Our container ship voyage across the Atlantic written up in Neue Presse
One of the four passengers on our transatlantic container ship voyage was German journalist and radio personality, Björn Stack. Besides fulfilling his lifelong dream of traveling to the “new world” by boat (just like in the old days), he was also writing a newspaper article about the experience for the German press.
Björn and Justin in the Hanjin Palermo’s engine room
He let us know that the article ran last Saturday, appearing on the front page of the Reise & Urlaub (Travel and Holiday) section of Hanover’s Neue Presse (and several other German papers). I haven’t found it online, but conveniently he sent us a PDF.
Here’s a close up, highlighting a paragraph that mentions us:
It reads:
Dem amerikanischen Pärchen Sophie [sic] und Justin, beide Anfang 30, gefiel die Vorstellung, sich Zeit bei der Atlantiküberquerung zu lassen. Sie haben ihre Jobs gekündigt und sind ein Jahr um die Welt gereist. Bald sind sie wieder zu Hause in Texas, sie wollen die letzte Etappe ihrer Weltreise in Ruhe genießen. Eine Reise auf einem Frachtschiff ist der ideale Ort dafür; keine Hektik am Flughafen und kein Jetlag, die sechs Stunden Zeitverschiebung nach New York geschehen gemächlich: An jedem zweiten Tag wird die Borduhr eine Stunde zurückgestellt.
Or translated to English by Google (and cleaned up by me):
The American couple Stephanie and Justin, both in their early 30s, liked the idea, to allow time for the Atlantic crossing. They have resigned their jobs and are spending a year traveling around the world. Soon they are back home in Texas, so they want to enjoy the last leg of their journey around the world in peace. A trip on a cargo ship is the ideal place to do it, no hassle at the airport, and no jetlag, the six hours time difference to New York happened leisurely: on every other day the clock is changed by one hour.
I’m famous! (on a TSA sign at Orlando International Airport)
Someone brought this accidental QR Code usage to my attention last August, but thanks to Fred Trotter, O’Reilly Radar’s open source health blogger, who happened to be flying through Orlando recently, I now have photographic proof!
The TSA’s “Hola Niños!” sign at MCO, showing off my QR Code
In his post, The Transportation Security Administration’s QR Code flub, Fred speculates on the ease with which published QR Codes could be hijacked with stickers—and wonders if that was the case here. Think how trivial it would be for an “Anonymous” band of individuals to surreptitiously sticker over TSA QR Codes with ones that link to Bruce Schneier articles. This is the stuff of cyberpunk fiction!
Unfortunately the truth in this case is far more benign. My QR Code was accidentally used as a stand-in by whomever designed the poster, and was never checked before it went to press—not to mention anytime in the four months since it’s been on display.
Chris and Katie
While Stephanie and I were making our way across India and East Africa last spring, Katie, my sister, was traveling by herself across Europe. Our paths almost crossed—we arrived in Nice on June 5th just before she flew home from London on the 8th.
During her trip, on the way from Barcelona to Rome, she spent two nights with Stephanie’s mom in France, near Cannes. Keep in mind, they’d never met before, but apparently they hit it off—we heard so many stories from them that it seemed like they’d spent a whole week together, not just a whole day.
A great shot of Chris and Katie after visiting La Verrerie de Biot
All that to say, Katie has just updated her blog with a photo-filled post about their action-packed day, touring Grasse, Valbonne, Biot, Antibes, and Cannes. Check it out.
The 2010 Photo Book
Towards the end of last year, in the middle of our travels, I faced a challenge: do I begin working on a photo book for 2010, or do I delay the project until the end of 2011 and produce two volumes at once? Or, do I just drop the idea of doing annual photo books altogether and make a single book specific to our travels?
Our photo books from 2007, 2008, and 2009
The alternatives only seemed to put off the inevitable, and I knew that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to remember the details. As satisfying as creating an “Our Big Adventure” book sounded (I admit I haven’t entirely ruled out the idea), over the course of our lives the trip will be just one of many things we’ve done. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of continuing the photo books as an annual tradition, splitting the adventure over two years—continuity be damned! So I decided to plow ahead, even as Bali swirled around me.
Our Path
I don’t really have the words to sum up our adventure over the last year. So instead I made a map. It charts our path, departing from San Francisco on August 15, 2010 (on the right) and arriving in San Francisco on September 16, 2011 (on the left) exactly (and unintentionally) 13 months later.
Our route around the world (“read” from right to left)
Though it appears almost self-evident in retrospect, the truth is we didn’t know where we were going or what we were doing until we got there. It reminds me of a quotation by Joseph Campbell that I have always loved. He said:
If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.
That has never been more true than now.
Arriving in New York by container ship
My alarm went off at 5. I woke up, rubbed my eyes, and looked out the window. Lights! Land!
The captain told us that we’d be passing under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (which connects Staten Island to Long Island) sometime between 5 and 6. So if we wanted to see the approach, then we’d need to be up by then.
I grabbed my camera, Stephanie bundled up, and we headed out onto the deck. The view behind the ship was dark except for a few lights on the horizon. The air was humid. We climbed the stairs to the wings on either side of the bridge for an unobstructed view forward. The other passengers were already there. After nine days spent crossing the Atlantic, the lights of Manhattan were just coming into view.
Lights of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge ahead
About to pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
We were treated to a stunning “blood orange” morning twilight behind Manhattan as we entered New York Harbor (aka Upper New York Bay). We were also able to spot Lady Liberty, quite minuscule in the distance, before making a sharp turn away from the city and into the narrow tidal straight of Kill Van Kull.
A blood orange Manhattan twilight
Crossing the Atlantic
When we boarded the ship, Stephanie was almost overcome with emotion. She said it felt like she “was home”. And not because we were on our way home—because she was back “on a boat”. There were a few subtle differences from our experience on the Cap Cleveland, but for the most part our ten days on the Hanjin Palermo felt very familiar and passed comfortably.
Traveling with us were four other passengers. Three men had boarded a few days before us in Germany. Two were German, one of whom had always dreamed of arriving in America by boat. The third was a British-born Swiss man who bore a striking resemblance to my Scottish-born grandfather. Finally there was a man from Paris who boarded with us in Le Havre, and eagerly awaited news of the birth of his grand-daughter.
Otherwise we had a welcoming, affable German captain, a spacious two-room cabin with five portholes, and calm, almost placid seas the entire way from Le Havre to New York. Amazingly the ship had two pools, one on-deck just outside our cabin, and one indoors, below-deck, but since they had no way to heat the frigid Atlantic waters, both were empty. We ended up spending less time on the bridge and more at the bow—where we saw a surprising amount of wildlife in the middle of the ocean: migrating seabirds, playful dolphins, spouting whales, and even a shark!
Saturday, August 13
Clouds hanging over the port in Le Havre
Pulling out of the port in the mist
Reaching the outer seawall in the rain
Passing incoming container ships in the fog
Looking back towards Le Havre (Goodbye France!)
Off we go again
A year ago (on Monday) we set out on our big adventure. Today begins the final chapter of that journey. We’ll be returning to the United States the same way we left: by container ship.
Hanjin Palermo photo © Klaus Kehrls
We’re currently in Le Havre, France, and at around noon today we’ll board the Hanjin Palermo (previously known as the London Senator) for a 10 day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. This time I won’t be bringing along a satellite modem, so there will be no blog updates en route.
Barring any unforeseen delays, we’ll disembark in New York City (technically the port in Elizabeth, New Jersey) sometime on Monday, August 22nd. After three days visiting with family and doing a little sightseeing, we’ll fly to Austin to stay with my parents and figure out where life takes us next.
Update: I’ve posted some photos from our Atlantic crossing.
