Random Tidbits

 Once we were at the hotel in Barcelona, Rich and Ginny came over to drink the wine we’d been wanting to share. Which turned out to be 5 bottles. Anyway, Ginny was telling us the story of when she took over for Jason when he went into the clink with me. She said, “I went up to James and told him Jason was now in the clink  and I was the man. James gave me the wine and then I went to the front desk and went up to Sylvia and said, “I’m working the underground now. I gotta get these bottles delivered.” I cannot stop laughing at this! “I’m working the underground now” and they knew what she meant and what to do!!! AMAZING. 

Shortly before we got off the boat, before Jason was in the clink but covid was already all the rage, he went to use the restroom down on the main piazza level (where most people hang out). He saw two grown men come out from the stalls of the bathroom, not wash their hands, and then walk directly to their tables where they continued eating and drinking their food. How is this still a thing in the year of our Lord 2022? Not even a covid thing, just a that is so dang gross thing. And generally, most people know to be more careful on cruises…but not all people.

Yesterday, I went down to the new Vines, aka the 1st floor patio at the Eurostar Grand Marina Hotel, and was walking to meet up with the crew for happy hour when a bartender ran up to me. 

“Miss?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve heard you didn’t pay for your bottle of wine yesterday.”

I just stand there looking at him. Is this real? What’s happening right now?

“Oh.”

“Would you like to pay?”

“I would like to pay, yes.”

Oh my word!!! So, we bought a bottle to start with and they brought it out to us on the patio along with the wine glasses. We then opened some of the bottles we bought and sat there for hours talking. By the time we went in, we brought all the bottles and glasses in but the woman who had brought the rose was long gone and clearly we weren’t thinking about that first bottle of rose. But, worse! We saw that lady who gave it to us at breakfast and lunch time and she didn’t say anything to us. ACK! So embarrassing. 

Breakfast is free here at the Eurostar Grand Marina. And man, is it awesome! Imagine all the things. A huge selection of fresh fruit, all the baked goods, eggs and all that, full salad bar, the best meat, cheese, and bread you’ve ever seen. Little baby bottles of olive oil. Fresh squeezed juices. Champagne, which is called Cava here. Holy cow. Oh- all the fresh made coffee drinks. So anyway, now I apparently eat salad for breakfast. With champagne. And a tiny little bite of cheesecake. And the world’s most amazing ham. A slice of manchego cheese. With a cappuccino. This is who I am now. A European! 

We’re enjoying the wine here still. One very interesting thing is that since Spanish wine is still new to us, we generally don’t know what anything is. So, we walk into a place and sit down. When the waiter comes up we say,” white wine” or “red wine” and they say ok and then a bottle arrives. In the US, the waiter would want to know exactly which one you want. Here, it’s like oh, a white wine. Cool. I’ll bring one. And if you’re a jaded American like me and reading this, you’re probably thinking - ha! I bet they bring you the most expensive thing on the menu. You would be wrong. 

The only bottle we’ve had yet that we haven’t liked (here in Spain) is this bottle of red we bought yesterday for all of 5 euros. Now, sure, that’s crazy cheap, but we bought 3 other bottles in the same price range and those were all good. This particular one was, unfortunately, sweet. And somehow also smelled like oregano. In sommelier, this means it was absolutely disgusting. 

Our, ahem, extended stay here in Spain means we really ought to be doing laundry. There is a laundry service here in the hotel but the prices are radically absurd. Literally 9 euros to wash pajamas. Whatever pajamas even is. 5 euros to wash a pair of underwear. A whole load of laundry would end up costing $75 bucks!! So, I did what anyone would do- I looked around at my options. Do I have a lot of shower gel or hand soap? Why, yes. Do I have a good sink? I mean, it’s decent. Do I have hot water? Yup. Also, just saying, I have a separate bidet. I know what you’re thinking but also this isn’t my first clothes washing in a bidet rodeo. Oh, no. I lived in Brazil for two summers and regularly washed my clothing…and not my booty…in the bidet. Shoot, at 17 years of age, I’d never seen a bidet and I sure wasn’t going to just attempt to wash my lady parts in there. Honestly, just looking at the thing, I couldn't even visualize how that would work. But, basically it is a basin with water and that’s really what you need to wash your clothes, so…whatever. I’m pro bidet these days, BTW, and if you need some counseling on it, I’m your gal. But those stand alone ones still freak me out. 

Anyway, so we’ve been washing some clothes. The washing isn’t bad but the drying stinks. We don’t really have anywhere to hang things to dry. We certainly have a lot of wind blowing in thanks to a lovely spring storm that popped up to help. Suffice it to say, washing a couple of t-shirts, socks and underwear is ok. Washing jeans and sweatshirts is not going to work. Ew. Never would have thought I’d miss doing laundry!!!

Moving the Clink: Misinformation meets Disinformation

 So, I woke up early on the last morning. Watched as the Regal Princess gently cruised into dock one last time. I love watching that. Never gets old. I ordered up one last flat white and just sat there quietly sipping. I will miss life at sea.

As the 8-9 am time range got close, my brain apparently died. I knew this was the time they would move the clink, but I was still unclear what I was supposed to do…being not in the clink. I decided to go ahead and clear out of my room at 8, because the paperwork that came to the regular rooms asked that we do that. I only had my backpack and one other small tote bag, so this was no big deal. I thought I’d go sit by the gangway, maybe have a breakfast cocktail, and wait until I saw Jason and then jump up and join him. 

This was going smoothly until Jason asked me if I was supposed to stay in my room. I was like I don’t know. He said they told you to. I said…they did? 

So, I was pulling up Crew Chat to ask if anyone knew or cared where I was when all the sudden, here comes Wendy and a boat officer! She said, “What are you doing?” I laughed. “Clearly, I have no idea what I’m doing!” She said, “Why did you leave without saying goodbye?” Awww.

Turns out, I was supposed to wait. Anyway, the officer took me to the clink and dropped me off with Jason. I mean, why not? I got to hug Wendy goodbye first and thank her for taking such great care of us.

Now together in the clink, we were doing what you always do, which is to say we were watching Bull and feeling despair. I thought about ordering that breakfast cocktail but I kept thinking they’d come get us any minute.

Around 9:15, we finally get a knock on the door. There are two dudes and a luggage cart. They cram all our stuff on the cart and take off walking fast. Finally one looks back at us, still standing in our doorway. Come on, he says with just a wave. 

Alright then.

We continue walking very quickly. It’s like they didn’t want any germs to fall off so the plan was GET OUT FAST. When we got to the main elevator area, there was an officer or crew member standing all around to make sure no healthy passenger who might still accidentally be on the boat could possibly interact with us. Not a bad idea!

Turns out there is a separate gangway for the sickos. Also not a bad idea. Had I continued to sit at the gangway on 6, I never would have seen Jason walk off. We very unceremoniously walked off. I stopped for a moment to look back and take a quick picture. It wasn’t a great picture, but I still wanted to capture the moment for some reason. Maybe it just didn’t feel right to rush right off leaving behind 36 days of insane memories without…any notice of it.

Once inside the terminal building, the most interesting thing happened. We were in a very large room with nothing in it except the clink people. They wheeled in the luggage cart- immediately inside the doors- unpacked it and left us standing there with everything. Ok. What now?

We assessed the situation. Everyone else was standing or sitting there with all their stuff. No one was moving or talking. The terminal of despair meets the clink. Good times. 

And then, just when you think things can’t get crazier - everything just went absolutely nuts. I’d say we’d been standing around for 30 minutes or so with literally no idea what was supposed to be happening when this lovely lady with a very unfortunately quiet voice attempted to address the giant terminal clink room.

“Hello,” she whispered to all of us and none of us at the same time. 

“Hello,” she tried again. This time sort of waving one hand in everyone’s general direction.

“Please come close and gather around.” 

Um, what?

Some random, very angry man yells, “We aren’t supposed to be close together.”

“Well, I don’t want to yell.”

There you have it. 

We all move in.

The first bomb drops.

“I am here to take you to the hotel. In the last couple of days, Spain has moved from pandemic to endemic. This means you don’t have to quarantine.”

What?

“The hotel doesn’t know that you have COVID. Please don’t tell them.”

Wait. What now? What happened to everything we’d been told about quarantining in the hotel, the doctor coming daily to test, the family advocate person that is supposed to check on us every day?

Now it’s her turn. “What? I don’t know about any of that.”

What?

I cannot express to you with all the words in all the languages I know the shock and awe and confusion going on. 

On the one hand - wait. We don’t have to be quarantined? We can…go and do whatever we want?

On the other hand- what do you mean you don’t know about any of the stuff we were told was going to happen?

This poor lady. Her entire job was just to get us to the hotels. But I’ll tell you one thing right now, if you think a large group of bitter and angry old people are going to handle this total lack of communication and mixed messaging well…you would be very wrong. 

As they say, the shit was hitting the fan.

So, people start yelling out things. Questions. Random “facts”. Things they’ve heard. I mean, it was a disaster. The poor lady pretty quickly realized this was not going to end well and called…someone. I really wonder who. People started doing the thing they do where they don’t care that 50 other people just want to go to the hotel, they are going to hold everyone up while they ask an extremely specific question to the very wrong person. Does the lady who just needs to get us on a bus to the hotel know about your letter from your doctor? I’ll bet you ALL THE MONEY IN THE WHOLE WORLD she does not. And, she will not. Also, would you please just be quiet and let us move on? No. No, they will not be quiet.

The cool people pretty quickly found each other. There were like…5 of us. Two were a younger couple from Washington State. And guess what? Her dad was the guy directing traffic in the hallway outside the medical center that I met when I went to get my paperwork. Ha! Full circle again!

Finally, we were able to move forward with going to the hotel. Our beleaguered lady says, “I need 30 people on the first bus.”

Lady. You are killing me. You’ve clearly never tried to move large amounts of people. This is a science. I happen to excel at it which is English for me feeling exceedingly judgemental. 

Finally she decided to call out the names of 15 couples. Aha! Brilliant! But then the humans decided to human and we were stuck again. She called this one couple and they didn’t want to go on that bus. They wanted to stay till the second bus because they wanted to go with their friends. I mean - are you serious right now? This is literally a 4 minute ride. But, our lady was like ok fine. And then, inexplicably, about one minute later the declining couple decided they were going on that bus and so were their friends. So they all got up to get in line. Never mind that additional people had already been called. Which meant there were not enough seats on the bus now.

We stood in the back watching this and thinking, “Man, this just keeps getting better.” It always pays to stay chill and not be in a hurry.

Oh, and I forgot this gem- the people who changed their minds and went ahead to get on the bus anyway couldn’t carry their own luggage. They walked up to poor lady person and were like, “Who is going to carry our luggage?” She said, “You are.” Wrong answer. Oh, they were mad. Stomped off yelling. I realize they packed more than they could carry, but this poor lady is not a luggage porter. It’s really not her fault or her problem. 

So, we finally get on our bus. There were only 10 of us on it. We drive the amazing 4 minutes to the hotel and everyone gets off and gathers their luggage. As we start to walk in, a nice guy from the first bus lets us know that there are something like 50 people in line to check in so we might as well get comfy and wait a bit. Fine with us. We’re tired of being near this rude and cranky crowd. 

We took turns manning the luggage (Chilean pickpockets!) and wandering off to see what was around. There was a little coffee shop right next door that looked cool but we had no idea if it was open. This is something that seems normal in Europe. No hours posted. No way to really just look at it and tell. It’s confusing!

Finally, the line moved enough that we got in and before too long we had checked in and dropped our bags off. No rooms would be ready till 3. It was around noon at that point. I was really regretting that I hadn’t eaten breakfast or taken a shower. This is not how I thought the day would go. I actually thought Princess would have handled everything at the hotel and someone would just hand us our keys and we’d walk right into our quarantine rooms. Instead, we were unleashed in Barcelona with hours to kill and lots of COVID to spread. Good times.

We wandered around looking for a restaurant that wasn’t crowded because Jason was really worried about giving anyone COVID. We found one and got a table with lots of distance and got some food ordered. It was nice being able to just sit and linger there. We got back to the hotel around 4 and went to get our keys and our room still wasn’t ready. Man. We kept our spirits up and stayed gracious which was such a joy to the front desk clerk that she gave us free drink coupons for the bar. Score! So, we wandered up to the bar and had a great glass of rose while we continued to wait.

Finally, we were in our room. I’m guessing it was 5 by then. Remember how the day began…with me up early watching the boat dock. I felt like I’d lived an entire lifetime in those 12 hours. 

Now, we were told when we booked the cruise that if we got sick or tested positive, Princess would handle everything and pay for everything. This was the comfort we needed to book. We’d already learned they weren’t necessarily handling everything- at least not that we could tell. And now we were starting to be curious about the payment. They said they would pay for the quarantine hotel. Cool. Except we have to pay for it first and then submit for reimbursement. Thankfully, we can do this. But, what if we couldn't? What if our resources were tapped? What if we didn’t have a credit card to place a 10 day hotel stay on? I asked that question to guest services. He said, ‘I don’t know what to say.” Um. Ok. 

So, we’re currently being told that Princess will reimburse us for the hotel and give each of us $100 euros in a per diem for food. Possibly they will cover other expenses, too, like things needed at the pharmacy, rides to the airport, etc. I certainly hope this is true because I know a lot of really pissed off people.

Jason reached out to the family advocate person as soon as we got in the room. It’s disconcerting that no one seems to be aware of what Princess told us. We really just wanted to verify that the doctor was coming to test everyone every day. Turns out, no. No he is not. No one knew about this at all. Jason pressed it a bit and our ‘advocate’ let us know that she would get back to us Tuesday (we asked on Saturday) because of Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. I didn’t know there was an Easter Monday, but there is here. We said ok but we need that test on Tuesday so we know if we can fly on Wednesday. Spoiler alert. It’s Tuesday now as I type this. 4:30 PM. No one has tested anyone and no one has replied. I’m not sure our advocate is earning her title.

Meantime, we bought some rapid tests at the local pharmacy and have been testing Jason daily. These aren’t good enough tests for the airline to accept, but we figure as soon as he flips to negative, we will take a good test. Those are much more expensive so we don’t want to take those daily. 

Now, most of the mad clink people are in our hotel. Not all- they had to spread the joy around a little. But we keep running into them. I’d be perfectly fine for us to ignore each other. At a bare minimum, I’d be GREAT with not walking up to each other and loudly discussing how everyone has COVID. But can we live like this? We cannot. There are 2 couples in particular…when I see them I keep trying to somehow fall into the earth. It hasn’t worked yet. They stroll up, “HOW’S IT GOING/ STILL TESTING POSITIVE?” while not wearing their masks…and while they themselves are still testing positive. Hey, why not just get on the loud speaker and inform everyone in Barcelona that we have a contagious virus?

Listen, I get that people are tired of COVID and tired of masks and all that. I am, too. But when you know you actively have it, I just can’t see not trying to take a precaution to help others. Just like you would any time you are sick with anything. 

You cannot believe the things we’ve seen.

• People who 100% have COVID removing their masks to sneeze. 

• People sneezing without covering their mouths at all

• One man removed his mask, sneezed into the open, and then yelled out, “You know what they say, if you’ve got it, spread it!” I wanted to punch him in the face then and I honestly think that’s about the time I got COVID (the timing fits) so now I REALLY want to punch him.

• People with COVID who wander around with no masks or not trying to even avoid being close to people. No effort at all. 

• People removing their masks to cough - and turning TOWARDS people while they cough. A lady did that to me yesterday. I know she has COVID because she was in the clink. She turned toward me, removed her mask, and violently coughed. I glared at her while taking very large steps backwards.

• I don’t even care what you believe anymore. I don’t care what you are tired of. I don’t care how you feel- whether you are sick or have symptoms. All I care about is your ability to not just be a flaming jerk wad.

The rumor mill continues to go crazy. No one knows the same things. There is no consistent message. Princess seems to have sailed off and that’s just it. It’s very disappointing and confusing. Did they mean the things they said but just didn’t quite have it all figured out? We keep saying they had 2 years to plan for this. When they started working the plan, it was clear early on it wasn’t working. Was there no plan B? Was there no person nominated to decide when to move to plan B? Was there no communication plan? Hard to say.

So, with Spain treating COVID as an endemic, we are all free to go and do whatever we’d like and most people are actually feeling pretty good. The worst of it seems to be feeling like you’ve got a head cold, which you treat with a decongestant and then you get the dry cough. That’s not awesome, but we’ve all dealt with that type of thing our entire lives. It’s fine.

Meantime, Covid continues to take more prisoners. Seems like in all our friends, at least 1 person in the couple currently is testing positive. This is creating a lot of interesting decision points. Should the person testing negative go ahead and take the flight home? If not and they stay, they might flip to positive and then further extend the time they both have to stay here before the airlines will allow them to travel again. If one goes home, the other is left to fend for themselves. That’s really crappy and lonely. There’s no real good answer here. Right now, we’ve got friends who have decided both ways and we’re all just looking out for each other. 

Jason hit his important day 6 for testing yesterday. A negative would allow us to make our regularly scheduled flight home. He was still positive. 

Poop.

But, it’s not all bad. We’re making the best of it. We’re meeting up for meals and happy hour. Sharing walks to the pharmacy. Renaming the patio to “Vines” so we can pretend to be on the ship- knowing James is out there somewhere making the good drinks. It’s supposed to rain all day today and tomorrow and then a reprieve on Friday, so if everyone continues to feel better we are going to take a trip up to see Montserrat. That’s giving us all something to look forward to! We might still ride the hop on hop off bus today or tomorrow- we’ll sit in the inside/covered area to stay away from people and to stay dry. 

The Clink Swap and the Last 2 Days

 Well, I tested negative. There was no option to leave me in the clink with Jason and just let me come and go so I had to move out and leave him there. That was pretty bittersweet. Was I happy to get the heck out of dodge? You bet. Did it suck to leave him there knowing what it was going to be like for him? Yes. And, was it sad to be free but also now alone? Also yes. 

We shuffled around some things and repacked the bags and then it was time to go. We weren’t sure when or how we’d see each other again. A little weird!! I simply just walked out at that point down the forbidden hallway, through the sealed doors, and right back into the regular world which seemed to have kept right on spinning the whole time as though nothing ever happened. 

So. So. Weird.

I went up to our old room, good old A331, and dropped off my backpack. The room was so quiet and empty and deserted. Like the day we originally got on the boat, before we ever made a million memories in it. 

I decided to go walk the boat. See all the places. Everyone was off ship enjoying their day in Naples. And I do mean everyone. I took pictures of all the bars with literally no one, not even bartenders, there. Did I miss the rapture?

I went upstairs and decided to have a Bloody Mary on 16 aft, in the same spot I was sitting the week before when Wendy came running up with my COVID news. I do love a chance to come full circle. 

Once Vines was open, I went to see James. He was so happy to see me. We needed to commiserate over Jason now being in. I told him we must go on with the smuggling ring. He understood. 

As good as it was to see everyone, it just had a layer of sadness that we couldn’t have had our last 2 nights together- having fun, saying our goodbyes…but no. Dang it. How did we get into this cycle of unfair crap!? I want out!

Now, the boat was getting nervous because another big round of testing was coming. Anyone staying on the boat in Barcelona or getting off the boat and flying within 24 hours was going to have to test the next day. Well, not me. Those of us who have now recovered no longer test. At least I got that going for me! Our group was well aware of the COVID situation, because of us, so there was some worry for sure.

That night, we sat in Vines for a long time just chatting and catching up. Laura and Bob came around and shared a glass of Amarone, which was absolutely delicious. Never had a glass of amarone I didn’t love. I need to buy some!

Oh, so our pals Tom and Nancy (he is the retired Canadian mounty)- I ran into them and she was in a wheelchair. I was like, “geez!! What now?!?!?!?” This poor lady was just walking along, stepped off a sidewalk wrong and tore some muscles. She was going to have to go for an MRI in Barcelona. Ugh! 

Ginny had gone into Sorrento for the day and she managed to score us (me and her) some beautiful cloth napkins with lemons on them! So very nice to do since she knew I was sad to not be able to go back to Sorrento and I regretted not buying the napkins the first time. Sometimes you don’t get that second chance. 

Mike and Diana showed up and they had bought me a little gift, too! An “evil eye” bracelet. The evil eye wards off bad luck and bad spirits. I put that sucker right on!

Thankfully, James and I got some wine shuttled over to Jason and he was able to call in his dinner order. It was probably the best menu we’d seen in the 35 days on the boat thus far. Beef Wellington. Escargot. He said it was great! Woohoo. Unfortunately, somehow, I missed dinner completely. By the time I had noticed how late it was, the dining rooms were closed and I didn’t feel like I could stand the room service menu again. Went to bed hungry!

So, now it was the last day on the boat. A day at sea as we cruised from Naples Italy across the Med, between Corsica and Sardinia to our final docking in Barcelona. I figured everyone would be busy packing, trying to do a last load of laundry, etc. I was done with all that so I just sort of roamed about. Chatting with everyone I ran into. Breakfast in the dining room one last time. Checking on Jason, etc. 

I knew Vines would open early since it was a sea day so I thought I’d get there at 11 and get 2 final bottles of wine dropped off for the underground before things got busy. That way, also, if Jason wanted to sit on his balcony all day sipping Chardonnay, he darn well could. 

So, I come cruising down the stairs, past the front desk on the way to find James. But man oh man was the front desk absolutely CRAWLING with people. I bet there were 25 people in line. And all of them looked really pissed off. Ugh. I’m not sure how the boat crew are still possibly smiling sometimes.

I go find James and I was like - holy cow, you cannot believe all the people over there. I was going to send some wine through the underground now but it is crazy! James said, “I need to make a call.” I was like - oh. That’s weird. But ok. So, I just stood there while he chatted on the phone. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but he was on there for several minutes. This was all sort of odd. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him make a call before. Then he came back.

“I made a call.”

Yes.

“My friend works in room service and he will come here and get the wine and get it to Jason.”

OH!

“But, they are very busy right now and it might be a little while. Is this ok?”

HECK YES IT IS OK! WHAT!! The underground has now removed 2 middlemen. BAM. Man do I like efficiency. 

James said, “This is my friend. He will take care of it.”

I believed him. 

A little while later, Jason texted that the wine had arrived AND he got to talk to Trupti, James’ friend. And, pretty much now we’re all best friends and we’re going to India to visit them and meet their families. 

Because of course we are. 

Now, we were still waiting for our instructions on what to do the next day. Where to go. What time. Where/when/how. I also still did not have my paperwork from medical showing my clearance. Or even that I’d ever tested positive. I’d requested it at least three times. Jason, on the other hand, somehow had 2 copies of his positive test. I decided I would storm the castle and I headed down into the belly of the ship in search of the medical center.

As I approached, there was a dude standing there who seemed to be directing traffic. He was a passenger, not crew. It was helpful because the medical center is, shall we say, not in any way helpful. For starters, the door was locked. During the posted open hours. So, what does one do? Who knows what one does. 

When I first arrived, I stood behind two other people because when there is a line, we are pre-programmed to get in it. After a few moments, some dude opened the door and said 2 more may come in. Those people went in and then it was just me out there. The cheese stands alone. Several minutes went by.

I looked at at the traffic directing dude and asked him, because he knew how to find the staircase which was really all the credentials I needed, what he thought I should do.

“Well,” he said wisely, “You could try knocking on the door.”

Ah, yes. I see. 

I knocked. Nothing happened.

Traffic man and I started talking. Turns out his son-in-law was in the clink so he was there waiting on his daughter who had come down for her daily test…just like Jason had been doing. We swapped info. I was just about to tell him about the underground smuggling ring when someone opened the door again. I told him I needed all my papers. He said he would get them. He closed the door. I honestly didn’t believe him at this point but about a minute later, there he was with the papers! They were even mine! 

BAM- things were looking up. 

There are two ways back home:

1. get COVID and recover at least 10 days before your flight. Have doctor notes proving this.

2. Have a legit test showing a negative

With all that set, I went to grab some lunch and make sure Jason had lunch. All was good there so I decided to take a little nap. They were going to simulcast the pope’s Good Friday address. I thought it would be cool to see since just a week or so ago I’d stood right where he was going to stand to deliver the address! 

And then, I took quite the epic nap and missed the whole thing. 

Later, the group convened down in Vines. Everyone was coming and going and it was great to see everyone and hang out one last night. I was just so sad that Jason had to miss it. It would have been that much better with him there. 

As we were sitting there, I realized it was about 7PM and we still didn’t know what was supposed to happen the next morning. Good grief. I know there is a lot to sort out, but this had been going on for days. I had already canceled our hotel room in Barcelona because they told us they would book a hotel for the quarantined guests. I was starting to get a bit nervous that this somehow wouldn’t happen and then we’d have nowhere to go.

I walked over to the front desk hoping to find Ecer or Sylvia and try to get some answers. The line was very long. I stood there for at least one full minute and decided it wasn’t worth it. I was going around the corner to the steps thinking I would go up to the room for a bit and try to get a reply on the crew chat instant messaging system. I also wanted to look in the room. Maybe someone had slipped some instructions under the door or something. 

As I came around the corner, I ran into Ecer! He said, “Oh Miss Rachel! Can I give you a hug?” I had left him and dragon very nice notes and tips earlier. He was just beside himself. I told him what was up - that we still didn’t know anything. He said, “I will go find out right now. Are you going to your room? We will call you.”

Up in the room, there was nothing waiting under the door. I ran into Wendy and she also didn’t know anything but she said the week before they had disembarked the covid people first. At 5:30 am. It was now almost 8PM. If I had to get off the boat in 9 hours, I sure wanted to know that quickly.

I pinged Jason. He didn’t know. And then, about 15 minutes in total from when I saw Ecer, letters arrived in the clink! We had information! Unfortunately, they sent my letter there, too, but whatever. So, we knew what hotel it would be and then someone called me and also called Jason and said they would move the clink between 8-9.

Unfortunately, that all took so much time that I missed dinner again and also didn’t want to go back down to Vines so I missed saying goodbye to everyone. I mean, it was all really one long goodbye all afternoon. But still. There is the goodbye goodbye and I blew it. 

Thankfully, I decided I better suck it up and order some room service because I wasn’t sure how the morning would really go and I didn’t want to not have dinner and then possibly also not get breakfast. Man am I glad I did. Little did I know how the next day would go!

It felt very surreal that it was the final night. All the sudden, just done. 

Sigh. 

Our New Mexico Mule Rides onto the Scene

 An update on the solidified smuggling ring

The smuggling ring is a well oiled machine at this point. Yesterday, despite Jason joining me in the clink, we got a bottle of Chardonnay delivered in a flat 3 minutes from the time it was mentioned. 

You have to have a man on the outside.

You have to grease the skids.

Let me explain, because, frankly, you never know when you might have to build your own underground smuggling ring (USR). 

Now, when I first hit the clink, Jason jumped into action because a) he’s rad b) he takes good care of me an c) he’s the kind of guy who gets things done, if you know what I’m saying. And what I’m saying isn’t some weird mafia hit. I’m saying this man can get wine moving. 

What Jason knows as someone who once worked as a server is that kindness and money talk. And the two together are solid gold. With that, hope was alive.

Now, no one is allowed on the quarantine floors. The doors are sealed off. You can’t just pass by. Which means any of our usual suspects cannot deliver anything. This was a challenge. At first. 

Now, we have our main man James who runs the wine bar. James has got things figured out. He knows if we order 4 glasses to give us the bottle. 4 glasses are “free” with our beverage package. A bottle is not. Unless James says it is. A bottle is more precious than 4 glasses because you can control when you drink it and it is easier to move around. James cannot deliver the wine- but he can produce the bottle.

When Jason was on the outside, he could get the bottle from James and get it over to Dragon. Dragon somehow got it to a delivery person who was allowed to get into the quarantine area. We don’t know how any of that came together. 

Now that Jason is on the inside, we thought we might be in a pinch. But then, we found our mule. Our New Mexican mule came through like a freakin’ rock star. So good, in fact, that three bottles showed up last night. And I don’t even know that we asked for 3!!! A text came through later that said, “”your New Mexico underground is on the job. Drink up.”

Then, to up the ante, I realized if I send a note to the “crew chat” which is an open, first come first served, chat and I even mention Dragon that he will call me within minutes. Shazam! 

And then, as if this wasn’t already really good, my man Ecer really stepped it up. I sent a cryptic note through crew chat last night and someone I don’t know wrote back with a note from Ecer saying hi to Jason and letting us know he’d just sent the wine through. One second later, there was a knock. Ecer is a man who can get things done. 

Boom.

So, I’ve just been tested again. We’re waiting to hear if I’m negative. There’s not a lot I can do at this point today anyway because there was some snafu this morning. The Italian health people and the police came aboard and I’m not sure what went wrong but something did. They delayed letting people off the boat at least an hour. Dragon called us and needed all our vaccination dates. They delayed the testing because …of whatever the Italian health people were making them do. So, here it is … 10:30 and I’ve just been tested and will wait for results. Last time, I waited several hours. Meantime, no hope to go ashore and do whatever. This is our last port. Tomorrow we’re at sea and then we’re in Barcelona. 

Honestly, in a 6 day stint of things that didn’t feel fair, I guess I’m numb to it. 

But anyway, here’s to Jason who expertly built this well greased underground smuggling ring, to James, who knows how to supply the goods, to Dragon, who makes the connections work, to Ecer who slid right into the ring like a boss, and to Ginny, who heard the call and stepped up to the plate and smashed a home run in her first hour in the role.

Team work makes the dream work, people.

Cheers.

Freedom, Slavery, Justice, and Mercy Walk into a Bar

So, yesterday we successfully got the salt and pepper and a bottle of Chardonnay and Merlot to my room! Jason’s been asking around trying to find Dragon. We want to give him a tip! However, no one seems to know him. Hmmmm.

It pays to have friends, you know? Because we’ve made friends with James and Khrystina in Vines, they helped with the salt and pepper and the wine. Because we were friendly with Ecer, despite the postcard debacle, he helped me get room service last night.

The world could truly run on kindness. SHOULD truly run on kindness.

But it doesn’t, you know. Which reminds me…

Yesterday, I mentioned some books I’m reading. The one on poverty and violence is called the Locust Effect. I support an organization called the International Justice Mission- their purpose is to free people caught up in slavery and trafficking and to bring justice to those who carried out the crimes. The book was written by the IJM founder. 

If you know me, you know that I often talk about freedom. It’s one of my deepest loves. A few years ago, some random day in some random place, a very difficult thought hit me. It was this, “Rachel, if you care so much about freedom, why do you care so little about the opposite of freedom?”

I had to wrestle with that a bit. What even is the opposite of freedom?

Slavery. Really. The inability to do what one wants. To think for themselves. To choose their own path. To make their own calls. Slavery. 

Is it true that I didn’t care about it? Sort of. That doesn’t feel good to say. But if I’m being honest, was I doing anything at all … even just thinking about it? Nope. 

But since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about it. Often. All the time. Daily, even. What’s grown in my heart is a hatred for slavery and trafficking that is just as strong and robust as my love for freedom. 

Around this time, wouldn’t you know, the church I was attending had a guest from IJM come speak. Because of course they did;) I was bowled over! The work they are doing is painstaking, years in the making sometimes, powerful, soul-crushing, and so damned worth it. It’s easy to give money every month. No problem. It’s harder to think deeper about what else can be done.

In the meantime, another concept that’s near and dear to my heart….justice… has been running ragged around the back of my brain. Justice. 

I’ve always been intensely interested in trial law. I watch and read a lot about the wrongly convicted. Yet another angle of missing freedom. Where’s the justice? Where’s the justice there for the original victim of the crime — who saw someone go to jail but not the person who actually did the crime? Where’s the justice for the falsely accused- the wrongly convicted who now sits behind bars, their freedom striped away, and for what? Wrong place wrong time? Bad court proceedings? Bad lawyer? Perjury? Where’s the justice for the criminal? Who did the bad thing and should have to pay for it. The eye for the eye. Why can’t we have justice?

I can be empathetic to a fault. Always able to see both sides - even when one side isn’t good. I’d be hell on wheels on a jury. This trait, without reason, without knowledge or logic, could be dangerous. Why? Because we need justice. 

One thing that stays with me is that the God of the New Testament is the same God as the Old Testament. Yes, Jesus changed things. But that’s not quite my point here. My point here is that the God of the Old Testament was MIGHTY. Our God is still mighty. And He’s still the God who brings justice. But with Jesus, we also get a heavy dose of human mercy. Justice with mercy. 

What’s mercy with no justice? Think about it. What is it? 

What’s justice with no mercy?

Ouch. 

What’s both together? Mercy and justice? It’s the best reckoning. It’s the right way. The redemption path. The restoration. 

So there I am. April 8th. Sitting in my cabin having just received the news that my COVID test was positive. Jason had already left for his tour of Athens. Nothing to do but think. And cry. And I’m not very good at crying because I don’t do it a lot. But life was feeling a little unfair and I was pissed off and sad and feeling sorry for myself so crying I was.

Soon, my brain reminded me that my life is so very good. Better than most. And, that’s right. Time to move on. I grabbed The Locust Effect. I wanted to read it on this trip. And here I was, freedom removed. Stuck in this cabin. Nothing to do. 

Here’s what I read:

“ Without the world noticing, the locusts of common, criminal violence are right now ravaging the lives and dreams of billions of our poorest neighbors. We have come to call the unique pestilence of violence and the punishing impact it had on efforts to lift the global poor out of poverty the locust effect. This plague of predatory violence is different from other problems facing the poor; and so, the remedy to the locust effect must also be different. In the lives of the poor, violence has the power to destroy everything— and it is unstopped by our other responses to their poverty. Severe hunger and disease can also destroy everything for a poor person — and the things that stop hunger don’t necessarily stop disease, and the things that stop disease don’t necessarily address hunger. The difference is that the world knows that poor people suffer from hunger and disease- and the world gets busy trying to meet those needs. 

But, the world overwhelmingly does not know that endemic to being poor is a vulnerability to violence, or the way violence is, right now, catastrophically crushing the global poor. As a result, the world is not getting busy trying to stop it. And, in a perfect tragedy, the failure to address that violence is actually devastating much of the other things good people are seeking to do to assist them”

Feels a bit like justice and mercy. Needing to coexist.

That overwhelmed my justice seeking, freedom loving, slavery hating heart so I needed to stop reading for a bit.

I sat and pondered. Staring out at the ocean. Eventually my thoughts trailed back to myself. Why is this happening to me? Why now? Why am I in quarantine? Why will I miss the last week of my trip. What’s the purpose of that? Ugh.

I still don’t know. But what I DO know is that periods like this in my life always bring about some semblance of a new direction. New growth.

Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1)

The world gets busy doing some things…but not always the right things…(Locust Effect)

Hmmmm.