Preparing for a four-month trip

Preparing for a four-month trip takes a lot of pre-panic planning, especially if some of the destinations are so far off the map that Starbucks hasn’t found them.

For the college students who will be leaving on a world voyage with Semester at Sea, plotting what to bring and what to leave behind has kept the program’s message board churning for months. There are unfiltered questions from the students: Are there hangers in cabin closet? Blenders on board? Pilates? And there are hard-core answers from alum: “Bring lots of crappy clothes” to protect from the ship’s laundry service.

Women seem focused on hair care and nutritious snacks (peanut butter becomes gold bullion by the time they cross the International Dateline); the guys fret about plugging in complicated electronics and splitting the cost for extreme excursions like Great White shark diving. A female student volleyed one of many gender jokes by posting that the guys have a lighter load since their two biggest concerns, free condoms and soap, are already on the ship.

For those struggling to meet the baggage weight requirement, someone suggested: “Pack up everything that you plan to take with you and carry it all around the block a few times. Now decide if you really need all that stuff.”

There are also moments of “whoa” on the message board, as in “when did it hit you that you’ll be going on this trip?” One wrote, “I was called to baby-sit last night for [Aug.] 29 and was like, ‘No, sorry, I’ll actually be out of the country. And no, the next week won’t work either. I’ll be back in December though ‘ and then it hit me: Going around the world.”

One calculated that a similar cruise to the same number of ports would cost $49,000, more than double what these students are paying for tuition, room, board, passports, visas, shots, excursions and souvenirs (“Buy flat things, like a Chinese kite or small rugs”).

The voyagers-to-be are being guided by alum who have truly survived the seas. “I was on the spring ’05 voyage and yes, that was the trip where we almost died,” wrote an encouraging veteran. “Ask me anything.” In February, the MV Explorer collided with 50-foot waves in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Two of the crew were hurt, the engine died and the ship was repaired and escorted by helicopter to Hawaii. In July, the 59-year-old captain died of a heart attack while at sea.

What adventures will face this group, weighed down now by concerns about accessing cash and obeying the rules for bringing alcohol? Check back later.

Next: Saying goodbye to Mom, Dad and unlimited non-peak cellphone minutes before boarding the ship in the Bahamas.