Time goes by so slowly for those who wait…
I have been sailing for the past 9 months and it’s been a quite some time that I realized the paradox of the whole experience. I’ve been out to the world, and yet I’ve been so much out of touch from it that I no longer know what’s happening out there. For God's sake, I don't even know what's happening to Her MADGEsty!!!
By the time I get back home, which I am earnestly hoping to be sometime September, I have a lot to catch up on. Who’s new, who’s hot, who’s not, who’s just arrived, who’s gone, who’s with whom, whose without…? Lots to tawk over cowfee, ha!
Anywho, for those at the very least interested, I’m doing fine. I’m doing great. I’m doing fab, actually! As of last count, I’ve had the chance to set foot on 20 different countries and have seen and experienced things most people won’t get to see in a lifetime.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bragging. That’s not my thing (my friends’ eyebrows are raised at this point!). I just find it so amazing that a year ago, the only places my tired old feet have wandered in are the streets and sands of my beloved country. It’s a lovely place, mind you. But now I am aware that there’s so much more out there.
Movie scenes, book pages and magazine editorials don’t do enough justice to the beauty of the different countries I’ve been fortunate to be in and I doubt that the pictures we managed to take will convey the experience my newfound friends and I were blessed to have.
Yet it’s not without much sacrifice. I wrote ‘I have been sailing…’ as if we’re having a leisurely vacation but the truth is, life as a seafarer are much harder that anyone could possibly imagine. Long work hours, difficult guests, challenging situations and the occasional bouts with nausea when the seas are rough… I could go on and on. Most may think (I did) that money grow on trees when you work in a cruise liner. But nothing could be farther from the truth. We earn good, alright. But marine life is no joke.
Before I start sounding like I’m complaining (I’m not!), let me post some of the pics I have of myself and my friends in our continuous adventure aboard (and off) our now-beloved ms Rotterdam…
So, all things considered, I’m having a lovely time with so many lovely people in many different lovely places.
No time left to whine… ;-)
