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St. Thomas, Virgin Islands<br/>
May 1, 2001<br/>
Scoreboard: 6000 miles; 2 Countries, 20 states<br/>

We Take to the High Seas, and Eat a Lot

Claytononboard
2005-11-18 12:41:13

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The last week in Miami was almost too relaxing. We've been on the road for more than a month now, we think we're authentic gypsies, you can't just hand us a pool and ping-pong table and expect us to be satisfied.

Of course, the reality is that we aren't seasoned gypsies, not savvy enough not to leave things lying up against the side of the tent in the rain, not experienced enough to notice that all the other campers were checking the weather broadcasts, packing up their tents, and heading for the nearest Motel 6.

No matter, my copy of The Nag Hammadi Library now looks like the ancient document that it is.

There were numerous logistical difficulties in getting all of our stuff from the campground to the boat, while at the same time picking up the rest of our stuff from the train station. Precise details elude me but suffice to say that we were delighted to arrive at our ship, The Grandeur of the Seas.

Until we realized that we had to wait in line nearly three hours to get on. No matter.

I can't say that I left with a real positive sense of Miami. It's way too big and sprawling, overgrown, like L.A., self-absorbed and self-conscious but without the presence of The Industry, and with a foreign feel. I don't think that half the people I spoke with in Miami proper spoke English. Our Cuban cabbie was a really great, helpful guy; he'd lived in Miami for 28 years and his English was still very shaky, there's just no necessity to learn it.

Which reminds me that I need to learn some other languages very quickly. Anyway, Miami has a rollicking quasi-Caribbean feel, but also a lot of traffic, smog, and people who do their hair to go to the health food store, and make sure their tank tops are just so.

There aren't a lot of things in life guaranteed to get your happy heart a-yippin' like boarding your first cruise ship. I ...