George Rebane
Ash cloud permitting, we are on our way to Italy and the eastern Med while things are only at a low boil in places like Athens and Cairo. I have no idea how much connectivity will be available on the ship. To our surprise, we found out that they built the damn thing less than ten years ago, and decided not to run anything to the passenger quarters that is capable of carrying broadband. The 3.000 passenger vessel is advertised to have six hotspot areas to which we are invited to trundle with our laptops and do what must be done. I'm still trying to find the deck where we go to get our Kevlar vests.
Along the way I will tattempt to upload a picture or two, and post some related scribbles. It worked well in Estonia, but those guys are internet fanatics. Royal Caribbean is definitely taking a more measured wait-and-see attitude about the World Wide Web. They will not make a commitment until things firm up a bit, and everyone is sure that this is not a passing fad. I understand that they furled their last sail and switched to coal when Lindy landed in Paris. They would have done it sooner, but the Titanic thing made them rethink for a bit. Oil came in along with JFK, and word is that as soon as Mars has an URL, they’re going to wire the cabins.
So as not to stand out in Athens, I’m working on a whistled version of the theme from Zorba, and figuring out how to spell ‘Germany, you owe us!’ in Greek for my hand-lettered T-shirt. In the mean time, I hope that none of the neighbors in Nevada County will succumb to bipartisanship before giving it some deep thought. How long could we put up with Broad Street looking like the village scene out of ‘Hans Christian Anderson’?
Haven't you heard.... vacations are a human right: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2923469
"The European Union has declared traveling a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidize vacations with taxpayers' dollars for those too poor to afford their own trips."
Posted by: Mikey McD | 20 April 2010 at 11:07 AM
I love it. The folks in Ohio are already paying for California's excesses; now the EU will kick in for my travel. Where do I sign?
Posted by: George Rebane | 20 April 2010 at 01:50 PM
George, watch out for the pirates! Should be a fun trip, enjoy.
Posted by: Steve Enos | 20 April 2010 at 02:59 PM
George is a pirate
Posted by: Dixon Cruickshank | 21 April 2010 at 10:49 PM