We are actually on the ship--the great mother

We left a wakeup call for 6 am this morning so that we could go to watch the ship come in.  It was only a 5-10 min walk according to the people at the hotel desk.  I woke up before 6 am as usual which was good because we never go the wakeup call.  We did get to breakfast and were joined by one of our new faculty friends--Ricki.  She also wanted to watch the ship since she had sailed four times previously. We got off to a good start, but it turns out the entrance to the port was at least 10 min away, and the ship was almost a mile away from there. Needless to say, we missed the porting, but heard the sound of the horn as it blasted 3 times. There was not even a good view of the ship from anywhere except outside the fence in the front (or should I say forward of the ship).

But there was the MV Explorer in all her splendor.  We waited around for a while, hoping to see some friends disembark, but the crew needed to get all the luggage off the ship before anyone could depart.  We finally gave up and walked back to the hotel to do a little more shopping for some library supplies (tape, according to Karen and Rebecca was in short supply). We got checkout extended until noon since we couldn't board the ship until 1 pm and finished re-packing and realized we needed some quick lunch. We walked about 1/2 mile to that quaint little Scottish restaurant, MacDonalds where we were sure to be served fast.

 

And guess who was enjoying the same restaurant--Karen King and her husband who had just gotten off the ship as the librarian for the summer voyage.  We had a great visit and shared information about the ship and  gossip from back home.  Karen had a great voyage.as you can see from her smile. By then we had to make a run for it to be able to stop for Nancy at Starbucks and get checked out of our room by noon. Once checked out, we got a cab and make the trip to the ship in much less time that the walk.

 

 

The road to the ship was lined with parking lots filled with Range Rovers and Fiats. Confession time.  I took these shots when I walked back to the hotel to get my jacket I had left in the closet. It did have all my Euros in the pocket.  But I did wonder how often they unloaded one and couldn't find it later--sort of like mis-shelving a book.  Anyway, with at least 7 miles walking under my belt today. I got back and had a reunion with a bunch of Semester at Sea Staff.

 

Old friend and voyage companion from SP 2010, Shelley Galloway was there to help host the parent's reception tomorrow.

 

 



We cleared security, got our IDs and unpacked in cabin 4082.  Then we walked out on the 5th deck, and I got chills down my back.  Then we had snacks with new friends, a convocation, reception, dinner (where we saw old friends from the crew--Howard, Perry and Mandy), had an IT training session and then crashed.  We have already made lots of new friends (channeling Mary Johnston).  We are on the ship again, and it is great!