Johnson-Leck World Tour Part Deux!

Let us hope the world is ready for us!

There were some whispers early on in 2022 that the Johnson-Leck crew would get a shot at a do over for Semester at Sea given how the last voyage went (no need to revisit in detail, but it was the spring of 2020 if that rings any bells). Slowly but surely preparations have ramped up and things began to solidify, but we have hesitated to revisit the ol blog on the off chance that a wrench was thrown into the works to muck things up all over again.  But sitting here today all signs point to the Johnson-Leck crew joining the Spring 2023 Semester at Sea voyage!

We felt so lucky to have the opportunity to go the first time and despite all the challenges that we faced we had an absolute blast. So to have a second chance at a more traditional voyage feels gluttonous and beyond our wildest dreams. So many things have fallen into place just right to give us this opportunity and we finalize our preparations with a little bit of trepidation and anxiety but mostly gratitude and excitement.

Chris will once again be reprising his role as a counselor on the ship.  The counselors can be pretty busy during the day but it will still be a million times easier than what he has been doing this past semester.

Jen's process was a little bit more fluid than last time. Initially there were no faculty positions available on the ship. So many voyages had been canceled and faculty kept getting pushed back which left no room for Jen.  After some long conversations we decided that we could not pass up an opportunity for semester at sea even if Jen did not have a formal role on the ship.  And then in August Semester at Sea came knocking with the possibility of teaching a class.  Then it became 2 classes.  And now we are all set to go with 2 working parents on the ship.

For the most part the kids are excited to go.  Wally and Guthrie are all about getting on the ship and exploring the world.  Rigley has a little bit more trepidation.  She is fully immersed in eighth grade and if you remember from your time in eighth grade, your whole life is about your friends.  She is sad to leave friends behind and has some FOMO for all of the things that her friends will get to do together in the spring.  We gave her the option to stay behind but she never really considered that mostly because I think the FOMO would have increased dramatically.

Here is the link to see the voyage route for the spring:

Semester at Sea Spring 2023

Of course it is just a plan for now.  We have learned our lesson enough to not have too high of expectations that you end up at all the places that you planned to. But we will roll with whatever comes and have a blast anyway.