Across the Sea

Posted on by August 5, 2013

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog everyone. It has been very busy since I landed in Southampton, England on the 3rd of May.

To answer a few questions about the travels across the the sea: First, I was on a cruise ship. It was a newer ship, but unfortunately I can not mention the name of the ship at this point or the company. I can say that it is a larger ship than comes to my home town of Ketchikan, by about 75-100 feet and one of the newest ones in the fleet for this company. We set out from Ft. Lauderdale and spent a day each in Nassau, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and St. Maarten. Then we turned our bearings to 58 degrees and started heading towards the final port of Southampton. It took about 10 days at sea to reach, but they fill each sea day with many different activities. Also, here’s what it looks like when leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico, since so many people enjoyed the last time lapse of the ship. IF the gif file doesn’t start moving, try clicking on the image.

San-Juan

I personally took to spending many of my days exploring the art gallery area of the ship. The staff for the art auction were very friendly and I enjoyed talking about the various artists, the techniques, history, and industry itself. They had several impressive pieces on board, a handful of hand signed Picassos, a large collection of Thomas Kinkades, a few Goya etchings, a couple early Rembrandt etchings, some 13th century manuscript pages, tons of Peter Maxs. It was a wide variety of material but very fascinating. I attended the auctions even and they were a great deal of fun. If you ever find yourself aboard a cruise with an art auction I highly recommend it. They also put on several seminars about specific artists, what makes their art special and why they are the top of their fields.

There were many activities, from Zumba and other dancing classes, a flash mob of “Thriller”, art classes with a Miami based artist, seminars on art, jewelry and guest speakers on topics like maritime history, pirates and others, comedians, acrobatic acts, magic acts, vocal and other musical acts. Quite the assortment to keep you occupied while crossing the Atlantic. Also tons of food. A buffet style casual dining area, a main dining room, and several other specialty restaurants, bars, cafes and lounges. They also had a glass making show going on. On top of the ship, a full on glass studio for blowing and forming all kinds of pieces that they held most sea days for a few hours to see the art and skill involved in the process. The people aboard the ship were all very friendly, crew and guests alike. I even managed to get a signature on my guitar while I was on board, from one of the vocalist acts.

Now, while cruise ships are massive, their design is such that they actually get to rocking and rolling quite a bit in rough seas. Luckily I am not one to get sea sick, but when the waves topped 16 feet seas, we were swaying and churning pretty well. It kind of reminded me of home actually. Luckily the weather never got too bad. A couple rainy spells, but mostly sunny and warm. I had always thought I wouldn’t care for cruising, and I still think that I wouldn’t care for the short cruises (like the 3 and 5 day cruises to Mexico and the Caribbean) but I really enjoyed this 13 night voyage, and would gladly do it again.

My favorite part of the cruise was meeting new people though. At dinner, everyone would dress up to “Smart Casual” and be seated (if you preferred) with other people. Most people on this trip were veteran cruisers, and several were even veterans. I sat one night at a table with an Australian couple, a solo traveler that worked in the telecom industry from the US and a couple from the US, the husband of which had served in WW2. Of course as the introductions go around the table, I usually go first or last (being as I was always the youngest at the table). Being from Alaska always gets raised eyes and smiles. Then explaining my journey (as quickly as possible) gets even more surprised exclamations and congratulations. Being sat with people you don’t really know was great fun. I sat with the same couples a few times different nights, which was even better.

While I was the youngest solo traveler on the ship, I found it very easy to chat with anyone, as I always have. It struck me as funny that as I sat talking with some people who had been retired for years and cruised 20 times or more, all over the world, or have traveled in their careers to places scattered across the continents, they always seemed impressed, or amazed by my adventure, even though I’d only just left the country! There was one woman who had just finished telling me about her travels all over Europe for her job in one breath and was simply fascinated by my adventure with the next. I told her that mine didn’t sound as impressive after hearing all her traveling, and she pointed out that while she had been to many places, it was over many years. (She pointed out that it was over the course of 2 of my lifetimes). She explained that she found what I was doing so impressive because I am doing it all in one run of it.

The experience was a great one and I hope to do it again when I cross the Pacific Ocean later in the journey. Until then, I have many miles to go, and many places to see. Stay tuned for a blog and pictures from Stonehenge!

Puerto Rico!

Posted on by August 4, 2013

Hello everyone! I don’t have a lot of time to upload much but I wanted to check in and let you all know that the cruise is going well, despite some weather we ran into each night so far. I have only a short stay here in San Juan, and even shorter connection to the internet. I wanted to show you a cool time lapse gif that I made of the ship leaving our last port of call, Nassau, The Bahamas. It’s a bigger file, but its pretty cool when it starts playing. This is 157 images taken over 25 minutes or so as we pulled out of the port and headed out towards open water.

I also wanted to direct anyone interested in helping out with this adventure to go to the donation page. If you donate 5$ to my trek, I will send you a postcard, hand written, from what ever port I happen to be in at that time. Tomorrow will be the next time I check these and it will be from St. Maarten, way out near the end of the Caribbean! After that, it will be from England! These will be post cards purchased at those locations or the location before and send where I catch your email. Every dollar helps in this adventure, so please grab a post card for you, your kids, or maybe your classroom (for those teachers out there).

Thanks everyone, and enjoy this little clip! (click the image to view it pulling away from the dock)

CEDisembarking

Phoenix to Ft. Lauderdale: One long Bus Ride

Posted on by August 4, 2013

I really enjoyed Phoenix and Tempe Arizona.  The people I met there were great, but I needed to keep moving.  I had a small going away gathering at Monkey Pants, where I felt right at home and was treated like a local.  I got to say goodbye to the wonderful staff there and even managed to meet a couple new friends while finishing off the night.

 

The next evening I boarded a bus heading East.  It was going to be a long haul, with many stops and transfers but little sleep.  My initial route took me South and East, through San Antonio and Houston, on towards New Orleans and on to my ending spot of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  It would have been about a 2 and half long trip.

 

At the first transfer point, in El Paso, Texas, I and a large group of other passengers from a few other buses were informed that there had been a problem and the driver that was connecting us to San Antonio had left early.  No indication of why.  Was he fired? Quit? Sick? Misread his watch?  In any event, we had to reschedule out tickets.  They started fitting people into other routes through Dallas and other points to make the connections.  Since my schedule was wide open, I let the people who seemed to more concerned about timing go ahead of me and get the tickets they needed.  I ended up with a very new itinerary, which would put me on the bust for 12 hours more or so, but would also take me through more places that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

 

PRO TIP:

The thing to remember about riding a bus is to get a row to yourself.  Most buses are set up 2 seats to a side, and when the bus is loaded, it might be impossible to get a row to yourself.  The best way to do this is to pick an empty row towards the front, and sit in the aisle seat.  Put your bag or coat in the window seat.  Everyone will be trying to get a row to themselves, so most people will pass you by, hoping for one in the back that is empty.  When they get back there and find there are none, they are most likely going to take the first seat next to a normal looking person they come up, hopefully before they get back to the front where you are.  The other way to get a row to yourself is to look crazy.  No one wants to sit next to the crazy person on the bus, with one exception.  Actually crazy people.  That’s why the first method is the preferred one.

 

In between transfers, layovers and miles of open road, I met a handful of interesting people.  It’s always been interesting to me the comradery that builds between people when they are all stuck in a seat with hours to kill. The conversations that come out when no one can really get comfortable in their seats can be pretty revealing.  I met a truck driver who was returning home after a trucking company he was working for had run out of excuses for why the paychecks were late or short.  I met a young woman who told me she was pregnant and returning home as well, returning home after trying to patch things up with her husband of 5 months and father of her child.  There was the young man who started the trip reciting bible verses and talking of religion and philosophy, but ended the trip getting kicked off the bus for cussing out a relief driver riding with us after being asked to take his phone off loudspeaker because it was disturbing the other passengers.  There was the man in the bus station in Atlanta that worked for a catering company for the stars.  There was the young French-Canadian carpenter on vacation who spoke of travels and life well into the night while we waited for the people nearby to quiet down and turn their  lights out so we could all catch a few minutes of fleeting sleep.

 

It was interesting to watch how people handle travel. There were two families with children that I rode with for about a day or so.  One with 6 kids ranging a few months to 13 or 14.  the other was a mother and 4 boys, from toddler to 9 or 10.  The kids were kids, get rambunctious and loud at times.  One family was very strict and had no problem disciplining the kids then and there.  The other was fairly relaxed and seemed to let the kids get away with quite a bit, almost to the point of being uninterested in them.  The thing that really struck me was peoples’ reactions to the kids.  I would have expected very grumpy passengers, complaining about the kids. Instead I saw people offering to help where there could.  Giving the kids tissues when they sniffled, offering them snacks once the parents were asked first.  Even offering to hold the smallest children while mothers situated themselves and the other kids better. I carried several bags to help out where I could.  Overall the good in people is more common than we think of it.  It’s just not as newsworthy as the bad in people.  That’s not to say you shouldn’t be careful, but it is nice to know that there are more good people than bad in this big world of ours.