Life Outside the Loop: At sea

First of all, Happy Birthday Jane! I hope you have a great one.

I started of this morning doing the On Board for the Cure 5k Walk. Holland America has been raising money for the Susan G. Komen foundation for a couple of years and raised over $1 million. I signed up, got my t-shirt, and joined a big crowd on the 3^rd floor walking deck. One lap is 1/3 of a mile so our 5k was just over 9 laps.

Other than that I’ve been sunning and lounging around today. For a solo traveler, I definitely have more fun out in the cities, but find on board time relaxing. After several hours out in the sun while in port, your energy tends to get zapped for evenings. Luckily, I’ve had no problems at all with seasickness. I lose my balance every now and then if the seas are rough, but things have been pretty calm in the Mediterranean Sea.

There are roughly 1900 passengers onboard and about 1 crewmember for every 2 guests. Even with those high numbers, the boat feels smaller than I expected. The majority of guests are American and Canadian, but there are also lots of Europeans, Australians, and Kiwis. I would say about 80% of people are over 70, so that leaves about 300-400 under. There are very few children and I would estimate 100 or so people in my age range.

I leave you with some pictures from around the boat. Tomorrow we are in Malta, a country about 60 miles south of Sicily in between Italy and Africa.