Did you know there are 525,600 minutes in a year? Exactly one year ago today our Semester at Sea adventure commenced. Naturally, I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic these days. Promise and cross-my-heart you won’t find your email inbox flooded with other “one year ago today” posts – I realize you’ve already experienced the grand voyage vicariously through Experiential Passage! But I couldn’t let January 9th fritter away without recognizing our anniversary!
As was mentioned in my last post, I’ve entered my “armchair” travel season. Instead of actually going anywhere, I read about and dream about all the places I hope to go sometime in my lifetime. Imagine my glee when I discovered a giant photo of the rooftop pool of the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore in last month’s issue of National Geographic. How thrilling to see a place half-way around the world That We’ve Been To.
Singapore's Marina Bay Sands rooftop pool, aka "SkyPark"
And then on a whim I bought a copy of NG Traveler at Third Street Books last week. There’s not one but two articles in this issue of Places We’ve Been.
The penguins at Boulders Beach, South Africa.
One is about the penguins at Boulders Beach in South Africa (we took a 1 1/2 hour train ride from Cape Town to spend the afternoon there)and the other is titled “Hong Kong With Kids.” It highlights Kowloon and Victoria Parks (check), the Lei Yue Mun night market (check), and Star Ferry (check).
Hong Kong with kids article
Dang- why didn’t I query some magazines before we departed??? Anyway, these publications are timely reminders. It’s been good to fully comprehend and appreciate all the opportunities we had on our round-the-world odyssey.
So what was January 9, 2011 like? I didn’t document much of that first week on this blog because the transition was a bit staggering. We actually left our home at 8:30 a.m. on January 8th. After an overnight at the airport Comfort Suites in Charlotte, North Carolina, we boarded the plane early on Sunday, January 9th. I remember relief rinsing over me at the realization that we didn’t have to plunk down another $200 to check our bags on the technically third leg of the flight. We practically skipped off the plane at Nassau airport in The Bahamas, buoyed by the tropical warmth.
A live calypso band was jamming away, offering some entertainment as we waited in the long line to get through customs. Then we encountered the first wrinkle of the trip. One of our bags didn’t make it. After we made the decision to wait the 2 hours at the airport until it arrived, we settled in with some fast food and tried not to let antsy-ness derail our optimism.
The cab ride was particularly distinctive. The friendly driver chit-chatted for the entire 2o minute drive, proudly recommending things to do and see and marveling at the voyage we were about to embark on. I remember thinking all the buildings were shades of tropical fruit: lemon, tangerine, mango, melon and berry. The Atlantic Ocean looked positively azure. Little did I know how that eye-candy would quickly become a view I’d take for granted.
After we made it through the Semester at Sea check-in protocol at the ship, we’d barely stumbled into our cabins and caught our breath when it was time to head out to our first round of orientation. We’d cut it close (about 30 minutes to spare) waiting at the airport for the luggage. From 4:00 -9:00 p.m. it was a blur of meetings, introductions, and the first of many attempts trying to orient ourselves on the MV Explorer. Really, the entire 3 days of orientation were stinkin’ hard and overwhelming! Both Jason and I had thoughts of “What did we get ourselves into?” Except for watching the BCS championship game at the Hard Rock Cafe, 2 hours one evening walking around the famed Atlantis, and one hour at a public beach walking distance from the ship, we can’t really say we experienced The Bahamas. Alas, it’s still a Place We’ve Been.
Sunrise over Nassau, Bahamas from the deck of the MV Explorer.
I wanted to share this video with you (lasts about 10 minutes.) Choreographed and filmed by SAS students this past fall, it truly captures the spirit of the whole Semester at Sea experience. We’ve watched it several times for obvious reasons and each time it makes me cry and smile at the same time! The video starts on deck 3 and works it way up to deck 8. We even recognized Captain Jeremy and some of the crew. So – if you were ever curious about what the MV Explorer really looks like, you might enjoy this video. Plus, the song is really uplifting.
Everything is going to be different; life is never going to be the same after
your passport has been stamped.
~Graham Greene
Experiential Passage 