All was in readiness, then with only a week to go, Emily was texting one day while walking across the road, and walked into the path of an oncoming car. Thankfully, the driver of the car saw Emily and braked, and she wasn’t injured as badly as she could have been, her ankle was only badly sprained, but she was kept in hospital for observation and testing and could not make the trip. Also fortunately for Emily, I had insisted that we both take out travel insurance, so Emily would get her money back, but as we were only friends, not a couple, I wouldn’t get my money back if I decided to cancel. On hearing this, Emily insisted that I still go. She even enlisted the support of other people in the office, as they came to visit her, so that everyone we worked with badgered me until I assured them that I would go. I had to take the leave anyway, and when I had realized how much of a rut I had been in, I had already decided not to let myself slip back into it, so had already decided to go, even without all the nagging from friends and colleagues!
So here I was, bereft of cat, packed, and it was only six o’clock in the evening, the night before the start of my big adventure. I was wondering how I was going to fill the evening, I didn’t even have Snowball to talk to, then the phone rang. Emily knew me well, and was calling from her bed, as she had only been recently discharged and sent home, to make sure that I wasn’t getting cold feet, and was really going to go. She also knew that I would be without Snowball by this time of night, and that I would probably be feeling lonely. We chatted for a while, then I decided to go to bed early, it was really going to be a busy day tomorrow, and I didn’t want to miss any of it. Although initially reluctant, since we booked the trip, I had really started to look forward to it. I was making some real changes in my life, something I hadn’t done for years. Plus, I was actually going to go overseas, something I had never done before! It had been something Nathan and I had planned to do at some point in our future, but the manner of our split had stopped me wanting to travel for a few years. So here I was, at thirty one, about to go overseas for the first time, and I had heard so many adventure stories in the tea room at work from younger colleagues who had traveled extensively from their late teens. Oh well, better late than never!
3.
At first when the alarm went off, I didn’t know what day it was, it was midweek after all so I grumpily thought it was a work day. I just wasn’t in the mood today! I pulled a pillow over my head, and then quickly threw it to the bottom of the bed – my trip! I leapt out of bed and almost skipped to the bathroom, wow, I really hadn’t understood how much I was looking forward to this. It had started off as something small, and somehow without me realizing it, it had become something so much bigger and more exciting than I had anticipated. Had I really been in such a rut that I didn’t realize how much I needed this? By the time I was ready and my taxi arrived, I was having trouble in restraining my silly grin to just a happy smile. Even the crowds at the airport didn’t upset me, today was just going to be such a great day. The flight was uneventful, and following instructions given to me when I booked the cruise and the transfers, I collected my suitcase from the luggage carousel after landing, and located the staff organizing the transfers. I delivered my suitcase to the bus driver, keeping my carry-on bag as it had all my papers in it – and of course my camera, and found myself a seat on the bus. Oh, would it hurry up and get moving, I wanted the first sight of the ship! I was already planning in my head how I could frame a shot with the ship in the foreground and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, and maybe get some crowd shots as well. I also had my phone handy, as well as my “good” photos which I planned to take with my camera, I had promised to take some happy snaps and post them all to Facebook before the ship left Sydney and I lost phone coverage. Finally, after what was probably only a few minutes but seemed like hours, the bus door closed and the bus started moving. I wiggled about like a small child as I looked out of my window, then craned my neck to see across the aisle through the window on the other side to see what could be seen on the other side of the bus. I had never even been to Sydney before, so even though I really didn’t know the streets we were being driven through, it was all very interesting.
Soon, the bus was driving down George Street and then turning towards Circular Quay, and there it was! Big and white and gleaming, my home for the next eleven nights! I almost flew off the bus when the door opened, and dragging my carry on bag, I tried to get a good vantage point for a selfie of me with the ship in the background. The transfer staff had told me that my suitcase would be transferred to my stateroom, that I only had to get myself and my carry-on bag to the check in desk. I stepped into the terminal, and drew in a breath at the sight of so many people waiting to board. This was nothing like re-runs of “The Love Boat” that I had seen on television! On that show, people just wandered onto the ship and their names were checked off on a clipboard and they were told where their stateroom was, oh well – obviously times had changed! I picked up the health declaration form and filled it in (no coughs, no colds!) and before long, I got called to the next available person serving behind a long counter. They checked my identification, found my booking, and took a quick photo for my room card (which would also be my identification for getting off and on the ship, and my on board credit card, I found out) and then I was issued with instructions to find my stateroom and pointed to the security station. More security measures, similar to the airport, and then I found myself walking along a corridor, and then at last, I was walking onto the deck of the ship!
I followed the passengers in front of me to the elevator, and then a staff member who was marshalling the new passengers told me which way to head when I got off the elevator, and I was soon walking along the ship’s corridor looking for my stateroom number. The deal that Emily had got was amazing, the two of us had opted for a balcony guarantee, thinking we might get one of those staterooms where the lifeboats were obstructing the view. Instead we had been assigned an excellent stateroom with what promised to be a good view from the balcony, and the price had been about half of what we would have paid had we chosen the room ourselves. I decided that I was going to have to find something extra special to thank Emily for suggesting this wonderful idea. Of course, Emily had been throwing out some very obvious hints for some duty free alcohol, but I would look for something else as well.
I found the stateroom, inserted my card in the lock and opened the door. Oh, this was lovely. It was not a big room, but it was on a ship! The beds had been set up as two singles, but apparently they could be pushed together to make a queen sized bed, so I made a mental note to talk to the stateroom steward about that, since I would have the room to myself now. I put my carry-on bag down on the luggage strip on the bed and looked into the bathroom. It was small, but serviceable. I smiled, and thought “Yeah, this will do nicely.” I opened the balcony door, and went out to see what the view would be like, and found myself looking at the Sydney Opera House. Well, that was a side of it that I had never seen in photos before! I waved at the ferry passengers on the ferry going past, and some of them waved back. I turned back to the stateroom to get my camera out of my carry-on bag and take some photos of the Opera House and maybe some photos of the ferries, and noticed that I also had a television, angled so that it could be watched from the beds. There was also some literature on the desk, obviously a guide to the ship that I would have to read shortly. I turned my camera on, took the lens cap off (surprisingly, I often forgot that step!) and went outside again to take some photos. My suitcase still hadn’t arrived, so rather than unpack the few items in my carry on bag, I decided to leave it and instead explore the ship, and maybe find that buffet that I had heard mentioned as being open for lunch. Just as I made that decision, there was a knock at the door. I wondered who it could be, and peeked through the little peephole. It looked like a staff member outside, so I opened the door. It turned out that it was the stateroom steward, Eduardo, who introduced himself and asked if I needed anything. I made my request about the bed, and asked for directi
ons to the buffet. He told me how to get there, and also told me about a mandatory emergency drill that all passengers had to participate in before the ship sailed. I listened to his instructions and then my stomach started growling, so with a smile he waved me in the direction that I need to go. I grabbed my camera and phone, and headed off.
Soon after, I was entering the buffet, having walked past the pool to get in, and I promised myself that I would have a swim sometime soon. The smiling staff member standing beside the hand disinfectant explained that guests were expected to use it each time they entered one of the ship restaurants, and after complying, I soon afterwards found myself with a tray looking at the salads.
“It all looks so good” said the elderly woman in front of me in the line, to which I replied:
“Yes it does, and I don’t know where to start, but hopefully will know when to stop!”
Once I had a few items on my tray, I collected some iced water and found a seat at the rear of the restaurant, out on the open deck.
“Here’s to you, Emily,” I muttered to myself, making a mock toast and then sipping the water, feeling sorry for Emily at the thought of what she would be missing.
“You are going to be so angry with yourself when you see all my photos when I get back”.
Just as I said that, I glanced over to the next table, and caught the eye of a man who had obviously overheard me talking to myself. Blushing, I looked down at my food. How embarrassing. Not only did a strange man catch me talking to myself, but in those few moments when we held eye contact, I had managed to note that he was a really good looking strange man. Then I realized that it had been a long time since I had even noticed whether a man was good looking or not. That made me feel even more self conscious, now I was acutely aware of the man, and could not eat my food, even though I was sure it was as delicious as it looked. I picked at it, and pushed it around the plate, and eventually abandoned all pretence, and took my camera to the side of the ship, and started taking photographs. When I turned around again, the man had left.
4.
After that, I explored the ship, finding the gym (maybe I would need to spend a bit of time here, if the food was as abundant as it appeared), the theatre, the spa, the a la carte restaurant, the casino, the library and a few bars. The shops were all still closed, they would be closed until after we left port. I made a mental note to come back, after all, maybe there would be something nice here for Emily. After walking around for a while, I went back to my stateroom, happily finding that my suitcase had arrived. I unpacked, and decided to spend a bit of time reading about the ship’s facilities while I waited for the drill.
Shortly afterwards, the emergency siren went off, and as instructed, I grabbed my orange lifejacket from the wardrobe, and headed to my muster station, which happened to be in the theatre. As I walked in, I saw the man from the buffet again. He was sitting in a row of seats near the rear of the theatre, and I had to walk past him to find a seat. Feeling very self-conscious, I managed to stumble, and would probably have fallen down a step had a very kind older gentleman not grabbed my arm. Now I felt like a real fool. What was wrong with me? Yes the man was the stereotypical tall dark and handsome type, but he was probably also married, during the brief period I had managed to observe him, he did not appear to be looking around, ‘checking out the talent’, so to speak. Maybe it was just the excitement of the day that was getting to me, or so I tried to convince myself. I realized I had been thinking, and not listening to the instructions about what to do in an emergency, and hoped that there wouldn’t actually be one! After the instructions about how to don a life jacket had been given, and everyone had put theirs on and then taken it off again, we were all dismissed, and had to go back to our staterooms to put our life jackets back where we found them.
As Emily and I had nominated an early dinner time when we booked (reasoning that we could then spend the evening at the theatre, or somewhere else on the ship), I decided not to bother going out again before dinner, but to enjoy sitting on my balcony, watching the ferry traffic go past and enjoying the sun. It was soon time to shower and change. As the first evening was casual dress, presumably because passengers would be boarding all afternoon and some would not have a lot of time before dinner to change, I just changed into some dress pants and a flowing, floral top. I loved the freedom of being on the ship, I didn’t need to carry a bag, or my phone, as we would soon be leaving the harbour and I would lose phone coverage. I had updated my status on Facebook and added some photos after I got changed, called Emily from my balcony and talked for a while, and had then put my phone in the room safe as I would not need it until we made port again in a couple of days. I also put my passport in there – imagine how awkward it would be if that went missing! So all I needed to take was my room key and my camera for photos when the ship cast off and sailed out of the harbour.
As I had earlier found the restaurant, I headed in that direction, stepping out onto the deck near the restaurant to check on what was happening at the dock. The ropes were being cast off, so I duly clicked away with my camera. I managed to get some terrific photos of the harbor and the heads as we sailed out, but it was now time to head in to dinner, I would actually be a few minutes late. Whoops, I hoped my dinner companions weren’t sticklers for punctuality!
I gave the receptionist my name, used more of that disinfectant stuff on my hands, and followed a staff member to my table. There were already four people there, and apparently they all knew each other. They had obviously also spent the time since boarding the ship in ‘celebrating’ as they all appeared to be a little tipsy and very loud. I sat down, hoping that they would settle down, and that they would turn out to be good dinner companions, as I believed that I would be sitting on the same table each night of the cruise. It didn’t take long to realize that I would have to see if I could get my table changed for the next night, as I was obviously going to be the odd one out at this table, and was not going to have fun. After an initial interest in me when they enquired as to my name and why I was carrying around a bulky camera when a phone ‘would do’, they then started talking amongst themselves and completely ignored me. This was going to be a long meal. The waiter had given me a menu, and although the selections listed on it looked mouthwateringly delicious, I didn’t really want to sit with these people and not be able to speak to them. Maybe I should just excuse myself and head back to the buffet?
Just then a waiter came over, bent down and whispered into my ear:
“The gentleman over at the booth in the corner is sitting by himself, and noticed that you are also by yourself, and wanted me to ask if you would prefer to share a table with him this evening?”
Thoughts running through my head of a knight in shining armour coming to my rescue, I looked where the waiter was indicating and saw that man again. He was alone? Maybe his wife was seasick and he didn’t want to eat on his own, and saw my discomfort? Even though I had twice behaved like a silly adolescent around him, I decided that anything was preferable to sitting at this table, and nodded to the waiter. The four people at the table with me hadn’t even noticed he waiter come over, so I just quietly got up and walked over to the booth as indicated. The man stood, and I realized then that my impression of tall was correct, he was quite tall, and he smiled as I took my seat, seating himself again. Now if I could just behave like the mature, rational woman that I knew myself to be, I should be able to make a more favourable impression, surely?
5.
The man smiled again as he spoke:
“Hello, I am Adam. I have seen you around today, but don’t know your name”.
I responded:
“I’m Sarah. I saw you too, at the buffet this afternoon. You must have thought I was crazy, talking to myself like that”.
He looked perplexed and said:
“I didn’t realize you were talking to yourself. I saw your phone, and thought you must have an earpiece in and were talking to someone”. He laughed then, “Were you really talk
ing to yourself? No wonder you looked at me so strangely, you must have thought I was listening, and I wasn’t”.
It was my turn to laugh now.
“No, I realized I had been caught talking to myself, toasting the friend who suggested this cruise, that’s all. So I really looked at you strangely? And I thought I was playing it so cool….”
Sarah's Journey Page 2
