We departed Bodrum in Turkey late yesterday evening and set out for the open ocean once again – watching the twinkling lights of the coast slowly disappear over the horizon as we ate dinner.
After scraping myself out of bed and into the shower this morning, I wandered down to breakfast alone while my other half intentionally slowed down. On a normal day our weekend mornings are filled with washing up, washing clothes, picking up after others, putting things away, cutting grass, sorting recycling – all the usual things that go with a busy household.
I’m not as good at slowing down.
You find me holed up in the crows nest bar once more – watching the ocean slowly scroll past as we travel towards Cyprus. I’ve found a quiet corner, and have Kacey Musgraves filling my ears – I finally remembered to bring my AirPods with me, which do a pretty good job of noise cancellation (read: surrounding passenger conversation cancellation).
I think today marks the half-way point of the holiday so far – we’re 12 days in, and have so far visited Cadiz, Palermo, Valletta, Athens, Kusadasi, and Bodrum. Ahead of us lie Limassol, Alexandria, Tunis, Cartagena, and Gibraltar.
It’s a strange experience – only visiting each place for one day. Your sense of each place becomes unavoidably superficial – I don’t like it. There’s value (in my opinion) in staying somewhere for a while, learning some of the language, immersing yourself, and experiencing “normal” – or at least trying to. None of those things happen in a day, and when they are happening day after day after day, each destination becomes strangely homogenous.
Maybe the difference between me and so many others became more stark yesterday. I carried nothing from the ship apart from my boarding card and wallet – with no intention of buying any junk to cart home (that will inevitably end up on display for a year or two, then rot in a corner of the attic). I was there to see, read, and experience as best I could. The cat that chose me in Bodrum Castle “saw” me. It didn’t just hop onto my lap – it curled up, and fell properly asleep. When it came time to leave, it resisted – almost telling me “no – you’re good here for the moment – stop rushing”.
At dinner we listen to all manner of stories from fellow passengers that have travelled the world – this being far from their first cruise – visiting endless countries and ports. I wonder how much they ever come to know of the people, cultures, and customs along the way – or if they even want to. It’s a strange way to experience the world.
I’ve always seen the world a little differently than most. Where others so often seem to see where they might go, what they might do, or what they might acquire, I tend to see who I might cross paths with, where they are from, what their day entails, and how they deal with the world around them.
A young girl served us at a cafe in Valletta and we noticed her decorated nails. She was SO proud, and held her hands out to show us – explaining in broken English about the design, and its meaning. Her toothy smile for those few moments spoke volumes.
The tour guide that took us to Athens face crinkled into the best smile when I made the point of breaking ranks with the stream of passengers leaving the tour bus – I shook his hand warmly, and thanked him for the stories he shared along the way. “No – thank YOU for listening”.
There are more stories. More people. More lives we have crossed paths with along the way. Each of them making their way the best way they know how. It’s kind of inspiring to spend a few moments with them – in their world – and to find out that good will is pretty much universal to everybody, everywhere – all you need to do is look for it.
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