I wrote a post about the downside of container ship travel and
mentioned that you’re not necessarily guaranteed a long time in port,
indeed…even if it’s possible to go ashore.
This was the situation I found myself in Barcelona.
But it was made up for in
Valencia.
We arrived around 08:00 on
02JUL13 and after the agent had been on board, spoken to the Captain and I had
‘clearance’ to go ashore (ie: checked my passport but as I’m British and am
travelling within Europe, I don’t need a visa), I caught the bus from the ship
to the main gate where the agent had called a taxi to take me into town.
And lo and behold, I met two
other passengers: George a Frenchman and Annabel, an English lady living in
France who had arrived on another container ship! So you see, other people do travel by this mode of transport. Admittedly they were somewhat older than I. Whilst waiting for our taxis we swapped
stories: they’d joined their ship in
Malta and were just having two weeks aboard around the Med. Annabel asked me:
“How will you cope with 37
days?!”
In all honesty, I don’t
know. I just know that so far, when at
sea I take each day as it comes…there’s no point in stressing – just read, swim,
write & sleep…play table tennis, eat and chat to the crew. Maybe by Day 36 I’ll be glad the trip’s
coming to an end, but let’s see.
