In response to Laurel’s ‘escape’
A few days back, Laurel told us about how she cut and ran when a Yoga retreat up a mountain in Austria just did not agree with her. Instead of sticking it out and being miserable, she made a brave decision to leave and encountered quite a few difficulties not to mention adventures on her way down the mountain. I could sympathize so much and admire her courage. The post also reminded me of my own ‘escape’ from a cruise ship (!!) when I just couldn’t take it any more. As Laurel said: no price is too high for your freedom. Here is my story:
Several years ago, I felt the irrepressible urge to see icebergs. What better way f doing so, I thought, than going on a cruise through the North Atlantic, from Hamburg to Toronto, to be precise. The ship called into Iceland, Greenland and New Found land along the way, so I would have the added bonus for seeing some fascinating countries too.
The cruise ship was a smallish one, with several hundred as opposed to several thousand passengers, which suited me just fine. The first disappointment came, when I met my fellow travelers. Many of them were seasoned ‘cruisers’ who had been on up to 30 cruises to the most exotic places like Patagonia and I looked forward to hearing their stories. But…what did they talk about??? Whether or not the maitre did remember their names, how often they had been invited to the captain’s table, the quality of the service and the table manners of their fellow diners. I couldn’t believe it. Why had they gone to such wonderful places if they weren’t interested in what they saw?
Anyway, this was hardly the cruise ship company’s fault but I saw a rather solitary week ahead of me. The land excursions were badly organized too and in Greenland I wanted to throw up when all we were shown was the miserable capital where quite drunken locals loitered around and others committed a blood bath by skinning seals in port.
And then came the day of the icebergs, the sight I had looked forward too so much. It was a glorious day, blue ksy, sunshine and the majestic blue and white ice giants glided into sight. Istood on deck and just stared and stared. But..what had the entertainment director dreamed up to celebrate the occasion? A German beer festival, complete with umptah music and steins!! Ok, it was a German ship and I’m German too and not averse to a bit of entertainment of this kind: at the Oktoberfest in Munich but certainly not in the majestic, silent world of the icebergs in the North Atlantic.
As I said, this was a small ship and there was no way of getting away from the noise and merry making. The trip was definitely ruined for me and all I wanted was to get off. Our next stop was Newfoundland and I made my way to reception and told them I wanted to leave as soon as the ship docked. That’s when the trouble started. They wouldn’t let me.
First they were quite nice and asked if they could do anything to make my journey more pleasant. Why did I want to leave in the first place? Did I perhaps want another cabin? I couldn’t possibly tell them the truth so I invented sea sickness. Various cures and remedies were offered by the ship doctor. Thank you, but I still want to leave.
Next they tried to point out to me that I would lose a lot of money as my passage was paid through to Toronto and there would be no refund. I don’t care, I said, I just want to leave. This attitude marked me as a trouble maker and arrogant rich bitch. How could I possibly not care if I lost something like $1000? They weren’t all that friendly any more and the captain was called. He explained to me that I couldn’t leave because they couldn’t release my passport which was kept with all the others in the ships offices during the entire trip.
That’s when I exploded. Obviously it was just too much trouble for them to find my passport and maybe they also feared bad publicity although I wasn’t even a travel writer at the time and assured them that my decision had nothing to do with the ship, the cruise company or the service. I just felt trapped. In the end I had to threaten legal action to make my passport materialize.
We reached Newfoundland, I marched down the gangway happily pulling my bag behind me and when I looked back at the ship with the entire crew and not a few passengers hanging over the railing watching the eccentric woman walk off, I experienced a sensation of freedom which lifted my heart.
To finish the tale: I had a wonderful time, all on my own. I spent two days admiring Newfoundland, then flew to Quebec enjoying the French atmosphere, took the fantastic Canadian train to Toronto and still caught the return flight to Europe where I was reunited with my former fellow travelers. Nobody would even look at me! I think they considered me as a deserted, certainly no cruise ship material. Did I care? Certainly not.
