Past Paradise

It is amazing how fast a situation can change into the exact opposite. At one point it is all turmoils outisde and waves as high as 9 metres!! The next it is all calm. As the captain predicted, as of January 8th the sea conditions changed. When I woke that morning I even thought that we were standing still. It was so quiet and peaceful! It is such a different life now compared to the beginning. Most of the time during the days at Sea I spend at the Lido Pool. Relaxing, sunbathing, swimming, reading, going to the hot tub. Or as my friend Barbara (who was with me on the last cruise on Queen Mary 2) would say : the hot pot. Fun memories :)

Other things have changed as well since we arrived in the US. As soon as the temperatures outside got warmer, the AC has been turned on inside. It’s awful, you’re freezing off almost all the body parts you have!! I do love the US to travel, really, but certain habits I just can’t get used to. And this definitely is one of them. Another one would be chlorine in the water. Now who can drink that?! So I guess I just have to stick to Coke and sweet wine, and maybe a Cocktail inbetween ;) One thing that has not changed though is me being asked if I work on the ship. Well, no, I just look that young and, which I hear over and over again, just don’t fit into the age group. Once in the Elevator, when I was on the way to the evening show, I even got asked if I am going to perform there. I wonder as what :)

And as a footnote to entering the US, I can’t remember having entered this country as fast as this time! No fingerprints, no taking off shoes, no photo being taken, no stupid questions as to where I am going, where I am staying, how long I am staying and as a consequence for that, no having to go to a "special room"  and being asked the same questions again. These are the wonders of being a transit guest I assume. From now on I’ll just enter the US in transit. Let’s see what the Los Angeles customs will have to say about that on April 1st :)

The days ashore so far included Miami city life on a sunny Sunday. An airboat ride in the Everglades, seeing quite a few huge alligators and even two baby gators. A special way of seeing Barbados: in Focus. A Photography Tour with a Barbadian photographer. Which of course was the ideal thing to do for me. Was quite worth it. Then a few hours in the city of Bridgetown and a walk on the beach. Which in the end turned out to be a private beach and I had to leave ;) It’s a pity we didn’t make more stops in the Caribbean!! There are so many places we could have gone ashore as well. But we just sailed by all those paradise islands. And instead our next stop turned out to be Fortaleza, Brazil. We gave it a chance, but I don’t think that this is the city I will have to go back to!

The lazy days are over soon. No more sleeping in and lying around. And to be honest, I am not unhappy about that. It's time for a change. Plus, there's lots to see and do in Argentina and Chile. What's left now is one more week on Queen Victoria. Two more stops (Rio and a day in the countryside of Uruguay, which happens to be on my birthday) and four more days at Sea. Then I get off in Buenos Aires. Where the real adventure is just about starting for me.

 

 

It is better to have your head in the clouds and know where you are ... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them and think that you are in paradise.

 

- Henry David Thoreau -

Trouble(d) at Sea

Wednesday, January 8th, 2014. That’s the day the trouble stopped, well, partly it did. And on a foot note: it’s the day I discovered that I have network on the ship, meaning I could write texts (achhhh, Dani, sometimes you still live in the middle age century :)) Which is kind of surreal, I mean, in the MIDDLE of a BIG ocean … But let’s start where it all began …

I seem to always choose the same words once I am on those traveling roads. That a short time does seem much longer. But I can only repeat myself, because it is true. Only a week ago my journey started. After a short night (it was New Years Eve after all and I could not find my sleep with all the "noise" going on outside) my brother in law brought me to the train station in Basel where I boarded the train – obviously – to London. Changing in Paris (so sorry you beautiful city for not having lingered this time!). As it was New Years Day the train was quite empy. But I couldn’t have bothered anyway as I dozed off for most of the 3 hour ride and it did go by quite quickly. The metro underground at noon was surprisingly – or not for a New Years Day – quiet as well. The people helpful with all my luggage (it is a pain in the ass if you have more than one bag to carry in the Parisian metro) and the metro free (how lucky am I) on this morning. The Eurostar to London turned out to be just a tad bit busier. Guessing all the people who’d done a New Years trip to Paris had to get back home for work on the 2^nd.  London greeted me with its typical English weather (what else is to be expected in January). Some rain and wind. While I do say my sorries to Paris I must apologize to London as well for not staying much longer. There was just enough time for a quick stop at A & F :) (already looking forward to those visits in the US) and a dinner at Fish Works. Meeting up with Sophie, whom I had met almost 5 years ago on the Southern Sun trip from New York to Los Angeles. How quick time passes … and never forget to stop believin‘ you fellow SS trekkers…

It was the next day already that I took a transfer bus to Southampton, where the Queen Victoria was starting it’s 4 months world cruise. Nooooooooo, I am not staying on for that Long!! I have figured out by now that 3 weeks is more than enough on those ocean roads. Especially if they start out the way they did on this journey!! Oh dear, I have seldom felt as sick as during those first 3 days! And no, this is not my first cruise. Almost 4 days of going through a massive storm that was raging in the North Atlantic. This big ship suddenly feeling as small as a nutshell in the big Atlantic waves. How powerful nature can be … When I booked the first part of this cruise to Buenos Aires I thought I could manage the 10 days it takes to Ft. Lauderdale. Cause after 3 days there was supposed to be the first port of call in Ponta Delgada in the Azores. But as an effect oft he storm we could unfortunately not make that port of call. Heading straight on to Florida. Oh, how I am longing to hit land again!

Inbetween there is enough time to relax. Now that the sea is as calm as ever (this morning I thought we were standing still!). I truly hope it stays that way. There’s time to read. There’s time to have an Afternoon English Tea Time. There’s time to go to the movies. To Shows. To Line Dance Classes. To the gym. To Yoga Classes. And there is time to observe. Observe all the stories that are going on on a ship like this. I could write a book about it. Actually, I should write a book about it once I return ;)

Halfway through on the way to the US. Somewhere in the middle of the Southern Atlantic now. It seems like there’s a world inbetween. Or maybe just a whole lot of water :)

3 more days until we arrive in the Sunshine State. Time to pet an alligator :)

 

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

 

- Andre Gide -