Strangers & Shipmates

On the bus to the port

Have you ever been surrounded by only complete strangers? No one who even knows your name let alone anything about who you actually are. Individuals that you have no deep connection with. People who you might chat with once or twice and never see again. It can be intimidating. It can be thrilling. It can be freeing. For me, these feelings only lasted until the first night at the hotel before we embarked. It was there we had a small meet & greet with other Around-the-world passengers and within minutes I had gotten to know a dozen or so names of my new traveling companions and was already being “adopted”.

On prior trips, it was very likely that those I met on the check in line or the transfer busses, I never saw again due to the size of the ship. But that wasn’t the case on this trip so far. Already on Day 3, I’ve reconnected with some of those initial folks and continue to make plans with others.

Who are these new friends? They are from all different backgrounds and places. There are large percentages from Florida and Canada. Most of them are retired and have spent a significant amount of time traveling already. Some of them have already been on the Around the World cruise at least once. Once couple I met, this is their SIXTH Around-the-world cruise. It gets me to thinking that this trip may not be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for me…

LeAnne with Eurindia

Beyond the small talk, I appreciate that we all seem to acknowledge that with this slight anonymity, it allows for deeper conversations as we’re not subconsciously protecting any reputations or egos. So far, some of the topics we dive into are exploring how acceptance of Women in the Workplace has evolved since WWII; we debate about generational differences and what seems to influence desires to travel and explore; discuss population settlements in North and South America as influenced by wars and desires for a different life. I’ve learned quite a bit already in just a few days time.

One interesting observation is that I constantly forget I can use my cell phone to text or call through iMessage or WhatsApp so we don’t exchange numbers. Without their contact information, even though it’s a small ship, I can’t coordinate to meet them again at a specific place or time. However, even with one of the passengers, we did exchange phone numbers and while I thought about messaging her to meet for lunch, I realized that I was too hungry and wanted to go grab food right then, so postponed sending that note. However, when I got to the grill, she and her husband had just walked in, so we were able to eat together after all!

Two LeAnnes together!

As I write this, we’re nearing sunset on Day 3 and I’ve had conversations with over 40 new people, including another LEANNE! The challenge is remembering all the new names and keeping their details straight. Plus, I have such an issue with facial recognition that I’m still struggling a bit with the instant recall of their specific facts when I run into them again, so I have been keeping a list of names and notes of those that I’ve met, which seems to be helping.

This segment has about 1,100 passengers onboard with under 400 going all the way around, so it’ll be interesting to experience multiple change overs of the ships’ population and if we continue to stay fully booked as we circumvent the globe. I’m looking forward to learning more and more about not only the people on the ship, but also those that we’ll get to interact with at the many ports we’ll be stopping at.

Do you have any fun stories about those that you’ve met along your travels?