“So you are marrying a merchant navy officer?” a family member asks in a surprising tone. “And, are you going to be traveling with him on the ship, around the world?” with a broad curious smile. What do I say to her?

The truth, I was petrified about joining him, ever! I’ve never been comfortable on a boat or the ferry that takes me from Madh Island to Manori. Never joined my friends on the banana boat or the speed boat ride in Goa. Jeez, what’s with the phobia?

It’s been more than a year since we tied the knot, and now the BIG question comes. “When are you joining me on the ship? I will take care of you. Don’t you trust me?”

Zillion thoughts creating tsunami in my brains.
What about my dog? What about my work? What if I drown? What if a hungry shark decides to attack the ship? (damn u JAWS) What if the ship gets caught up in a storm? Whirlpools? Twisters? Will I get to see my family again? My dog, again? and the list goes on…

I started asking questions to all the merchant navy wives I’ve known. I told them his ship is only 10,000 tons. What do I get to hear in return… only laughs followed with a lot of console. (that’s a small ship. 4 of these or maybe 5 would fit into the QE-II)

No place to run, no place to hide. I finally take the plunge. I had to get 5 visas and a yellow fever jab. (US, Canada, UK, Brazil and Nigeria). My date of joining the ship was for the 17^th May. So I planned my trip ahead for the 8^th May to New Jersey. Visited my mom and sister. I needed that sooo much.

THE Day had come and I was palpitating. I was told an agent at the Vancouver airport will escort me straight to the ship. Unfortunately the ship was slightly delayed. Adding to my palpitations... he took me to a nice smallish B&B and got me a good deal for 5 hours of my stay. [West End Guest House at 1362 Haro St.] As I obviously would be tired from a long flight, I took a nap, not before I walked around the vicinity of my hotel. Gorgeous place, lovely weather, lots of Indians.It’s 21:45 and I hear my room phone ring. My agent has returned. I quickly freshen up and jump into his van eagerly waiting to reach the port.

There at last!
I hear loud roaring sounds as I walk dragging my luggage towards the ship. I cleared my customs, looking around anxiously for my husband. I did not have any rosy images about this and after looking at what I saw… man! The ‘R’ of rosy was a character I thought I will never see for a very long time. I was petrified. There were 5 men wearing boiler suits moving around working and staring at me, until one of them yelled out to the Chief Officer, my hubby, drawing his attention towards me.

What a sigh of relief seeing him after almost 5 months. He looked filthy in that jumper of his, but I didn’t care much, I just wanted a tight hug. The 1^st statement I made was – “Where the hell am I?” 2^nd statement – “Are you sure I should get on that?” 3^rd statement – “I’ll kill you if I die.”

I walk a steep ladder and enter the deck area, and as I walk along I am being introduced to the deck officers, the engineers and the crew in general. All looked like zombie’s to me.

My 1^st stop – the cabin where I’d be living in for the next few weeks. What do I see, another sign of distress? A single bed! That’s all? One would think, ‘how romantic’, na ah! So not it! Tried for the 1^st few nights, then decided to get another mattress and made Rahul sleep on the floor. Don’t you say ‘how mean’ or ‘unromantic’, I would have slept down if there weren’t any roaches doing their rounds.

We had cockroach traps, a fabulous idea to get these bugs out of your way. Take a smallish bottle, cover the base with fresh coffee and apply butter on the inside walls of the bottle. Then… just wait and watch.

2 whole days in Vancouver was the best time I had in this whole trip. I went out shopping and partying with the 3^rd officer and his girlfriend who happened to be in the city visiting her brother who happens to be living in a posh locality on the top most floor – 31^st i.e…. a penthouse…. to die for. He has a hot tub in his balcony and a view to kill. I loved every bit of everything we did (no no, we didnt jump in the hot tub.). I didn’t see much of the city but i know i will go back there someday.

The time has come to leave Vancouver, which means my 1^st voyage starts. Next destination Washington state – Tacoma or is it Tomaco??? Can’t remember.

I was so impressed at the way the mechanics worked. Off we went passing all the other ships, but why is this ship shaking so much? Is this normal? I was getting queasy. Thought I’d act strong and not crib like a baby, already! But I couldn’t control my expressions which the Captain could read easily and spoke in a heavy stern captainish voice… ‘It’s a storm; we’ll pass it in a few minutes.’

A whaaaaaaaaaaaaat
STORM!!!
ALREADY!!!
MAMMA HELLLLLLLLLLPPPP!!

Twas really nothing. It did pass very quickly. Freaking out for nothing.

I was absolutely stunned with the oceanic view, the water colour and the breadth of the sky. The dolphins were my best friends for the next 50 days. Everyday at 4:00pm they'd come out to greet me by showing off their jumps and flips and the speed at which they swim. Gorgeous creatures! I saw whales too shooting off water from their snouts. Sea turtles are the funniest looking. As for sharks, well i was looking forward to seeing them too, unfortunately saw none. I wonder how many are left in the world. God save them!My journey on the whole went superb. I loved it. I was unnecessarily stressing over the whole thing. If I can do this, anyone can… so I believe. I look forward to my next journey with my hubby around the world.

I will not go into details of every place I visited. But here’s the list:

Vancouver, Canada

Tacoma, Washington State

Long Beach, California

Gautemala

El Salvador

Nicaragua

Ecuador

Panama Canal – Awesome Engineering

Columbia

Barcelona – My final destination