There is more written down in the world than can be read in a person’s lifetime. Is that a scary thought? For me the answer has to be "no," as a vast majority of the worlds texts are not worth reading. Sure, this is a judgment call, but everyone has to draw a line somewhere. Something is only worth reading if it serves a purpose, it is intelligently written, and is easily accessible. To know that there are enough books alone to meet these criteria IS awe inspiring- as a habitual student (or a person with a learning addiction – call it what you will) I feel I want to read and maybe study the best of this vast body of work. Thankfully, a three-month cruise will give me the perfect opportunity to do a lot of reading and hopefully I will learn a lot too.
The reason I am concerned about the extensive supply of ‘reading material’ is because anyone Internet literate is likely to have come across the term ‘blog’ – it is a growing phenomenon and people start new blogs every day. I started my blog yesterday and hope that this particular chapter can be closed successfully in just over a year, but what is most important to me is the fact that what I am doing is worthwhile. Hundreds of people ramble on, and while I admit to being verbose, I hope that my blog is proving worth reading. I am painfully aware that it is only day two of my blog and I already have a half a dozen posts in place. I have no intention in keeping up this intensity of postings but there is so much that I have done already about the cruise it is going to take me a while to get up to date!
I do however feel that it is about time I stated my aims for this blog they are as follows:
The blogs main aims are:
a) to keep people up to date with what I have been doing on the trip (and include a selection of the latest photos)
b) to act as a place for people to contact me - it is possible to post messages on any of my log entries
c) to act as a reference point for me on the trip with links to useful pages about each destination/embassies etc.
The blogs secondary aims are:
d) to enable people to keep a track of where I am in the world and where I am going
e) to act as a diary for myself during the run up to the trip – and therefore as a prompt of things I need to remember both before I go and while I am away
f) to act as a place for me to let of steam at the complexity of organizing such a big holiday
g) if it is informative to act as a reference point for anyone else thinking about taking a cruise - to give them cause for thought
h) if I am very lucky to act as a source of income to help finance the trip through an ad my blog (will be paid only if people click on the link)
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
My thoughts - The quoted cost of cruising
In general cruising is very complex when it comes to the price you pay, if there is one piece of advice I have to give is do not reply on the price you see listed – prices double and half where listings are not clear that are based on full cabin occupancy and the lead time at which you buy.
When I looked through the brochure the listed prices were from £14,049 to £60,499 depending on the standard of cabin you chose. The cruise ship 'Artemis' is the smallest of the P&O fleet so can be used to travel on inland waterways; because of this there are no inside cabins - all cabins have a window albeit obscured in some cases. How wonderful it is to be guaranteed that you can wake up in the morning and have some daylight even if the only thing you can see is the bottom of an orange coloured life boat! I recall an overnight voyage from Sheerness to Flushing (Vlissingen) in my early twenties, and can still remember the dull and dreary room which slept four that we shared - it was fortunate that the voyage was only overnight as the grey formica walls and the metal beds were more reminiscent of a prison than the prelude to a holiday. It is with this old but very fresh memory in mind that I decided not to opt for the cheapest room which has a completely obscured view - arbitrarily I selected a room standard that was between £9,000 and £10,000. While these prices are somewhat prohibitive the cruise companies offer discounts (of up to 45% off in P&O's case for early bookers.) So by looking well ahead of time the listed price is reduced from £7,726 to £33,274 (again depending on the standard of cabin you chose.)
I tried to book the cruise online as a further 5% discount could be achieved by doing so and was astounded that the price quoted was wildly different to the price that I had seen in the brochure. The website was quoting prices from £16,366 to £51,808! (It would have been over £60,000 but the top six room standards were already fully booked.) As you can imagine while I was struggling to finance the trip at the cheapest rate I knew I stood NO chance at the revised range I saw on the internet. There was no option but to take the phone in hand and speak to an operator direct. Interestingly enough unlike hotel rooms I have booked in the past the figures quoted were not for the room but per person. To achieve the low rate I had identified in the brochure I would have to agree to share a cabin with a complete stranger.
In closing of this very factual and emotionless entry I have to admit I will be returning to the thorny subject of costs as there is more to it than that which I mention here. Oddly enough though, the loss of privacy through room sharing is in my mind a cost worth paying. Sure the person may snore, dislike the TV shows I like, want the room at a different temperature, be in the bath when I am cross legged for the toilet but for the holiday with the wow factor it has to be worth it. Doesn't it?
When I looked through the brochure the listed prices were from £14,049 to £60,499 depending on the standard of cabin you chose. The cruise ship 'Artemis' is the smallest of the P&O fleet so can be used to travel on inland waterways; because of this there are no inside cabins - all cabins have a window albeit obscured in some cases. How wonderful it is to be guaranteed that you can wake up in the morning and have some daylight even if the only thing you can see is the bottom of an orange coloured life boat! I recall an overnight voyage from Sheerness to Flushing (Vlissingen) in my early twenties, and can still remember the dull and dreary room which slept four that we shared - it was fortunate that the voyage was only overnight as the grey formica walls and the metal beds were more reminiscent of a prison than the prelude to a holiday. It is with this old but very fresh memory in mind that I decided not to opt for the cheapest room which has a completely obscured view - arbitrarily I selected a room standard that was between £9,000 and £10,000. While these prices are somewhat prohibitive the cruise companies offer discounts (of up to 45% off in P&O's case for early bookers.) So by looking well ahead of time the listed price is reduced from £7,726 to £33,274 (again depending on the standard of cabin you chose.)
I tried to book the cruise online as a further 5% discount could be achieved by doing so and was astounded that the price quoted was wildly different to the price that I had seen in the brochure. The website was quoting prices from £16,366 to £51,808! (It would have been over £60,000 but the top six room standards were already fully booked.) As you can imagine while I was struggling to finance the trip at the cheapest rate I knew I stood NO chance at the revised range I saw on the internet. There was no option but to take the phone in hand and speak to an operator direct. Interestingly enough unlike hotel rooms I have booked in the past the figures quoted were not for the room but per person. To achieve the low rate I had identified in the brochure I would have to agree to share a cabin with a complete stranger.
In closing of this very factual and emotionless entry I have to admit I will be returning to the thorny subject of costs as there is more to it than that which I mention here. Oddly enough though, the loss of privacy through room sharing is in my mind a cost worth paying. Sure the person may snore, dislike the TV shows I like, want the room at a different temperature, be in the bath when I am cross legged for the toilet but for the holiday with the wow factor it has to be worth it. Doesn't it?
My thoughts - Before booking the trip of a lifetime
Having chosen a cruise of 84 nights it is clear that there needs to be a fair amount of time taken off from work. Fortunately for me I had an ace or two up my sleeve when it came to the booking of annual leave from work. An 84 night cruise is the equivalent of 12 weeks; based on a 5 day week that is 60 working days and more than most peoples holiday entitlement. Fortunately for me this holiday falls over two calendar years 2007 and 2008 so holiday can be taken from either year; the number of working days is also reduced by Cristmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Years Day bank holidays - however three days is no more than a drop in the ocean of a three month trip. Some companies - including the one I work for - allow a number of unused days to be carried over into the next calendar year so for cruises split over two years with more days away in the second year (like in my case) it is possible to use one years entitlement in another year.
This is all very well and good but it is worth remembering that even split perfectly between two calendar years 60 working days holiday entitlement is the equivalent to 30 days in each year. I am not entitled to that many days annual leave myself although some managers are. Where I pulled the greatest help was my employers 'Save your holiday' scheme. Every day now for 9 years I have been banking 5 days of my entitlement, so reached 45 days 'banked' at the end of 2007. When you consider that the holiday is 57 working days (allowing for bank holidays) the number of days I am using doesn't seem so bad when you take into consideration that 45 of them are not from the 'regular' entitlement. Somehow spending 3 months away while only using 12 days annual leave makes such a long trip somewhat more achievable.
It is a shame that more companies do not opt into such schemes, and a shame that more people do not take up the offer of these extended holidays. Having such an extensive break will be something to remember for the rest of my life. With a little forward planning (or nine years in my case) it is achievable. If you cant wait that long there is always the possibility of taking unpaid leave. I believe what I am trying to say is. If you don't have the immovable ties that bind you, there is always a way of creating these opportunities - you just need to be a bit creative in how you make the opportunities. Or, patient.
This is all very well and good but it is worth remembering that even split perfectly between two calendar years 60 working days holiday entitlement is the equivalent to 30 days in each year. I am not entitled to that many days annual leave myself although some managers are. Where I pulled the greatest help was my employers 'Save your holiday' scheme. Every day now for 9 years I have been banking 5 days of my entitlement, so reached 45 days 'banked' at the end of 2007. When you consider that the holiday is 57 working days (allowing for bank holidays) the number of days I am using doesn't seem so bad when you take into consideration that 45 of them are not from the 'regular' entitlement. Somehow spending 3 months away while only using 12 days annual leave makes such a long trip somewhat more achievable.
It is a shame that more companies do not opt into such schemes, and a shame that more people do not take up the offer of these extended holidays. Having such an extensive break will be something to remember for the rest of my life. With a little forward planning (or nine years in my case) it is achievable. If you cant wait that long there is always the possibility of taking unpaid leave. I believe what I am trying to say is. If you don't have the immovable ties that bind you, there is always a way of creating these opportunities - you just need to be a bit creative in how you make the opportunities. Or, patient.
My thoughts - How do you chose?
So, when you sit down to decide on where to go to have a holiday what criteria do you use? For me, this year the criteria was special. In light of the fact I have not had a holiday for so long, the fact that it is my 40th birthday and that I am definitely too large to fit into the average plane seat my criteria were somewhat different. The holiday should involve no flying, or, if flying was a necessity, it should be in a seating standard which had big seats - potentially that means traveling first class. The holiday needs to be memorable - ideally a dream holiday of mine or a holiday with a 'wow' factor in it. The holiday should involve being away for a period which included Christmas, New year, and my 40th birthday. Simple and broad criteria, there had to be something that fits the criteria.
With these criteria in mind what were my options? Without flying my options were to use a boat (cargoship, cruise liner or ferry), rail (passenger or passenger with car), or road (car, coach, 4x4). My dream holiday would have been touring Mexico, Belize Honduras, and Guatemala. I would have been able to spend my birthday in an amazing venue and celebrate it in an unusual way. A holiday with a wow factor would prohibit or any common holiday destination or a month at Butlins. Ultimately I decided there were two possibilities: resurrect my 30th birthday plan and travel first class or undertake a cruise. I obtained brochures for both. Ten years ago when I was looking for my dream 30th birthday I looked at holidays with a company in West London called Journey Latin America; back then their brochure was full of amazing treks and glossy pictures and I was relieved to see that nothing had changed when I received the new years brochure on the 2nd February. I poured over the brochures for days trying to work out what I wanted to do. Sadly, but not altogether unexpectedly, the tour had changed over the course of 10 years; in 2007 I would need to add some time to the beginning of a tour to do the missing elements of my holiday alone. Journey Latin America were very willing to help arrange this special holiday - they always have been good on the phone. In countries where it is difficult to take cars over borders and where I do not speak the native language I felt a little vulnerable at this idea and still do.
There is something appealing about flicking through the glossy pages of a holiday brochure that you do not get from a website. The bright colours of the blurb though equally vivid on-screen take on a new dimension when you can turn the pages and feel the sheen between your fingers. It may just be my personal preference but the ability to read a brochure at any time in any place has great appeal; when I read about a holiday I want all the information to be there at my fingertips and to be sure I wont miss anything crucial; it is with much regret I have to announce that despite being in love with the IT industry (for whom I work) there are distinct disadvantages to the internet. How many times has the click-click nature of the dispersed information on the web resulted in not having seen the complete set of details? Holiday brochures are always a winner with me.
Having ruled out resurrecting my dream holiday I got to my other option - a cruise. I searched online for all the different cruise liners I could recall although regrettably holidays rarely being on my personal radar I could only think of P&O, Fred Olsen, Holland Line, Easy cruise and Cunard. The web is a wonderful place for finding information I searched for each line in turn trying to find contact details to obtain brochures; looking for the contacts reduced me to two different cruise liner companies: Olsen Line and P&O, as regrettably none of the others had contact details that were easy to obtain. Both companies sent me brochures, which both landed on my doorstep on Friday 16th February.
My approach to finding my perfect holiday was a little 'unorthodox'. When prese
nted with the two plastic wrapped catalogues I opened the P&O brochure first; this was partly because the packet was bigger, but mostly because the name P&O is known by more people than the Olsen line. As I ripped the plastic apart I pulled out the thickest of the brochures, relaxed into the sofa and started to read. The first thing I encountered in the brochure was an 84 night trip which included all the dates required and a fair number of other days too! It was with great surprise that I discovered that the places it visited included most of the countries (but not the cities) I had wanted to visit some ten years earlier. The crowning glory was that the cruise started and ended from an English port so there was no flying involved. I looked through the rest of the brochure, but despite other trips meeting all my criteria, it was still the first trip that caught my eye "Artemis: The South American Odyssey 2007".
My choice was clear!
With these criteria in mind what were my options? Without flying my options were to use a boat (cargoship, cruise liner or ferry), rail (passenger or passenger with car), or road (car, coach, 4x4). My dream holiday would have been touring Mexico, Belize Honduras, and Guatemala. I would have been able to spend my birthday in an amazing venue and celebrate it in an unusual way. A holiday with a wow factor would prohibit or any common holiday destination or a month at Butlins. Ultimately I decided there were two possibilities: resurrect my 30th birthday plan and travel first class or undertake a cruise. I obtained brochures for both. Ten years ago when I was looking for my dream 30th birthday I looked at holidays with a company in West London called Journey Latin America; back then their brochure was full of amazing treks and glossy pictures and I was relieved to see that nothing had changed when I received the new years brochure on the 2nd February. I poured over the brochures for days trying to work out what I wanted to do. Sadly, but not altogether unexpectedly, the tour had changed over the course of 10 years; in 2007 I would need to add some time to the beginning of a tour to do the missing elements of my holiday alone. Journey Latin America were very willing to help arrange this special holiday - they always have been good on the phone. In countries where it is difficult to take cars over borders and where I do not speak the native language I felt a little vulnerable at this idea and still do.
There is something appealing about flicking through the glossy pages of a holiday brochure that you do not get from a website. The bright colours of the blurb though equally vivid on-screen take on a new dimension when you can turn the pages and feel the sheen between your fingers. It may just be my personal preference but the ability to read a brochure at any time in any place has great appeal; when I read about a holiday I want all the information to be there at my fingertips and to be sure I wont miss anything crucial; it is with much regret I have to announce that despite being in love with the IT industry (for whom I work) there are distinct disadvantages to the internet. How many times has the click-click nature of the dispersed information on the web resulted in not having seen the complete set of details? Holiday brochures are always a winner with me.
Having ruled out resurrecting my dream holiday I got to my other option - a cruise. I searched online for all the different cruise liners I could recall although regrettably holidays rarely being on my personal radar I could only think of P&O, Fred Olsen, Holland Line, Easy cruise and Cunard. The web is a wonderful place for finding information I searched for each line in turn trying to find contact details to obtain brochures; looking for the contacts reduced me to two different cruise liner companies: Olsen Line and P&O, as regrettably none of the others had contact details that were easy to obtain. Both companies sent me brochures, which both landed on my doorstep on Friday 16th February.
My approach to finding my perfect holiday was a little 'unorthodox'. When prese
nted with the two plastic wrapped catalogues I opened the P&O brochure first; this was partly because the packet was bigger, but mostly because the name P&O is known by more people than the Olsen line. As I ripped the plastic apart I pulled out the thickest of the brochures, relaxed into the sofa and started to read. The first thing I encountered in the brochure was an 84 night trip which included all the dates required and a fair number of other days too! It was with great surprise that I discovered that the places it visited included most of the countries (but not the cities) I had wanted to visit some ten years earlier. The crowning glory was that the cruise started and ended from an English port so there was no flying involved. I looked through the rest of the brochure, but despite other trips meeting all my criteria, it was still the first trip that caught my eye "Artemis: The South American Odyssey 2007".My choice was clear!
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
The story so far - therapy reaction or mid-life crisis?
So, here I am thirty nine, morbidly obese, single (again) and still undertaking cognitive behavioral therapy to get me out of the mental rut I am in. Does this sound negative to you? Well it is about as negative as I get, because the truth be known, I just tend to get on with things despite the less-than-positive-reality. Some things you can change, some things you cant. Changeable or not life should not go on hold until change occurs. Does this sound as if the therapy is working?I confess the concept of continuing regardless did not occur to me until about five years ago when a complete stranger on a crowded train made me realize that what I feel on the inside is not visible on the outside. I wont go into the details but there has been a very slow change in me – I have been doing the things I have been put on hold and loving myself just a little more. I guess this is what therapy does – make you revalue life, attitudes and challenges reactions.
Reactionary or not, here I am generally happy with my life. Accepting there are things that are easy to change and things that are hard to change. Knowing that I tackle the easy to change things but cry away from the massive challenges. Is my desire to celebrate my birthday a result of therapy? I do not know. I do know that the idea of a trip is about celebrating. My life has been on hold for too long. Fearing old age alone made me want to make sure I had a good set of memories to fill my time as the eyes start to fail.
Are my actions that of a mid life crisis? I believe this is more likely than because of therapy. Either way, the idea of a birthday celebration has been niggling away at me for some time.
The story so far - a little of my history.
OK, this is where I begin; with a little history. Right now, I am 10 months away from being 40. No mathematician should be needed to work out that 10 years ago I was 10 months away from being 30. A decade is a long time in anyone’s life - for me it has brought extensive changes.
Ten years ago, I was unhappy at work feeling that I was 'singled out' as a figure for abuse - I dreamt of a holiday to Meso-America: Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. I envisaged spending my 30th birthday half way up an Ancient Mayan Monument in Mexico with a bottle of Tequila slowly drinking myself to oblivion. I read the travel books and surrounded myself with pictures to bring my dream closer.
Alas, my dream was never realized, unfortunately the main trip prohibitive was my obesity. I always have been large; my dress size has always exceeded my age. That fact is worth closer consideration – approaching forty and I can no longer buy my skirts on the high street!
Ten years have passed, and with the help of some people at work who valued me I found myself some better head-space. My positivism and my love of living grew, even if my love of myself did not. Four years ago when my confidence had almost returned I pulled my back which kept me from work for two months. My employer was very understanding. On my return to work I continued to give 100% and prove myself invaluable to the project. I did; repeatedly.
I always have been one for the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Last year my work became too much for me; I wont go into the reasons but needless to say I found myself off work again for eight months with anxiety, stress and depression. I returned on a rehab plan slowly building up to full time work. I confess now that progress has been slow and even now I am only working three days a week – but – I am tenacious – I see me getting back to a normal working week sooner rather than later.
So now, ten years on, as I sit here I find I have gone full circle. I am sitting here contemplating a holiday to Latin America to celebrate a landmark birthday. This time it is not to drown my sorrow at moving through a major age landmark but a celebration of getting through my own ‘internal’ problems and those thrown at me by the world around me.
Ten years ago, I was unhappy at work feeling that I was 'singled out' as a figure for abuse - I dreamt of a holiday to Meso-America: Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. I envisaged spending my 30th birthday half way up an Ancient Mayan Monument in Mexico with a bottle of Tequila slowly drinking myself to oblivion. I read the travel books and surrounded myself with pictures to bring my dream closer.
Alas, my dream was never realized, unfortunately the main trip prohibitive was my obesity. I always have been large; my dress size has always exceeded my age. That fact is worth closer consideration – approaching forty and I can no longer buy my skirts on the high street!
Ten years have passed, and with the help of some people at work who valued me I found myself some better head-space. My positivism and my love of living grew, even if my love of myself did not. Four years ago when my confidence had almost returned I pulled my back which kept me from work for two months. My employer was very understanding. On my return to work I continued to give 100% and prove myself invaluable to the project. I did; repeatedly.
I always have been one for the ‘all or nothing’ mentality. Last year my work became too much for me; I wont go into the reasons but needless to say I found myself off work again for eight months with anxiety, stress and depression. I returned on a rehab plan slowly building up to full time work. I confess now that progress has been slow and even now I am only working three days a week – but – I am tenacious – I see me getting back to a normal working week sooner rather than later.
So now, ten years on, as I sit here I find I have gone full circle. I am sitting here contemplating a holiday to Latin America to celebrate a landmark birthday. This time it is not to drown my sorrow at moving through a major age landmark but a celebration of getting through my own ‘internal’ problems and those thrown at me by the world around me.
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