25-11-2007
Cruising the Caribbean
The first thing you feel when you land in Miami, in winter time, is that the temperature is perfect. Rasmus met me at the airport and took me home to his excellently situated apartment on South Beach. Though traveling from San Diego isn’t exactly strenuous, I was tired, but always in the mood for a walk on South Beach, especially when I know that it involves pizza and a cold beer.
I spent the next three days looking at catamarans for the circumnavigation, but you can read all about that here.
Steffi arrived from Beijing late Friday evening and the next morning, we looked at my favorite catamarans, before we headed down to the Jewel of the Seas in Port Everglades, to set off on a sensational 8 day cruise.
The itinerary: Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Tortola and the Bahamas, with a couple of days at sea thrown into the mix.
We started out by doing a bit of sight-seeing on the ship. Steffi was slightly overwhelmed, which was cool, because I got to relive the splendor of the cruise ships through her eyes. When we were about to set sail, we headed up to the bridge with my dad, so that we could do the sailaway in proper VIP fashion (we were the only passengers allowed on the bridge =)
We were so relaxed on the cruise that I forgot to take pictures. Luckily the shipboard photographers caught my slack, so we have some very nice portraits that I need to scan and upload.
Before we got to Puerto Rico we had a day at sea. We spent the day exploring the ship and lounging by the pool. We enjoyed some very refreshing daiquiris while basking in the sun. In the evening we got dressed up for the first formal night. Steffi looked like royalty in her newly tailored dress. After a nice aperitif in my dad's cabin we had a very nice meal in the dining room.
In Puerto Rico we explored the old city and the area around the fort. Steffi commented that the green grass around the fort is the greenest grass she’s ever seen and I totally agree. After a day of walking around we met up with my dad in the evening for some nachos and beer at Maria’s, a bar my dad has frequented for the last 20 years.
In St. Thomas we shot ashore as soon as the gangway touched the dock. We needed to get to the hospital to get our Yellow Fever shots before the jungle trip in Ecuador. The shot had kind of slipped our minds, but luckily St. Thomas came through. After getting jabbed in the arm, we browsed the shops at Havensight before we went on an exclusive sailing tour. Basically private captains take small groups 
of maximum 6 people with them for a sail and snorkeling trip. We were on one of 3 sailing yachts that set sail for Crab Island. We enjoyed a nice smooth sail over to the island (I was on the helm most of the trip). There we donned snorkeling gear and dove in to explore the reefs. We were lucky and saw at least 5 sea turtles swimming around feeding on the grass. We also saw an octopus along with hundreds of very colorful fish. It was Steffi’s first time snorkeling and she was definitely hooked (we might even go to the Philippines in February to do more snorkeling). The sail back was equally smooth. On board the Jewel we got ready for dinner and enjoyed another excellent evening. During dinner Steffi struggled to take pictures of a subject that didn't want to act "normal", but persistence paid off.
The next day we were in St. Maarten. We spent the first part of the day on the beach in Phillipsburg, before we went sailing again. This time on Americas Cup sailing boats. 
I’ve sailed with them a number of times before, but the thrill is always the same. We had an excellent time, even if we only got silver medal (in a race of three yachts) … It was a close race though! In the evening we went to my dad’s cabin and had a succulent lobster meal. The lobster was prepared like Norwegians eat lobster: cold. It tasted delicious!
In Tortola we decided to chill and went for a leisurely 
walk around downtown. A tip: Don’t! … There was nothing to see. It wasn’t a total waste, because we headed over to the marina and the charter base and had a look at a few different catamarans. Yummy … Catamarans! Soon I’ll have my own! In the evening it was Thanksgiving and we were able to dress up in our finest attires yet again. We enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne at various cocktail parties, before we tore into the turkey.
The next day was a seaday and in true fashion we lounged around and just enjoyed ourselves. The next day was our last day onboard and we spent the daytime walking around in Nassau in the Bahamas. We headed over to Paradise Island and looked around in the Marina, Aquarium and Casino. It’s nice there, but just like Las Vegas, it’s packed with people. We headed down to the beach and chilled out a bit before we grabbed a boat back to downtown. There we enjoyed a beer at Senor Frogs, before we hurried back onboard and the Jewel set sail for Fort Lauderdale.
The cruise had been an awesome experience. It had in fact been everything I hoped it would be and more. It was also great to hang out with my dad, since I don’t know when I’ll see him again.
12-12-2006
Cruising the Caribbean
After months of no traveling, it was finally time to move my closet into my suitcase and head to the airport. I started my traveling day in style with a good lunch with Tine and James, followed by a nice and relaxing foot massage. The foot massage was in fact so relaxing that I had to high-tail it to the airport and only narrowly avoided missing my flight (the check-in was closing as I ran up to it).
It was a great feeling to once again be sitting on the airplane. That great feeling disappeared in Chicago where some wind and 3 cm of snow had thrown the place into chaos. Needless to say my direct flight to Fort Lauderdale had been canceled and the next available flight would have put me there 7 hours after the ship I was going cruising with was scheduled to leave port. After some begging they re-routed me through Raleigh (where I slept in the airport) and Charlotte, allowing me to get to Fort Lauderdale at the same time I was supposed to meet my mom the next day.
She was in Miami visiting friends and made the drive up to Fort Lauderdale to see me. It was great to catch up with her over a nice lunch. A few people have asked about the cast and I can assure you that my mom did not break her hand in a fight, but did it in an unfortunate meeting with some wet tiles in Spain. When she dropped me off at the cruise terminal I was short my closet filled suitcase, compliments of US Airways, who managed to get it to me 5 days later. It meant that I started my cruise with only the clothes I had on me. Less than ideal when you're going on a luxury cruise, but it worked out until my suitcase was delivered 5 days later.
It was nice to board the Jewel of the Seas. As soon as I got on board and met my father, I was teamed up with the family. This was a boys cruise sponsored by my grandfather. The other perpetrators were: my cousin Christer, my uncle Geirulv, my grandfather Armand, and since we were on my father’s ship he was naturally involved as well. Oh, and Olav Petter, a friend of my father that was cruising. He quickly became an honorary member of the family. We had a nice itinerary ahead of us. San Juan, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Antigua, Nassau ... basically all over the Eastern Caribbean.
We set sail at 5 p.m. and set course for Puerto Rico. Our first proper day on board was spent at sea, giving us ample time to enjoy the sun, the pool … and the drinks ... lot’s of drinks. The second night on board was formal night and Royal Caribbean was kind enough to lend me a tuxedo, so even though I had no clothes of my own, I could still show up for dinner. I’ll sum up the dining room experience we enjoyed the entire cruise: excellent service and fantastic food.
After 2 days at sea in borrowed clothes I spent the day in San Juan, Puerto Rico renewing my wardrobe. It worked out well: I bought everything I wanted and the total came out $5 over the allowance my traveling insurance gave me. I was a happy shopper.
Next stop was St. Martin. Christer and me started the day by sailing on True North, Canada’s entry into the 1987 Americas Cup. We were racing Stars and Stripes, the winner of the Americas Cup that year, but needless to say we stomped them. The other team blamed it on the two Norwegians =) It was good fun. We finished off the day doing manly shopping: electronics. He bought a new camera and watch, while I bought a new lens for my Nikon. We were both happy with the bargains we'd gotten and celebrated it with a bucket of beer, before we had to run back to avoid missing the ship.
In Antigua we went for a speed tour of the beautiful island ending at the Nelson Dockyard. This used to be Admiral Nelson’s base in the Caribbean and though he drew his last breath in 1805, courtesy of a French sniper at the battle of Trafalgar, his base in the Caribbean is still thriving. The lineships are gone, replaced by big beautiful yachts and a few good restaurants. We enjoyed the food and the scenery there before we headed back. We had enough time for a pit stop at the famous C&C Wine Bar before we boarded the ship.
Next port of call was St. Thomas. We met Martyn and Billie, friends of my father, and lounged around the pool at their beautiful house. It overlooks the harbor and is nothings short of magnificent. Just look at that view!
Next we had a day at sea, followed by our last port of call: Nassau, Bahamas. Since I’ve been to Nassau a number of times before, I opted to stay onboard to hang out with my father, while the rest of the family toured the aquarium on Paradise Island. The next morning we glided into Fort Lauderdale and 8 days of cruising fun was over. It was sad to say good bye, but with the exception of my father I’ll meet all of them when I head home for New Years.
My flight back to Beijing left the following morning at 6 a.m. and by pure luck an old friend of mine Rasmus visited the ship and kindly offered to drive me to the airport the following morning. We could have had a quiet early night... Alas, we didn’t. 
It started with a great crab meal at Le Tub, a famous Fort Lauderdale restaurant, quickly followed by a trip to a few nice places on South Beach. We also hooked up with Maria, a friend of his to enjoy the various beverages the bars had to offer. Maria learned that we don’t force people to drink, we just carry them back to the bar if they decide to leave. It was a great night that set me up with the perfect sleep depravation I needed to rest properly on my flights back to Beijing.
26-09-2005
On the road again ... actually ... on the sea again!
Hung-over, tired and with a funky stomach: I have to admit defeat. The
Ningbo solution to jetlag (getting severely trashed forcing the body to
focus on getting rid of alcohol toxins instead of jetlag) did not work
as planned in Vancouver.
Since last time, I have studied 4 weeks of Chinese and gotten fairly
settled into my fantastic Beijing lifestyle. I'm starting to realize
that I'll probably be able to learn the language, so in due fashion I
decided to celebrate with a 2 week cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii ...
after all, it would be rude not to!
So I now find myself onboard the Serenade of the Seas desperately
looking for water to drink. Ironic since it is a ship and is surrounded
by water, but a bit salty for my liking. Kind of like last time, when I
was dying of thirst in a bar in Ningbo, but couldn't find anything
non-alcoholic to drink.
I'm here as a passenger enjoying my fathers hospitality. So far I've
been kitted out with a big suite with a nice balcony and most
importantly a very well stocked fridge with a selection of enjoyable
drinks for all tastes. I just found out that I'll share my dining room
table with five girls in the age group 23 - 28. Four of the girls are
Norwegian and one is Canadian. I'm already looking forward to the five
days at sea!
Hopefully I won't fall victim to a sea version of "Lost" ... Though
with 5 girls it wouldn't be so bad!