Imagine seeing the world from a ship and docking in different ports of call around the globe. Can you see yourself popping off the ship in ever chic Monaco? Or even packing up your scuba gear and heading out for a day of diving along the Great Barrier reef in Australia? I think that would be an awesome way to live and see the world. It’s hard to comprehend how that would actually work in my present day life. My 8-year-old would be the victim of home (ship) schooling and my husband would most likely wanna throw himself overboard after a months of not physically being in his office! But, one day I would love to do that.
How do I know this about myself you might be wondering? We spent seven days on The World along the coast of Portugal and Spain recently. The World is a luxurious residential cruise ship that travels the entire world over a two year time span. Think of it as a mega high end floating neighborhood. The “guests” on board are actually residents who own the apartments. For many, this home is most like not their one and only. There are residents from places like Texas and the Congo or Britain and Utah. Some, like myself, are Exclusive Resort’s members who enjoy a trip on board when we can get a highly sought after place during the leg of a journey that we want to be a part of!
We boarded The World in Lisbon, Portugal. I’ve traveled to many destinations in Europe but this was my first visit to Lisbon!
The World was docked near the Ponte de 25 Abril suspension bridge. And yes, it looks very similar to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. FYI -The Ponte de 25 Abril bridge is the longest of its type in Europe.
Our time was short in Lisbon so I do what I like to do best, first! We found some food and beverages!
Maybe it was the jet lag and over load of sangria, but I was not overly impressed with Lisbon. The one thing that stood out in my mind were the beautiful tiled buildings. They are stunning. As are the hand painted tile murals that can be found all over this city.
We set sail late one night and I knew immediatley that we were heading into some rough water. Needless to say, I was ill and horizontal for over 24 hours. The only thing worse than sea sickness is morning sickness! When the seas calmed down and we cruised closer to Ferol, Spain, I drug myself up onto the top deck of The World and took in this amazing sunset from the Bali beds.
Profoundly hung over from being sea sick, I finally got off The World in Ferol, Spain on Sunday afternoon. Just in time for the weekly market and octopus boil. The market sounded fantastic. The octopus? Not so much. I was still on a diet of crackers and water! But I’m journalist who loves a photo op and couldn’t let this pass me by. Although the thought of the moment when I actually took this photo still makes my stomach flip!
If you travel enough, there will come a time when you get sick. Really sick. And can’t take in all that there is to do where ever you are. This happened to me in Ferol. I wish I had an amazing bit of advice to offer to you about Ferol, but I do not. I can tell you this though. Everything in Ferol on Sunday is closed with the exception of a few restaurants.
I was more than ready to head to Bordeax. The captain navigated The World down the Garonne River to Bordeaux.
With a ship full of oenophiles, there were lots of people on deck sipping wine checking out the vineyards as we made our way down the river. We learned all about the regional wines from the chateaus that were lined up along the river.
The World garnered a rather large group of on-lookers as we docked along the river in the heart of Bordeaux.
With my land legs back under me and an appetite for some real food, we set out for dinner. The World’s concierge Pierre highly recommended Le Garbrielle which was a short walk away from our new floating home. Dinner was well, you can see for yourself…
When you have to rely on your waiter to translate the menu for you, sometimes you end up with things like fancy pants sea urchin for dinner. I speak a little Spanish and but no French other than joie de vivre, y’all! I could only eat one of them, much less all three. When the waiter returned to the table, he asked me if this was my first time eating sea urchin. I told him it was my first time eating this version of the fishy dish. And he says in his smug, French accent, “and I’lll assume your last time?” “Indeed, sir,” I replied. “But I’ll take another glass of that Chateau Brown white wine!”
The wine and dessert were the winner of the evening. Shocker, right? I even had some of the Chateau Brown shipped back home.
Bordeaux was such a beautiful city. We had a great time just walking around the city. We didn’t have a huge agenda which is not normally the way I ltravel. I did have one small agenda. I came across a list of sought after European beauty products and picked up a few along the way. I typically scout out all of the best places to shop and dine. But for many reasons on this trip, I just decided to wing it. I found some great food wine. I also found some great shops shoes!
The most impressive part of this European adventure was our apartment on The World.
Here is small peak into what it looked like. We had a lot of space in the two bedrooms and the living and dining rooms. This is not your typical “cruise ship” experience. The only similarities between a cruise ship and The World is that they both float and carry a lot of people. That is really where it ends! I’ll have more about the details on The World in another post.
And I leave you with a few of my favorite Instagram photos and selfie’s of me and my traveling partner in crime!
Traveling has been a huge part of my life for the last 10 years. But there is truly no. place. like. home! Or even JFK International. Instagram’s filters a.k.a. ‘smoke and mirrors’ makes everyone look photo ready after the longest of trans Atlantic flights!
Travel. It is part of my joie de vivre, y’all.