We were seated at the welcome dinner at the Hotel Amigo in Brussels on the first "real" night of our vacation. The tour company hosted a meet-and-greet at the hotel prior to embarking on the ship. The dinner was held in a huge banquet room with large tables which indicated that we would not be dining alone.
This question was posed to us by one of the females seated at our table. She was with her husband and they were traveling with another couple (they were seated at our table as well).
I had reservations about booking a two week trip, let alone a two week trip for the three of us. Poly is a tricky dance and it's easy to step on someone's feet. We've pretty well mastered it at home but that's because we all have our own getaway cars. Hotel rooms, buses, and a riverboat.. I'll be honest. I was a little nervous.
Also, traveling with a group, I knew that we would either be asked about our associations or it would become rather clear that we were the Freaky Deaky Young'uns of the cruise. I did give it some thought prior to our departure. We are generally open but we all have professional lives and these are types of things that don't lend themselves well to professional credibility and/or client relationships. While it doesn't impede upon our lives too much, I didn't want it to be an issue on vacation.
"I'm married to Edward and Stuart is my other partner." (Names have been changed to protect the terribly, terribly guilty.)
There was a moment of silence but since I had champagne coursing through my veins, I didn't care.
The blonde quickly regained her composure and said "I'm not sure I ever heard of that before." Conversation flowed freely after that point and they *seemed* okay. Looking back though, I think that the free-flowing champagne was a really good lubricant to soothe any discomfort they may have felt about their table-mates.
We were friendly-ish with them for the remainder of the trip although one of the couples seemed to be avoiding us. There was one meal where we happened to sit on the same side of the dining room and within two minutes, they had switched tables. I could hope that side had a better view but it was suspicious. (And really? Was I that much of a threat? Can you not tell that I LITERALLY have both hands full? Sheesh.)
Most of the tour group were older folks (senior citizens and retired) and most of them were extremely friendly to us. There was one lady who refused to make eye contact with me although her husband chatted me up several times.
Amongst the three of us, there were really no toasty moments. We maintained two cabins and two hotel rooms throughout and I think that was really helpful. We scheduled couple-time in various ports so that everybody had some quality time. When I was sick in bed with food poisoning, the guys went to lunch on their own and later, took a brief walking tour of Amsterdam to find me some food.
One of our tour guides made it pretty clear that he'd figured us out but he was very friendly about it. One evening, I was journaling in the lounge by myself and he said "Where are your boys?" And, as we were disembarking the ship, he smiled and said "You're a lucky girl."
All in all, it was a great poly-goes-to-Europe success. The three of us have traveled together on numerous occasions but this was by far the longest trip together. Armed with good communication skills, genuine love and respect for each other, and a lot of beer... we did alright.
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