My Cubicle

It's only been my 'home' for the last year but strangely I'll miss it. It wasn't an easy decision to make. I know when I told my boss I was leaving there was some surprise. Of course there was surprise - how many people quit a good job to take off on a freighter for four months? I've been with this company (Dana) for almost 4 years, but only at this plant for a year. I had planned to stay longer, however, as they say timing is everything. For those that don't know, I chose to join my mother after she had decided to go. For myself I feel that it's now or never. If I don't do it now somehow I don't think I'll ever do it.

That's one great thing about this spot - the fact that there's a window just behind me. Okay, it looks out over the parking lot, a gas station, an empty field and a highway. It's still nice to be able to see what it's like out every now and then. And no, the space isn't always that tidy. We had visitors to the plant last week so I tidied up a bit. Now I'm in the cleaning up mode for leaving (which will be Dec. 7th).

Ports

Since it's now out at work I've started talking about the upcoming trip. I've been generally listing off where I'll be going to people and thought I should put up a general list. Now, since I first booked the trip the sailing date has been:

mid-Dec, early Jan, Dec. 28th, Dec 25th....

Well, you get the point. I was even a little excited that we might be in New Orleans for New Years - wouldn't that be a great city to be in for that night? I see by today's update however that the dates have changed again, so it looks like Houston for New Years. That's okay, since perhaps I can celebrate my birthday (Jan 4th) in New Orleans instead.

Getting help at the desk

Just a sample to see how easy (or hard) it will be to update things on the road. I was originally using Zoto to do this, however, with blogger beta I thought (for now) I'd try a posting from here instead of from Zoto. I might use Flickr instead for a while. The idea is to try and do a visual record of the trip. I won't be able to update every day but the plan is to write something every day and add a picture of the day to each post. I'm going to add a couple of links to other Rickmers' passengers blogs. As I was preparing to go I found them very interesting to read.

This is a picture of my help that I get when working at the desk. This was actually taken back at the end of September. The help I still get. Since that time I've moved the printer up to a shelf above the desk as Shadow (the kitten) likes to try and stop the printer when it's going. Looking at the stack of CDs this was while I was converting everything I have to MP3s so I can take them with me. Okay that was my CDs, my mother's CDs, and at one point I even plugged the turntable into the computer and converted some old records to MP3s. I might as well post a picture of the other kitten (Gus). Although at this stage they were both 6 months and they are both pretty big to call kittens.

That was just one more thing to deal with - finding someone to house sit for us while away. I hadn't even considered going away when I got the kittens in the summer. I wouldn't want them to simply be fed by someone coming in once a day. We lucked out and two of our neighbours' daughters will live in the house while we're away. As they're both past the high school age I'd guess that they're probably looking forward to living on their own (even if it is next door). I couldn't find a picture of Gus on his own, but that's him on the top step.

Preparation seems to go from being simpler than I thought to more complicated. The simple things were the shots, and the visa applications. The complicated things are like what you actually take when you're going to be away for four months. It's not like if you forget something you can nip 'round to the corner store.

I told my boss last week and so far he's pretty good with it. It's not like this is something an employee comes to a boss with every day. One of my coworkers kind of nailed it the other day - that I was jumping ship to jump on a ship. I'll miss the place, however, I don't think I'll ever regret going on this trip. Even now, almost 2 months to go and I really just can't wait.

Rickmers Antwerp

This is a picture of the ship we'll be sailing on. At the moment the projected sailing date is likely January 2nd, 2007. The ship will be coming into Houston on December 28th and we'll likely board sometime between those dates. The original booking was for mid-December, so as you can see, things change. I've put a link to Rickmers' website to the schedules page (for anyone that's following along).

Intro post (or a mission statement)

It's finally time for a themed blog. Not necessarily a daily post thing, but to eventually create a record of an upcoming trip (120+ day freighter trip) and force myself to organize information from previous trips. When looking for information on previous travellers on the same freighter line I'm using they were hard to find (but gems when I found them). It will allow friends and family to keep track of where we are and hopefully help future travellers.

Right now I'm simply collecting my thoughts and playing, and talking to myself as I'm likely not going to make it public until there's a little content. Once I'm travelling I'm hoping to write something each day (and pick a favourite picture of the day). Updating, however, will be done only when in port.