Author Archives: trickiedickny

  • A Day Lost!

    October 13, 2012

    Leave a comment

    International Dateline, South Pacific…how can a day just vanish?

    After a picture perfect sail away under cotton candy clouds from Samoa, the m/s Volendam made its way further south into South Pacific waters on our way to our next Polynesian port of call, Fiji!

    The captain announced that at midnight we would be crossing the International Dateline and our clocks would advance forward exactly 24 hours…meaning Friday October 12, 2013 would not exist for us. We would go from Thursday directly to Saturday! This seems so weird!

    I have traveled to Asia many times via plane and have experienced the loss of a day, but this seemed so very different! It’s confusing trying to keep time compared to the rest of the world…presently we are suddenly 17 hours ahead of my home of New York City!

    We still have one more line to cross this voyage…the 180 degree longitude line which will transport us into the Eastern Hemisphere! That last right of passage will occur in 2 more days.

    The best part of traveling in this old school style of sea travel is jet lag is not a problem to contend with as we change time zones, dates, and hemispheres!

    20121012-200215.jpg

    20121012-200243.jpg

  • Off the Beaten Path to Inspiration!

    October 12, 2012

    Leave a comment

    Pago Pago, American Samoa…I met a Samoan artist today who paints tropically inspired geometric prints on tree bark similar to Mud Cloth.

    I loved the spirit of this elderly artist who has been creating her art for decades in this traditional Samoan technique!

    I thought these were chic and modern looking prints with gorgeous bronzed color that would be just as gorgeous hanging on the wall as it would make of-the-moment fashion!

    The world’s cultures are full of inspiration! Today I got a dose of some tropical chic, South Pacific style!

    20121011-181102.jpg

    20121011-181126.jpg

  • Island Explorer!

    October 12, 2012

    3 Comments

    Pago Pago, American Samoa…we arrived this morning to the lush green island of Tutuila in the remote archipelago of the Samoan Islands! It’s great to be on land again, but this island that is seemingly off the map makes me feel like Giligan after being shipwrecked during that famous “three hour tour”…

    Not too many ships stop here, so the entire town seemed to show up for our arrival!

    I headed to Tisa’s Beach for a day on the sand. Nothing prepared me for the surreal beauty of this location; a barefoot bar hut built on a crescent of unspoiled beach! I truly feel like an explorer who just discovered a place all my own! Samoa means “sacred Earth” and this beach delivers that in spades..

    The water is bathtub warm filled with glorious fish and coral and the sands have wreaths of fauna that have washed ashore! I took some time for arts and crafts on the beach, spelling out the name of this sacred place in leaves, fauna, nuts, and flowers that I found on the sand…

    Back on Tisa’s, lunch is served! The Samoan people are so kind and extremely welcoming and they were anxious to share their Samoan delicacies prepared beneath coconut leaves and hot rocks. Tarot, coconut, and bananas cooked with turkey, lamb, and pork for hours until all is falling apart tender!

    Even though I may feel like a rare explorer, my days at sea have brought me to this island that many hearty travelers before me have visited and gone on to tell tales of for years…like James Michener who came here to write his 1946 classic “Tales of the South Pacific”.

    20121011-162315.jpg

    20121011-162328.jpg

    20121011-162351.jpg

    20121011-162403.jpg

    20121011-162424.jpg

    20121011-162437.jpg

    20121011-162458.jpg

    20121011-162510.jpg

  • Rock the Boat!

    October 11, 2012

    Leave a comment

    Somewhere in the South Pacific…today is the fifth consecutive sea day in our journey, as the m/s Volendam makes it way towards Samoa. It’s been beautiful for days, if not a bit too hot…but today was a different story!

    I woke up a few times throughout the night feeling the roll of the ship, but in a way that rocking just adds to the amazing amounts of deep sleep I have I had so far on board! When I finally awoke, I peered outside to gray skies above and rain drenching the open decks.

    This entire day has been spent lazily do nothing as the ship pitched and rolled. I had found my sea legs but at times standing upright and walking in a straight line seemed totally elusive! The captain has slowed down a bit to lessen the impact of the rough sea. Yet this is just a minor wave compared to what has been experienced by some of the more seasoned sailors that I have spoken to on board…the decks remain open and besides not being able to use the outdoor pool all is the same as usual besides a bit of unsteady passengers!
    20121010-193055.jpg20121010-193120.jpg20121010-193129.jpg

  • Thoughts on Legacy!

    October 10, 2012

    2 Comments

    At Sea…during this long voyage, Holland America has tried to up the ante on entertainment; Lorna Luft and The Drifters have been headliners. These entertainers are not of my era and I was not particularly drawn to either of them.

    Surprisingly, I was struck by Lorna Luft’s personal insight. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and the sister to Liza Minnelli. She has written a best selling book, produced an Emmy award winning mini-series, and starred on Broadway. Yet it wasn’t her accolades that struck me, rather it was her candid conversation about “Legacy” and her difficulties in coming to terms with her own Legacy that has sorta hit me smack dab between the eyes!

    Legacy is a funny yet larger than life word, one I don’t use much in my own vocabulary. Ms. Luft discussed how she ran from being defined as the daughter of an American Icon and for years ignored the huge legacy that bestowed on her. Once she faced that daunting task, she needed to stop running and stake her own personal legacy, independent of the one of her birth! She said it’s not until people are in their 40’s that they begin to understand their parents and it’s then they really face their own issue of personal Legacy! Wow, how true!

    This trip in a way has been my own journey towards understanding my own Legacy! First by traveling to Poland to see where my father came from and then having serious “me-time” to come to terms with the reality of how far I have come…

    Now I look forward to where I am going; my passions, my talents, my observations, and my desires coming together to form the next step of my life. Getting away and wandering the world is getting me ready to start the course towards cementing MY OWN LEGACY!

    20121010-103027.jpg

  • Crossing the Line!

    October 9, 2012

    2 Comments

    Crossing the Equator at Sea…early this morning we sailed right past the Equator’s line into the southern Hemisphere! Crossing this line is commemorated by an age old tradition known as the King Neptune Ceremony.

    This initiation rite originally celebrated by the Dutch Merchant Navy was meant to boost morale on long ocean voyages and mark a sailors first crossing of the Equator. Pollywogs are the sailors new to the equator crossing and Shellbacks are the experienced ones. This is not a silly cruise ship gimmick, but a sailing tradition performed by even the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, as well as passenger cruise ships!

    King Neptune presides over the festivities with pirates, mermaids, sea urchins, you name it! Historically these ships were all male vessels, so men were dressed up as women for the ceremony…nothing like a sailor in drag!

    The idea is to embarrass the virgin sailors and put them through some form of public torture…kissing a smelly fish, being locked up in a cage, abused and soiled with spoiled food, and being dunked in water or left to bake in the hot sun.

    Held under an extremely brutal equatorial sun on the open deck, it’s a lot of fun but also serious sea faring tradition for the normally superstitious officers and sailors! Luckily for me, I could participate as an onlooker escaping the messy torture…but I woulda gladly done a little drag for the cause if needed!

    The oceans hold many age old myths and centuries old tales…what fun being initiated into this special club of those who have “crossed the line”!

    20121009-115752.jpg

    20121009-115823.jpg

    20121009-115855.jpg

    20121009-120008.jpg

  • Nautical Family History

    October 9, 2012

    2 Comments

    At Sea…when I was visiting my parents recently in Chicago, my mother was telling me stories about her 1954 immigration journey to the United States aboard the cruise ship Rotterdam.

    The rough seas, her sister’s sea sickness, and their eventual arrival in the then seedy port of Hoboken make for an interesting story. I think the bravery of leaving a familiar small home town and arriving in a big unknown country whose language you don’t speak as a young naive 20 year old is really awe inspiring!

    I walked down the hall of the ship I am sailing and realize the walls feature a photo documentary of the exact ship my mother sailed from that same era! The m/s Rotterdam is a historic vessel in the fleet of the sailing company that has grown over the years into the cruise-line, Holland America.

    20121008-213520.jpg

    20121008-213930.jpg

  • Sketching on the High Seas!

    October 8, 2012

    7 Comments

    At Sea…I am finding something much more valuable besides just plain relaxing. These several days as we make our way to the South Pacific are allowing me to reconnect with my own passions!

    As a fashion designer for a large label, I rarely had time to do one of the things I loved so much about the fashion business that I have been in for almost 25 years: drawing & sketching! There were illustrators or other staff to do that…I spent my days conceptualizing big ideas, working on colors, picking fabrics, monitoring the design flow, pitching ideas, fitting, and setting the direction. I love all those things as well, but the thing I have done since I was a kid was draw! It was that innate ability to draw that drove me to my career as a fashion designer! I have no idea why at the age of 5, I was able to lie for hours on the floor sketching, while other kids played games and such!

    I am grateful for my talent; it has been this talent that I have relied on my whole life to get by…winning art contests in grammar school, being the artsy kid in high school, and setting myself apart in fashion design school! Getting this uninterrupted time to just sit and doodle, sketch, illustrate, etc. has really reminded me of the gift I have been given! No pressure to create anything that will sell, no pressure to get accolades, and no pressure to impress my fashion peers…just me escaping to my own world of creativity to reconnect with my own self and my craft and skill!

    I love living in fast paced NYC, but being able to check out and get to be somewhere where no one can find me is a another part of this journey to reclaim myself!20121007-145423.jpg20121007-145437.jpg

    20121007-145602.jpg

  • Totally Relaxing!

    October 7, 2012

    1 Comment

    Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean…we departed the dock in Honolulu around 11 pm last night after a great long day in Oahu’s city on the beach!

    The ship will now take 5 days to navigate its way to Pago Pago in the American Samoa, somewhere in the depths of the South Pacific. These upcoming ports are spots I doubt I would ever go to if it weren’t for this Pacific crossing!

    5 days at sea sounds daunting at first, but with blue skies, calm seas, and a hot tropical sun I settle into this first day easily. It is amazing to look in every direction and know its just water for thousands of miles!

    Relaxing like I never truly have before…I am cut off from my iPhone due to a lack of a constant Internet signal, no hundred channel cable tv loaded with mindless programs, and no reliance on telephone chatter for hours of pointless gossip! Without sights to discover, the only thing I have to think about is when to eat next!

    It is great to really shut down by soaking in the endless sea air…I think a few agenda-less days are gonna really cleanse my mind… I am also enjoying the “me-time” reminiscing back over the last three and a half months of adventures, discoveries, and pure fun I have had!

    This voyage has two more weeks remaining before I get to Sydney…I think I am understanding more each day why people swear by this age old tradition of long ocean voyages over quick port intensive cruises!

    20121006-165946.jpg

    20121006-165919.jpg

    20121006-170017.jpg

    20121006-170048.jpg