(Wednesday, January 20th, 2016)
I am about to be “freight” on a freighter ship.
For a while I have been entertaining the notion of taking a cruise on a freighter ship. There are many reasons why, and probably more than a few reasons why not. Anyway, I have been investigating, and I connected with a plan that has most of what I want and only a little of what I don’t want.
So I am going sailing. From Singapore, in late January, to Genoa, Italy, in June or so. That’s a long trip!
Terry is not going with me. She’s totally supportive of my trip, but it isn’t that enticing to her, and she is fine with having some time to herself.
What do I want that I am getting? An adventure, a chance to experience the size of our oceans, and a chance to visit many ports. A little time alone, with no real responsibilities and a chance for some big blocks of writing time. A reward for having made it through to retirement, with enough time, health, and money to do this.
Here’s a link to the gist of it – I will be on the “Rickmers Shanghai”, a multipurpose cargo ship (which takes more time in port to unload/load than a container ship, an advantage to us passengers), taking the green line on the map. On that site they estimate 100 days, but lately they’ve been making the journey in 130 days, a combination of more time at more ports and sailing a little more slowly to save fuel.
http://www.freightercruises.com/seaworthy_news_1209.php
This link tells more about the specific ship, its current location, and upcoming ports:
http://www.rickmers-linie.com/index.php?id=443&uid=30
This link (and you might find others you like better) has an indication of where the Rickmers Shanghai is right now:
I have my eye patch and Dramamine, what else could I need? I’ll post to this site every so often.