Antwerk and Amsterdayum – Part 2
Our night out in Amsterdam was a great one and a nice chance for ED, NB and I to relieve some stress, have a few laughs and a drink or two or three… I’ll leave it at that.
The next morning we looked for the waffle place we were told to find back next to the Anne Frank house to no avail, but we still had a great breakfast somewhere else. I had some amazing pancake/crepe hybrid thing. After a bit of shopping we made our way back to the hotel to check out and get our car. NB did a great job driving, (ED did a great job sleeping in the back seat, and I would like to think I did a great job dancing in the passenger seat thanks to NB’s perfect driving playlist) until we got back to Antwerp and it took us the better part of an hour to find the proper garage to return our rental car. It really was another comedy of errors – wrong garages, wrong way on one-way streets, almost running over an old woman and at least a dozen children… We all were getting pretty frustrated and just wanted to be back to the ship when we finally found the poorly marked garage. Once inside however, we discovered the HUGE Banner indicating the entrance to the rental car return. A lot of good it did us in the bottom of a parking garage.
We finally made it back to the ship and I took a nap and got up just in time to meet the rest of the RDs and some other staff for a quick drink at a bar in one of the big town squares. It was a bit of a gross rainy night but it was also Fashions Night Out in Antwerp so it was cool to see the shops open late. I was fading fast and went back to the ship where I just spent the rest of the night talking to some of the other staff.
Our last day in Antwerp was also a bit rainy and I almost decided not to leave the ship, but I pulled myself together and went out to explore a bit more. I got some nice pictures and a Belgian waffle when I was heading back to the ship only to run into our shipboard nurse practitioner with our student who had his appendix out just a few days prior. Our last day was his first day out of the hospital/off the ship so I joined them for an hour or so as they tried to do a crash course in Antwerp tourism. He is a great kid and was really appreciative.
With that, is was back to the ship for re-embarkation for some of us. This was our first of 4 Overland Port. Participants have the option of traveling with the ship at it repositions, or staying in country for the entire span of the scheduled time. In this case it was between countries, like we’ll do in Portugal and Spain, but we’ll do it within the same country in Ghana and Brazil. As we come to call the ship our home, we sometimes forget that we are on the equivalent of an international flight almost every time to get on board. Because of that we have to declare our status about 36 hours prior to our arrival in the first of the two cities in the transfer. Once our selection has been submitted, it cannot change. There are no last minuet deals on international flights via the MV Explorer. We did have 2 girls not make their train back to the ship and as such missed the ship – they contacted the ship to let us know, but they ended up getting dock time for missing the ship as they had declared themselves as shipboard travelers. Oops.
A little ship life update – As I had mentioned in an early blog, some of the changes to the RD position had been leaving a bitter taste in my mouth and as a result causing me to question my decision to return for a 2nd voyage. Well, those policies are all still there, some with slight improvement – free wifi while we’re babysitting in the VIP Lounge (Very Intoxicated Person/Drunk Tank), a meal from the pool bar (that we would usually have to pay for) while on duty or after working the VIP lounge, and reduced shift lengths for re-embarkation (also just settling in to the voyage and developing better friendships with the staff and being able to vent) have helped. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in love with it all but I’m also not going to change the system in the next 3 months and perhaps most of all I don’t want to pay for a flight back home… 😉
Another random little nugget of a story – A very select few students on our voyage, after an additional application process, went to the UN in Switzerland, and a handfull of them even presented (another moment when I am amazed and humbled by the students I am surrounded by – in a positive way). One of these students didn’t think that SPEAKING ON THE FLOOR OF THE UN called for a suit. After trying a few options he came to me, mind you with no previous interaction, and asked if I had a suit he could borrow. I surely didn’t need it and it seemed to fit him better than the other option from another RD. Then he asked to borrow my shoes as well. As a result, I’m proud to say that my suit has presented at the UN in Geneva. I am less than proud however to say that my father and grandmother would have been ashamed by the less than shiny condition of the dress shoes. Desperate times call for desperate measures and un-shined shoes.
Patrick@Sea 