One thing about Crossings, they always take a hefty chunk out of your paycheque. Mentally surviving a crossing requires stuff…mostly in the way of snacks and such, because the ship does on occasion run out of things.
As a result, most of us spent our final call in Juneau prowling the aisles of the local superstore and picking up everything from spare nylons to cereal.
Damn, I need to get dry erase markers for the library…be right back.
Do you want yogurt?
Yes! Oh, that reminds me, I need to get my meal shakes…6 days out 6 days in, better get the twelve pack then…
And on and on…of course you end up picking up stuff you don’t need. I got a new computer game, and a poster proudly blazes out the lyrics of one of my favourite Disney power-songs; and I had to get spare thread for Neverland as I’m out of several colours again, the replacements aren’t anywhere near perfect matches but they beat having blanks left in the pattern. Amras says that that’s for mental survival.
Get home get everything unpacked and into the tiny little bar fridge, and mission mostly accomplished. As for why everyone picks up so much in the way of snacks and such before a crossing, well, that’s easy – you don’t always have time to get to the buffet, or if you do it’s not always open or too busy to serve crew; if you don’t have something in your cabin to eat then you risk not eating at all! For me the crossing means 10 hours days every day, I can’t get through that on no calories. Well, I could, and I have in the past, but I’m determined to try and treat myself better this time.
Now if only I could find a way to get some more sleep, everything would be peaches and cream…