I am trying to access the Internet as if my life depends on it but the Vodafone wifi access they have in Columbus Hotel is really weak. Nonetheless, it’s not going to stop me from telling this story.

I flew out of Heathrow to Genoa, Italy, via Munich. The transition was smooth and I was really impressed with Munich’s airport. Avant-garde art pieces hung on the walls, the floors were clean and glossy, interesting shops and cafes that ooze chic and aroma of fresh coffee beans. While I was in waiting at the departure gates, I thought I saw some familiar faces but didn’t act on it as I was too exhausted and wasn’t looking for company. In fact, I was too busy missing people in London.

When I arrived in Genoa, one of the company’s cab services picked us up. I realized that I wasn’t the only one embarking on that particular ship tomorrow; there were others too. One dark and tall Eastern European looking man called out to me. I said “Ciao” and immediately he launched into a full-blown Italian conversation that I couldn’t quite keep up with. He spoke rapidly and with deep Romanian accent. However, I tried, but injected some English into it.

There were two classical musicians from Hungary, a casino dealer from country unknown and a bunch of people from the engine department from Romania, including the guy who spoke to me. After that I completely tuned off because they started to speak in Hungrarian/Romanian. Apparently, the Eastern European languages are quite similar hence they can understand each other.

As the cab drove towards the heart of Genoa, my heart sank lower and lower. All of a sudden, I feel impending solitude and lack of peers. I know I will feel claustrophobic on the ship again. The Italian higher management on the ship will again give me a shit and all those sort of things. Am really not looking forward to it. I do pray that my experience on the C. Europa will be different from the MV CAL. Previously, I suffered from anxiety attacks for the first few months simply because I didn’t get the respect I deserved, people were mean and there were a lot of language barrier. Thank god I settled in quite nicely after that.

I’ll just see what tomorrow brings. I won’t be embarking on the MV CE till 2pm. As of now, I’m grateful for the fact that I’ve a nice hotel room, hot shower and snow white towels. The exhaustion from the previous day is starting to take its toll.

Good night from Genoa.

To embark on a new journey, you have a set of rituals to follow. One of such is to start a new blog, a new journal, a fresh blank page because what is past, has gone and you are no longer who you were. Memories remain as vivid thoughts, conjured whenever you need them but has no power to taint the present reality unless you drag it along with you, unable to let go.

I am about to take on another journey, taking on another contract as an English Crew Lecturer on an Italian Cruise Ship.

My home for the next 5.5 months

I have previously done it before and have sailed Northern Europe and East Asia with it, so this is not at all foreign to me, but having settled down cozily in London for the past 5 months, shedding the layers of my wanderlust, unpacking my suitcase and allowing myself to stay, and then to leave it all behind again, pains me greatly. I am quite surprised myself, to find the attachment to my new found friends and lifestyle in London, so strong and overwhelming. I felt pangs of hollowness after Ken (a guest at my shoebox room for a few days who then became a good friend!) and Musty (another London CouchSurfer that I’ve grown close to and am quite fond off) left Heathrow Terminal 2. It felt almost surreal to say goodbye to them, especially to Musty, who had became very much my partner-in-crime and someone that I’d always call for help or to chat shit. But what took the cake was that when Camila called, I was choking back tears. As she wished me well and told me that I’m going to have a wonderful adventure, I blubbered next to the mouthpiece like a sappy idiot. And then as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, Olga called and my tears continued to roll.

Close friends from CouchSurfing and my Italian classes

Eva-the French hobo that I met in Malaysia

Musty-my partner-in-crime-A Couchsurfer turned close friend

Messages continued to beep on my phone, telling me that I’ll be missed and that I’ll truly enjoy myself. In many ways I was touched but more so, frightened by the fact that I am again removing myself from the familiar and plunging into the foreign. I guess I was caught off-guard; I wasn’t prepared to leave.

There are still coffees to drink, conversations to indulge in, people to meet, sights to take in, books to be read, writing to be done; I wasn’t done with London just yet.

For a moment, I felt ‘homesick’; thank you to the London crew for sharing your lives with me.

Onward and hey-ho!

I didn’t make it to Amsterdam. Everything happened too quickly. I had many things to settle like library books, writing assignments, my novel, people to catch up with before I go and all those sorts. I was also hosting Ken, a CouchSurfer who has dabbled in almost everything from race cars to producing films and things just escalated from there.

Nov 6-9: Cork, Ireland