Yes, I have cruising on the brain again… the cheap details are coming out for early next year. Spotted one tonight on Holland America from Hong to Beijing, then Shanghai then Incheon and Jeju (the last two being in South Korea.) 14 nights… less than $100 per night per person… of course there will be the bloody expensive Chinese Visa… and the airfares to Hong Kong, so it’s not quite the song the cruise in this photo was…
This was sailing out of Auckland in September on the MS Volendam. And while those perfectly lined up and manicured loungers may look inviting, it was cold and windy – a perfect day to sail, not for lounging around getting sun…
Titirangi Storyteller 
Oooh, that photo makes me want to jump on a ship and spend day after day lounging in a deck chair!
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I love month-long cruises because they give the opportunity to do enough of that so I’ve had enough when the cruise ends and I’m not just ready to dive back into the bustle, I look forward to it.
Strangely, even though my life is pretty sweet and quiet these days, I still look forward to a nice long cruise…
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You’re recent cruise crush is really tormenting me. I do so long to go on another cruise. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to do one that lasts longer than 8 days, but I’m not sure if I could take a month? Who knows. Depends upon the mood, really.
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The time will be right and then you will go again… I recommend a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal. I did it both ways for 4 weeks, but you don’t have to…
The thing about month long cruises is you really do ‘let go’ of so much baggage… you lose your attachment to it because it is not present, no external reminders… (unless of course you are one of those crazies on the internet, checking email, reading the current world news and calling home in every single port…) it really is an escape… and by the time it’s over, at least for me, I have released all my tensions and when I get home, I am happy to pick up the chores of day to day life again…
Of course, I have just had the day from hell and would kill to get on a cruise ship tomorrow!
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When I’m on a cruise, I have absolutely no desire to contact anyone or to read anything on the Internet, only books. My dad did the Panama Canal lots of times as a merchant marine. He told me it was wondrous.
Sorry about your bad day.
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the canal is so much more than locks and machines, though they are damned wondrous. I found it one of those impossibly still, lazy experiences, where there really was nothing for me to do but be and see and soak it in.
The bad day ended. Today could go either way… seems one of my clients has been paying the previous owner of my company – for the last six months, whilst I have been politely clamouring as to why I have not been paid… incompetence from the accounts dept, who ignored my initial information and all my queries and repeatedly giving them my correct info.
If you can believe this – they actually paid the previous owner again – last night – through direct deposit and then tried to insist to me this morning they had paid the invoice! Holy f23king hell, Batman! a Two year old could figure out that if you give Billy’s ball to Joe then Billy won’t have his ball! 5 times they have done this now!… Not good for my blood pressure…
Calm blue ocean… calm blue ocean…
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That’s just insane. Are you going to be able to recoup your funds from former employer?
Calm blue ocean . . . indeed.
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Yes, she was very gracious about it all and simply transferred the money to my account. One of the reasons I felt good about buying the company from her was her ingrained honesty and fairness… Talked to her yesterday and money was there this morning.
To make matters even dumber, I have now been overpaid by nearly $700. It is not in my nature to merely snicker and keep it… but I dread trying to go through whatever process is necessary to return that amount to them. Ugh. And it’s a good client – I don’t want to lose them – apart from their accounting department who are at best inept, the rest of them are good to work with… Crikey! This is why I have avoided management since my 30s… so much easier to clock in, get paid and not worry about this stuff 😉
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