Author: thestampsinmypassport

A professional serving the travel industry for 25 years. Expertise and knowledge in sales, customer care and knowledge of the world. Sharing my knowledge, travel stories and tales from around the world in an engaging way.

You live you learn, or you miss the boat

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This morning while getting ready for work, I was watching morning television and they were discussing an unfortunate experience that eight passengers had while cruising on Norweigan cruise lines in Africa. As the story was told, these passengers booked a private tour (not from the ship) and the tour ran late and by the time they arrived back at the ship, it was too late. Even though the ship was still tendered in the port, the last tender had arrived at the ship they were departing without the passengers.

I had so many thoughts as I watched this piece on tv this morning and have since read reports from different sources on line. As much as I feel badly for these folks, I have to be honest, I feel the same way as I feel about those who do not buy insurance when they travel, risks are risks. Booking an independent private tour when you are in port is risking, if your tour runs into delays, the ship does not know where you are, or who you are with. They have a fixed, finite time when they have to pull out of port. Period. Full stop.

I should include that this was not a cruise itinerary that was docking in Nassau Bahamas for the day, where you can easily get around on your own, and do not have to take a tour from the ship. This was a three week cruise in Africa. This port was the Central African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe (yes I had to google it). This is an island and the guests missed the last tender back to the ship. The story continues with the passengers travelling through six African countries to catch up with the ship. They are still not back on board, but hope to be when the ship arrives in Senegal today.

This is a story that happens probably more than you would think, and if it weren’t for the fact that this happened in Africa, I am not sure if it would be newsworthy. If someone missed the ship in Nassau and the next port was Jamaica, they would hop on a plane and catch up with the ship. It almost happened to my aunt and I in Barcelona.

We were docked in Barcelona for the day and took the hop on hop off bus, as I recommend to everyone to do in any city that has one. We ended our self directed tour by spending time in Las Ramblas. If you have ever been to Barcelona you know how much fun that area is and how you could very easily lose track of time. We did just that. It became a scene out of amazing race, walking as fast as we could back to the ship. There were people on the top deck waving and cheering us on as we approached the ship. We got to the gangway and as soon as we were on board, they pulled it up behind us and the ship left. If we were five minutes later, we would have been waving back at all the passengers on the top deck – from the port!

I always told my cruise clients that excursions can be pricy but should be looked at as part of your trip costs. Plan and book in advance, as popular excursions will sell out with the cruise line. If you book with the cruise line, the ship knows where you are and your bus is at all times. They will know if you are going to be late and they will adjust the times accordingly. If you book on your own, it really is buyer beware, the ship will not know where you are and as these people found out, will not wait for you if you are late.

There will be some PR fall out for the cruise line, but all passengers have now joined the ship when it arrived in Dakar, Senegal. They will have a story to last a lifetime, and in time, they will find a laugh in the crazy time they had on their African Adventure!

life is but a dream!

Code name Mr. Darcy

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Attending a funeral is never an easy thing to do. We attend out of love and respect for the person who has passed away and the family they are leaving behind. With the opporotunites of technology, many more are able to attend virtually if they are not able to attend in person.

Walking into to the chapel is daunting. Where is the right place to sit? I won’t really get to see the family so do I sit forward, back? Then you sit. You look forward at the casket and the wonderful Chevra Kadisha representative protecting your loved one. Some people are talking, but mostly it is a time of quiet reflection before the service starts.

Then you look over to the side of the room, and you know the family is in the room, also preparing in quiet reflection about what is about to happen and how their life is forever changed. It is a guarded room, the funeral home staff take great care in protecting the family before the service starts. If they let everyone that “just wanted to give a hug” to a mourner, the whole chapel would be in the room.

Your personal funeral director explains all of this to you, but you only hear half of what you are being told. But what you do hear is that if you would like someone outside of the immediate mourning family members, you need to give them a code. When they approach the room, if they give the code, they can enter the room. No code, no entry.

When my father passed away in November, we were given the code. It is a moment of levity in such a hard situation. You reach out to the few people you would like to see before the service starts and tell them the code.

I didn’t give much thought to the code back in November, but when my Uncle passed away this week, my cousin texted me and said, of course you can be (enter code here). It was then that I actually thought about the code. It was the same code as we used for my dad in November. I understand how many funerals happen each day/week/month, but I would have thought four months later, the code would be different.

When I entered the chapel on Wednesday I was looking for my mom, who was already in the family room. I saw a few people I would have liked to say hello to, but it was not the time. I approached the locked door of the family room and gave the code. I entered and was able to hug and give condolences to my family. After a few minutes, I stepped out of the room, I remember how I felt just a few short months ago and how it was a time to collect your thoughts. I was going to speak at my Uncle’s service, the same as I spoke in honour of my dad.

These two experiences, so close together, have really given me perspective on the family room. If you receive a code from a friend or family member, consider it a honour.

BTW – the code isn’t Mr. Darcy. I wanted to protect the integrity of the Funeral home and their process.

Shabbat Shalom y’all

December begins, a look back at 2023

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When the calendar turns to December each year, like many I would suppose, I start to look back at the year that was and evaluate. As the song from Rent says, 525,600 minutes, how to you measure a year. Those are a lot of minutes to measure and often we focus on a few of those moments, good or bad and those are what stand out the most.

I was scrolling through the photos on my phone this morning and looked at January 1st 2023. My dear friends were in town from BC and we had an incredible meal at ‘our spot’, The Keg. Filled with bubbles, escargot, stuffed mushrooms, and surf and turf. As we ate and drank we talked about my new job (was pretty new at the time) and how perfect a job it was for me and how much I had to look forward to in the days ahead.

Moving forward in the year, was an incredible trip to Europe in May. It was a trip a few years in the making, plans that covid took away from me more than once. Italy has had my heart for many years, and I was finally able to experience Rome for three incredible days. I was blown away at the Vatican and St. Peter. The next day, I was in absolute awe of the Colosseum. Being able to walk through the underground for the first time in history, and then climbing out of the darkness to stand on the stage in the centre of the arena, there aren’t really words to describe the feeling. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to experience Rome and the amazing cities on the cruise.

In the summer I travelled back to the island I love, Jamaica. For those of you who have travelled with me, you know I am not a beach person. I would much prefer a beautiful pool, with comfortabe lounge chairs. My friend thought ahead and brought us floaties for the ocean and even though the bottom was a bit murky, there was very little seaweed and I really enjoyed floating in the Caribbean Sea. I am not sure if I am converted to the ocean, but I came, I saw and I enjoyed.

We also had a wonderful experience at the Chabad of Jamaica. I had the opportunity to meet the Rabbi from Jamaica on a visit in 2019 and was happy that we were staying close to their new Chabad House just outside of Montego Bay. In 2014, they opened the Chabad house, 100 years after the community Synagouge closed due to lack of congregants. We decided we would have Shabbat at Chabad. We had a tour of the synagouge and the Rabbi was especially proud of the Mikva that they built on the property. After 400 years of Jewish people settling on the island of Jamaica, they have their first Mikva. It was beautiful. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with the Rabbi, Rebbitzen and their family, as well as locals and other visitors to the island. This was my second visit to Chabad of Jamaica, and as long as I continue to go to Jamaica and stay near the Chabad House, I will go back.

I think the goal of Chabad of Jamaica is appropriate for this time in our lives. It says, “Our goal: is to strengthen Jewish awareness and pride for the Jewish residence, and the thousands of visitors to Jamaica, regardless of background or affiliation. To spread acts of goodness and kindness to all humanity!”

Amen. Am Israel Chai

Shabbat Shalom,