The Kind of Person I’m Not
I’m not Lara Croft. Nor Trinity (from the Matrix). I wouldn’t mind being Michelle Obama although my fantasy-me is more Amelia Earhart. I’m none of these. I’m somewhere, in reality, between crazy cat-lady and Mr Bean… with a laptop.
I came face to face with this reality when researching alternate (to plane travel) methods to get to the US from here. There are options, as it turns out. Apparently cruise ships will, between seasons, sometimes sail from one part of the world to another, just to reposition themselves for the next itinerary. This is somewhat limited though, as they only do it once or twice a year. The Queen Mary 2 does it all the time, but holy guacamole it’s expensive! (On their website they say “Fares from £400 to £120,000″.) For £120,000 I’d expect them to let me drive the thing… anywhere I wanted… for as long as I wanted… while 50 nubile young servants chosen specifically for their beauty feed me fresh fruit by hand. And I would have to come out on the other side of the ocean… 5 years younger.
There’s also another option called Freighter Cruises.
Most of today’s passenger freighters are German or French owned containerships, with international officers and crew onboard, offering accommodations for 4 to 12 passengers. The average port time is one day, while general cargo ships, currently offering only one, 125-day around-the-world service, have an average port time of two to three days.
All offering roundtrip voyages, as well as one way or longer voyage segments.
I sorta like the idea of this! It’s cheap too. If I could get myself to France (not difficult from here), I could be in Charleston in just over a week and it’s only €90 per day.
The problem? Just look at the thing!
I wish I was the kind of person who could hop on a freighter and sail the world. It seems so very off-the-grid. So Ziva David. But… look at it! Would the crew speak English? And what about pirates? And I take it this means no acrobats on the Luau Deck. I hate to think of myself as spoiled and soft. But, yanno… LOOK AT IT!
My self illusions are much, much smaller today. I think I’ll cheer myself up by writing some smut.
Note: You may recall (from, um, three years ago), in my first Quick Tip post (click here to read it) I adamantly stated: “People who start sentences with the phrases “I’m the kind of person that…” or “I’ve always believed that….” are getting ready to tell you something catastrophically boring.” My apologies. I hoped to get around this by talking about the type of person I’m not, but I was cheating. Sorry about that.
Related Posts
-
Sandwiches, experience, and news
Posted on Aug 8, 2011
-
W is for What Day Is It?
Posted on Apr 27, 2011
-
Mind Games
Posted on Jul 9, 2010
-
Anniversary Linky Day
Posted on May 28, 2010
Tags
Share This
I am SO not the kind of girl who would enjoy a freightliner. I don’t want a scratchy wool blanket and gruel! Give me soft cotton and luxury food any day.
[ Follow me on Twitter: talliroland ]
I think I could have done it years ago. But not with my slightly arthritic hip, now, …and would there be coffee? On another note, if you get to the states, please let me know.
[ Follow me on Twitter: molliebryan ]
Do it. Think of the travel writing that could come out of that trip.
Great post.
[ Follow me on Twitter: danpowfiction ]
Hmmm… all the movies and X-Files types of episodes where they show people getting killed on freighters and bodies dumped in the ocean come to mind…
On the other hand, the trip would be cheap and I think Dan’s right, could be an interesting writing experience.
But I’m sure you’ll make the right choice for you!
[ Follow me on Twitter: EstrellaAzul ]
I love Mr. Bean.
It’s not a bad thing to be like him. And the crazy cat woman is endearing.
Smut just might do the trick!
Oh, that looks like an adventure waiting to happen. I’d be all over it.
[ Follow me on Twitter: katiemills18hotmail.com ]
Book it, Dan-0!
[ Follow me on Twitter: girlfrenkate ]
You guys are cracking me up. Did you not notice me saying this is the type of girl I’m NOT? I wish I was, but alas, I just can’t see it. Mr Bean, remember?
[ Follow me on Twitter: IndiaDrummond ]
The crew would come from all over the world (e.g. many but not all might be Filipino), so English would have to be the lingua franca, as it were. Officers might be Greek, Croatian, etc…
In the next 10-20 years someone is going to *have* to start up non-luxury transatlantic passenger shipping that people can telework from. (Or, if somebody, doesn’t, we’ll know the airline industry really does control the world!)
I would be first in line if I had time/money for that kind of trip! How many people can say they roughed it over the High Seas!
And talk about a lack of distractions! I would have NO CHOICE but to edit my current MS!
As far as pirates? The question to ask is “How close to Somalia will it sail?”
[ Follow me on Twitter: dasos1 ]
Heck that freighter looks kinda cool… I’ve always wanted to cross the Atlantic by boat! Stars, moon, waves, whales…
Do it! And blog the whole way
I would have done it in the stupidity of my youth. Since my son was born I have become way more paranoid. I can’t help but look at that ship and wonder if adequate health care is available. And I hadn’t even THOUGHT of the pirates. Yikes.
Someone said no experience is wasted on a writer. And with my experiences I surely agree, with one exception – death. Or sure it may be a more adventurous, exotic demise than say, swine flu, or food poisoning, or getting gunned down randomly at a fast food place or shopping mall in the states. But you couldn’t write about it. Someone else may, and they’d get the cash, fame and fortune off of a story that you could have told far better.
As for cheering yourself up by writing a little smut? I wonder if that plan would have been far more sensible for Scarlett O’Hara in lieu of “I’ll think about that tomorrow,” and trying to poach other women’s husbands.
[ Follow me on Twitter: PerryJenn ]
When are you coming to the US?
[ Follow me on Twitter: PerryJenn ]
@Jennifer: It’s probably going to be a while before I can manage it, but I’ve really enjoyed reading the responses to this post. You guys are hilarious, and adventurous!
[ Follow me on Twitter: IndiaDrummond ]