Travelling on a Ship
Travelling to distant places - by ship or by aircraft?
Just like so often within the last days, I am standing at the rail of the ship and watching the sea go by. Never-ending vastnesses and nothing but sea and sky. I am just fulfilling my greatest dream of my childhood: to travel into the world by sea.
Half a year ago the decision was made that I would go to Ecuador. Since I wanted to make myself experience something especially beautiful, I made my mind up to travel by ship. I went from one travel agency to the other. But nowhere did they have any offer for me. To South America by sea? No. Faces try to hide their surprise. Who knows, perhaps those people consider me an unrealistic dreamer? That would not be for the first time, by far not.
But now I have reached the aim of years' yearning: I am on a cargo vessel bound for Ecuador. Passenger ships have long abandoned from going this route. But some cargo ships use the cabins that became free by rationalisation for giving rides to as many as two to twelve passengers. And those ships cannot usually be found through common travel agencies, but through specialized cargo vessel travel agencies.
So now I am an inhabitant of a board cabin. I even have a bathroom of my own, including shower and toilet. Besides I have got several upholstered chairs, a table and a deckchair. And, of course, meals included in the price. Rarely if ever have I spent my holidays with comparable luxury. But now: three weeks in a luxury class hotel.
At this point I would like to stop my report of a marvellous journey. Now shall follow some thoughts about the ship as an alternative to the common way of going by aircraft.
Sometimes I am asked why I travelled by ship. Whether I did that for environmental reasons? Sure, this aspect is worth some consideration: that the ship contributes less (if at all) to the destruction of the ozone layer and thus to skin cancer. But another very important point is - what is too often forgotten in a world polluted by ideologies - the joie de vivre. And that, no doubt, is much easier to find on board a ship than in an aeroplane!
Well, who travels long distances by sea? Do people have too much fear of going by sea? Going by plane certainly is no less dangerous. ("Oh, I can't swim too well!" Well, neither can I swim very well, but fly? Well, I cannot do that at all.) Do people put too much value on comfort? Do not tell me anybody that in an aeroplane there is more comfort than on board a ship!
Do people have too little time? Seems like this is the reason for most Central Europeans not to travel by sea. The rural Ecuadoreans with their completely different understanding of time, well, they would have the time or, as I should prefer to say, they would take the time if just they had the money. Quotation from a compañero: "Si se tiene el dinero, se tiene el tiempo" - "If you've got the money, then you've got the time". Yes, but in our culture you are supposed always to stress that you do not have time - for who has time, could be prejudiced as lazy. And whoever does not have time, is thought to be important.
Frequently I am asked whether going by ship is cheaper than going by aeroplane. The clear answer is: Yes! For the ship I payed 40,- Euros per day. For a plane you pay about 25,- Euros per hour. How much greater will the difference appear to you taking into account that the ship is a luxurious hotel in which I can enjoy the three weeks of holidays whereas a seat in a plane cannot even compete with a makeshift shelter!
Mostly people react with great surprise about the way I calculate: "So all in all it is more expensive?" Sure, of course three weeks in a luxurious hotel are altogether more expensive than 16 hours on an uncomfortable seat! "But first you must have the time!" No doubt. But when I spend my holidays in the Alps or on Mallorca Island, I do not pay any less for three weeks in a luxurious hotel than for 16 hours in a makeshift shelter - arguing that the three weeks of time I must have to do that …
Well, the holidays do not start only when I reach South America. When I arrived at Guayaquil (the main harbour of Ecuador), I had already passed three weeks of great holidays. That great even that I did not fear any toils to be able to return also by sea rather than air. Moreover I had the opportunity to get slowly used to the unknown climate instead of suddenly being thrown into another world.
Sure, if you want to travel as far away as possible every year to collect as many destinations as possible in as short a time as possible with which you can find as much admiration and acknowledgement as possible from as many people as possible, then you do not have the time to enjoy the journey till the destination. But then you neither have the time to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for the foreign country with its culture and its people. Who could then be astonished that the travellers often behave against the native people like bulls in a china shop? And scoff at the native way of living and economizing - often well adapted to the ecological background - as "underdevelopped", the country as a "developping country"? To feel themselves as members of a culture "more highly developped" and in that way find the affirmation that in dayly life cannot be found?
Do you want to have interesting experiences on your holidays and extend your mental horizon? Or do you simply want to flee dayly life for a short period of time and afterwards continue your dayly routine with just the same stupor as before? In the latter case you must of course travel at least once a year by aircraft to a foreign world bound to stay foreign forever. In the former case on the contrary you should rather not travel into another foreign world year by year because that would certainly exceed your mental capacities.
Do not mistake me as willing to spoil your enjoyment of your journey. But why not take the bicycle and ride through your home country? I know from my own country, Germany, that such a way of travelling is also very delightful! Who knows the considerable wealth of their own country? Or will it provoke more admiration from your friends if you tell them: "Two years ago I was in India, last year in Indonesia, this year in Ecuador - of course not without visiting the Galapagos Islands"? In two or three weeks collecting as many touristic sights as possible, and never in your life the same country twice …
Tips for Travelling
Booking a journey on a cargo vessel
If you want to travel by cargo ship, you should best contact a cargo vessel travel agency. Here are two of those in Germany:
Frachtschiff-Touristik-International, Marschall 2, D-24376 Hasselberg, Phone ++49/4642/6686, Fax ++49/4642/6820.
Frachtschiffs-Seereisen, Postfach 1120, D-23677 Scharbeutz, Phone ++49/4503/73675, Fax ++49/4503/74437.
To the western coast of South America there are among others the Polish Ocean Lines (Polskie Linie Oceaniczne) who take passengers. To the eastern coast and to other parts of the earth there are other (mostly more expensive) lines.
Health precaution
Since there is no doctor on a cargo vessel, good health is an unconditioned necessity for a cargo ship journey. The medicinal board equipment including remedies is said to be very good. Recommendations and prescriptions for vaccinations depend on the route you go.
Harbours to get on board
Depending on the line there are different harbours to start the journey. The most important one on the European continent is Hamburg. Other important harbours for travelling the Atlantic Ocean are Bremen, Bremerhaven, Antwerp und Rotterdam.
Even to the Mediterranean Sea (and partly passing the Suez Canal), there are some lines that start from the named harbours. But you can also get aboard e. g. at Marseille, Genova or La Spezia.
