Sloyne, you must have the best job in the world!
I have been retired for eleven years now but; Yes, I was fortunate in my choice of careers, however, that choice, in the beginning, was really Hobsons choice. Career choices in Liverpool, for the likes of me, back then were quite limited and consisted, for the most part, in the docks or the sea. I chose the sea and had circumnavigated the world before my sixteenth birthday.
Like most Scousers I have a touch of the auld wonderlust and spent five years working my way around Europe in my younger days. (part of the brain drain, er, cough!)
One of my biggest regrets is the demise of the merchant navy as this, along with the docks were to me proper Scousers jobs passed down from father to son and being the very essence of our city.
You sound like a dreamer. I think people come in two categories; dreamers and wishers, wishes are always wishing for something without doing anything constructive to reach their goals, just wishing they could. Dreamers, I find, are usually fulfilling their dreams, albeit, with baby steps but then, later, in leaps and bounds. Keep dreaming, I'm sure you will, one day, visit places others can only wish they'd seen.
Funnily enough I've eventually followed in my forefathers footsteps by working on the docks, even if in an unrelated job. As I get older I feel the need to travel more than ever, to see places I've only heard about and almost every month I'm dragging the wife around some new place as we take advantage of all these cheap flights. (must have a carbon footprint the size of the yeti!)
It's brilliant hearing you talk of all those exotic foods as I love nothing better myself than experiencing new cuisine from around the world and cooking a poor version of it upon my return home.
I will one day soon take a decent cruise holiday but I can't decide to where! The Missus would like the Carribean but I'm thinking New York. For yourself, does all that time in Paradise ever become a chore?
Whenever you are ready and, you need advice, just let me know and I will try and help as much as I can. I know some fantastic websites offering some fantastic deals on cruises and, believe it or not, cruising is a very inexpensive way to travel. And no, paradise never becomes a chore. We spend a month every two years in Hawaii and have been doing so since 1980, and still love the place.