Yon: Does Peace Corps service justify a cruise when it comes to carbon footprints?

Ever since I lived in West Africa, The Gambia for two years without any running water, electricity or a vehicle, except for a bicycle that was useless on the soft dirt roads that surrounded my village, I've wondered if I gained a bit of wiggle room in the environmentally friendly travel department.

Surely that MSC Musica cruise I took from Venice to Greece with my kids last summer was something I earned on those nights when I put a damp wash cloth on my torso in an attempt to fall asleep--or fantasized about putting lettuce leaves on my face (no kidding) to combat the parched dustiness of the dry season. 

The cruise did give me pause when I heard about how much gas the ship burned as it made its way around the Mediterranean, but, man was that cruise the finest time ever. Let's not think about the gasoline, shall we?

Let's think of those days when my carbon footprint was about the size of my left little toe. Not my big toe. My little toe. I'd say between the Peace Corps and that cruise, I'm still not even. You see, I think there's another cruise with my name on it.

*The MSC Musica is the ship in the background taken on the banks of the Grand Canal Venice. To leave Venice, the ship goes through the Grand Canal first. I took this photo the day after our ship returned and the next cruise was heading out. We were walking near St. Mark's Square when we saw the ship pass.