces, It is not an unpleasant sensation, just unfamiliar.
The new daily rhythm looks a bit like this:
Something for the body - gym, cycling, hiking, snorkelling, walking
Something for the mind - bridge, reading, games, new friends, some work
Something for the soul - choir, piano playing, ukulele, painting and art, Global Harmony
Something for the trip - researching excursions, planning, journaling
T.Collins originals.
Global Harmony is an onboard charity established by the residents and Villa Vie management to contribute to communities as we travel. The centrepiece is carbon offset through activities like tree planting and mangrove forest restoration. It will be a great way to provide some meaning and purpose as we travel.
The VV Odyssey is a crazy hybrid experience, part floating neighbourhood, part slow, deep travel. The roughly 300 people on board range widely in age, background and interests. They are here for different reasons, and are looking for different things. A sociologist/anthropologist would have a field day observing people here and writing a thesis.
You might wonder, who is on board, and why? What kind of people uproot their lives and move full-time to a residential cruise ship?
Experienced cruisers - some have racked up dozens of voyages - and cross-country RVers
Single people, particularly women, benefitting from companionship and community
Those who stay on board, rarely disembark except to shop for odds and ends
Some who treat the ship as an Uber, travelling from port to port, planning many long excursions inland
Game players who bring energy and fun to the library every day after “quiet time” - cut throat Euchre, Mah Jong, various forms of Rummy, Mexican Train, role playing games like Murder and Werewolf
Partiers, poker players and jocks
Complainers who find fault with everything, and those who are simply grateful for this extraordinary lifestyle
Crafters, artists, musicians and actors
Those who don’t fit into cliques (and don’t want to)
Those who are the first to say hello, and some who never return a greeting
There is new romance, sometimes leading to drama, at other times to permanence.
Craig and Cindy were long range truckers, delightful people who we have dinner with about once a week.
Larry lived in an RV for 16 years, travelling across the US.
Teri is a financial executive looking to shake up her routines in retirement
John and Coleen - beautiful, stylish, adventurous
John and Melody, real estate developers who purchased three cabins, knocked them into one, live lavishly, and coordinate their attire daily, often as mermaid/merman
And so many more characters.
Our adventure continues…
Jen & Terry xoxoxo
