SHORT ATTENTION SPAN THEATER*

"Now, for my younger viewers out there, a book is something we used to have before the internet. It’s sort of a blog for people with attention spans." - Stephen Colbert 
In less than two weeks, my friend Beth and I will set out on an 89-night cruise. One could say that we are engaging in short-attention-span travel, and I am engaging in short-attention-span writing.

The vast bulk of this cruise will be in Europe.  We will set out from New York, sail (and visit) up the New England and Canadian coasts, over to Greenland and Iceland, around the British Isles, through the Baltics, around continental Europe including the Iberian peninsula, through the Azores, across the Atlantic to Bermuda, then back to New York. In all, we will visit 24 countries and autonomous regions, and spend 69 days ashore, calling at 63 different ports.



For the most part, we also will escape the hot and humid North Carolina summer. Of our 69 days in port, 58 will be in places with average high temperatures for the dates we will visit ranging from 40 to 79 degrees F, although Greenland’s temperatures often can get into the 30s at night. No ports have average highs above 90˚. Of course, those are averages. Actual experience can vary.

During this trip, where our hotel and transportation are one the same, we will call in to some places I have never been, many places I have not visited in well over 30 years, and some other places in which I have spent time more recently. The longest we will spend in any spot is three days (counting return visits during the course of the journey), so obviously we will not experience any place in any depth. This is more a checking in to check things out.

So is there a book instead of a blog in the future? Nah. I don’t have that kind of attention span.

*It's really a thing.

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