Transiting the Suez Canal is one of those things that is exotic only when you think about what it is you’re actually doing. Otherwise it’s very easy to look out the window and see the fields and buildings sliding by and think nothing of it really. It’s not much of a view, especially when you’re used to seeing ocean vistas and lush landscapes out of your office window – but if you stop and think about it, the fact that you’re sailing basically through land is really quite amazing. There are semi-trucks out there that are passing us at top speed, simply going about their business. I wonder if they even look out their windows and go “oh hey, look at the big cruise ship!”.
Even more important than the actual transit (which is quite amazing honestly), today marks a turning point in the cruise. Three weeks, less than three weeks actually once we gain back the last few hours that we lost to the dateline months ago. Three weeks until we all turn around and wave goodbye to the ship that has so become home for most of us. Once we exit the Canal this afternoon we will be into the Med and the European portion of our itinerary, with our final eight (yes, you read that right, only eight) ports ahead of us before the vast expanse of the Transatlantic crossing.
The last eight ports include two overnights, one in Athens and one in Barcelona, and are packed back to back in the final week – for those of us who are fortunate enough to have no more IPMs this means we get a considerable amount of time off, for others it just means a few days where the ship feels something like a ghost ship as all the guests drift off to explore these last few precious destinations before being ‘confined to quarters’ for seven days.
It’s all gone so quickly really, last week this day seemed miles away, now it’s nearly behind us.
Where does the time go? Behind us or in front…it all depends on which way we are looking – Polgara the Sorceress