Playing Stowaway
I’ve been thinking about boats lately, what with our day of sailing in Bar Harbor, our friend Julian’s wild adventure of sailing that same boat from Florida to Maine with his older brother this past spring and coming across cool images like this (one of the world’s largest container ships):
[photo: jtashipphoto]
I’ve always loved the idea of being a stowaway on a big ol’ container ship. It sounds like such a romantic thing to do. Not to mention a great metaphor. When I was younger, I did a lot of research about how I could make it happen. Turns out, if you’re not working on the ship, you’ll have to pay. No stowaways these days(?).
But really, it’s not a bad idea to travel by ship. Check out this How To article from the Travelers Notebook. It does sound like fun! Slow travel, FTW.
This is often how round the world routes work: book your freighter ticket and then plan in a few weeks in every major port. With freighters, the possibilities for your adventure are almost endless. Just think: anywhere global commodities are shipped are places that you can disembark and spend time soaking up the local culture before re-boarding.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
There was a really cool article about this in the NYT last week. It sounds like boat travel like that is pretty cool…like really cool. They treat you really well…I think they said it’s not cheap…about $140/day on average, and the trips last about 7 days or so. But pretty cool all the same. Really fun idea. Old skool.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Hey Mark!
My dad used to work on the container freighters and I had the chance to go with him once. The accommodations were pretty good and passengers typically ate in the officers dining room. Though I suppose eating with the sailors could be even more interesting! Anyway, having been in the holds, especially on a ship that was transporting a few containers full of cured animal hides - the stowaway thing would probably suck more than a little!
It was a great way to see part of Asia with a lot of time to oneself between ports. The downside is that if you are traveling by one boat, you may not get a whole lot of time in port as those things are loaded and unloaded pretty quickly!
July 28th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I always wanted to travel cross country hopping freight trains like a hobo. Stowaway on a ship reminds me of The 3 Stooges doing it and getting sea sick.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Best one is Maris Freighters: http://www.freighter-cruises.com/
You can take them around the world, around the Mediterranean or around the Great Lakes, even to Antarctica. Lots of cruises to choose from. They were the only freighter line to make it into National Geographic Traveler’s 2007 “Tours of a Lifetime” list.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:37 am
Thanks for the tips and comments, y’all! Great stuff. I sure would love to get on a freighter tomorrow for a long trip. Alas…
July 31st, 2008 at 8:53 pm
That is the most PhotoShopped looking image of a boat I have ever seen. Is it actually real? It almost seems impossible that it is a real image.