Blog
Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE. A different type of post this time, as I’ve written this in chunks over several days. Some of it was on the North Sea, and some in the port of Skjolden, Norway.
I apologise in advance for any typos because I’m using my phone for this, rather than my Mac.
The Journey Starts….
Our preparation for this cruise started on Thursday as we got ready to take Pops to the cattery, which always makes us sad. We’ve said that this will be the last trip we take where she has to stay somewhere overnight. Pops is not getting any younger, and in the last couple of years she has become increasingly stressed each time we’ve had to take her anywhere, like the vet or cattery.
The cattery we have chosen is not our usual one, which is now closed. Last time we left Pops there, she was not herself for several days after coming back. It more or less destroyed our trust in that place.
Once we had Poppy dropped off we headed home to do the last few bits of packing before our cruise. The last couple of times we’ve gone for a cruise, we’ve departed from Southampton and travelled down the day before. The numbers worked out better when it was just Oana and I travelling. This time we were going with my Dad, and because it was now three of us it made more financial sense to get a cab instead.
It was a smooth journey down to Southampton and our driver was friendly, and didn’t try to engage us in conversation which was what we all wanted. I don’t like small talk at the best of times, and 4-5 hours of it would have stressed me. We stopped at some services and I bought him a coffee, and then we continued on.
Southampton is not the most interesting of places. There’s a few nice old buildings, and a decent mall. That’s about it. This is another reason why travelling down on the day made sense. If you had an hour to see all the interesting parts of Southampton, you’d have 55 minutes left to fill with something else.
Checking in for a cruise is so much more chill than the process of boarding a plane. Your luggage is collected outside the terminal and you go to a desk to have your passport checked. Security is very efficient in Southampton, and within fifteen minutes of having our luggage taken from us, we were in line waiting to board the ship.
SKY PRINCESS
We sailed on Sky Princess in 2023 and although we enjoyed the trip as a whole, the on board experience was not great. The food was awful and some of the staff were rude. The only reason we booked again was because it was the only ship sailing on the route we wanted; Norway, at the time we wanted.
I have to say that the difference between then and now is incredible. The food is great. We are a few days into the trip and have not had a bad meal. There was a roast beef meal that was fantastic. The meat had been seasoned and cooked with care, and you could cut through it with a spoon if you wanted to.
The first day of the cruise saw us depart Southampton late in the afternoon, with the second day being entirely at sea. There’s lots to do on the ship with a range of shops, restaurants and bars, and plenty of quiet areas to chill out. There’s also a running track on the top deck with is roughly 380 steps long. When I need to get some steps in to help bring my blood sugar come down, I go up there and put my headphones on.
On the first night we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm. The sky was lit up from horizon to horizon with huge forks of lightning. It was great to watch, and seeing the flashes light up the sea so we could briefly see other ships was like something from a horror or thriller.
Our first port was Edinburgh and we had booked to see the castle with an entry window from 11:00 to 11:30. We arrived at South Queensferry in the early hours of the morning and our only major complaint of the cruise so far was on this issue. There was almost no communication from the ship about the arrangements for disembarking and making our way to Edinburgh. We had a letter dropped on us last thing the night before explaining that there was a selection of buses and taxis that would take us to Edinburgh, with a journey time of approximately 30-40 minutes. Ok, that’s not so bad. The real kicker was the arrangements for leaving the ship.
We were ready to leave the ship a little after 8am. We headed down to deck 4 where the shuttles were ferrying people to and from the ship. The three of us, and many others were asked what our group number was and we all had blank faces. We were told to go back to deck 7 to get our group number. Up to deck 7 we went and were given the group number 42. They were currently taking group 24.
This is one of those situations where, if it was just the three of us who had made this mistake, we’d take it on the chin and acknowledge we fucked up. However, there were many, many people as confused as we were. Once we had our group numbers we sat at a cafe of deck 5 and chilled out. It was now 8:30am and several people walking by stopped to ask where we got our group number cards from. We heard other guests complaining about the lack of information and organisation. It clearly wasn’t just us.
At approximately 9:50am our group was called and we made our way back to deck 4 and boarded the shuttle. By the time we got underway and made it to shore, it was a little after 10:10, and then we had to get on a bus. There were crowds everywhere and we all found it stressful. It was just after 11am by the time we arrived in Edinburgh, and 11:34 by the time we got to the castle, just four minutes after our entry window closed. Luckily, we were allowed entry.
The castle was, surprisingly, underwhelming. I think we all felt tired and stressed after the morning we’d had, and we felt like the day had gotten away from us. We went to a local cafe that had great reviews, Deacons House, and sat in the inner courtyard. It’s named after Deacon William Brodie who was a councillor and cabinet maker by day, but by night he was a burglar. In the 18th Century he led a life of luxury funded by his nighttime activities, and his life was the inspiration for the story of Jekyll and Hyde.
The cafe was great. The staff were friendly and the surroundings were interesting. Oana ordered a hot chocolate and a fruit scone with jam. My Dad ordered a latte and a chocolate, pistachio, and orange slide. I went for overnight oats with a latte. We all really enjoyed what we had. My oats were amazing, served with roasted almonds, almond butter, fresh raspberries, and chia seeds. Oana’s scone was massive, and very well made. My Dad said his cake was tasty and not the slightest bit dry. All good, and it came to less than £30.
We had a little wander around Edinburgh, visiting Greyfriars Kirkyard, before searching out a Starbucks to add more mugs to our collection. On the way I glanced up some steps hidden between two walls and saw a young woman crying. I told Oana and we decided it was best if she approached her as, with me being a dude I didn’t want to intimidate her. Oana went back and had a chat. It turns out she had spent her first night on the streets and was starving. Oana asked what she wanted, and we went and got her a sandwich, drink, and some snacks. It’s not much, but there wasn’t realistically anything more we could do.
We picked up our mugs, and whilst waiting for them to be packaged some American guy made me want to burst out laughing when he ordered a “venti, quad, iced, vanilla, soy milk latte.” I half expected the barista to reply, “we don’t serve cocktails here.”
On the subject of Americans, there are many good people in that young nation. I have many American friends who are intelligent, considerate, thoughtful people; completely unlike many of the ones I’ve encountered on this cruise.
One fellow traveller asked a confused crew member, “Where are the biscuits at?” A female American loudly asked another confused crew member about the location of “the noodles!”, only to be directed to the Asian food station.
There are certain words and turns of phrase that can spike my blood pressure from one second to the next, and referring to any and all pasta as noodles is near the top of the list.
On our way back from Edinburgh we waited in a lengthy queue to board the shuttle and once boarding was complete we found ourselves squished in between some off duty crew and an older American couple. The three crew members were two Indian men, and a young woman who we learned was from Zambia. The American woman, from Virginia (How do you know where an American is from? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you).
The American woman kept asking them where they were from, but no answer seemed to satisfy her. It was impossible to ignore the conversation because the woman was sat next to me and the crew directly across from me. It was pure cringe though. I felt bad for the crew as they clearly just wanted to enjoy their day off work. Having spoken with other crew members briefly, I know they don’t get much free time. The bit where I had to turn away was when she was trying to ascertain whether this clearly Indian man was not, in fact, Jamaican. No, I’m not joking.
Our second port was Skjolden where we spent the morning with llamas from a nearby farm. We were greeted by a British man who moved to Norway in 2002. He now farms sheep and llamas, and it seems like a nice life. Between Oana, my Dad, and myself, we were given control of two llamas; Kevin, and Leif.
My Dad was entrusted with Kevin and I was assigned Leif. You remember that scene in The Two Towers where Aragorn calms the horse, Brego? Well, my efforts with Leif were nothing like that. We had a slightly rocky start where he just stared at me and refused to do anything. So, I spoke with him and let him get used to me. Then, I started walking away with my back to him, and he started walking after me. I realised that these llamas didn’t like to be pulled, but they did like to follow.
We settled into a nice pace as we walked through the fields and down to the side of the fjord, before following the water towards a pasture where the llamas like to graze. I got a few pics and videos of us spending time together, and he definitely had a personality of his own.
My Dad had a similar experience with Kevin, and they happily marched off towards the front of the pack. Oana would have liked to walk the llamas as well, but her umbrella made them a bit uneasy, and it was raining fairly steadily. The time came to hand our llamas over to a new handler, as we took charge of our new partners. I took Toby and my Dad took Pernille. Old Toby was the finest llama in the South Farthing (LOTR reference). He was a little nervous but I approached him slowly and held my hand out so he could clearly see it. I slowly moved my hand to his fur and started to stroke him and he became much more at ease with me. My Dad, on the other hand, was not having much joy with Pernille who steadfastly refused to do anything. We swapped llamas and Pernille and I got on ok.
Now gather round and sit beneath my learning tree as I explain the secrets of animal husbandry. The secret, you see, is bribing them with food. During the day the son of the farm owner dropped some food pellets in my hand to feed the llamas. I had thought they’d be a little rough in taking the food, but they were gentle.
Once we brought the llamas back to the farm, we unhooked them and said our goodbyes. A little later as we were walking along the side of their enclosure, Leif spotted us and came bounding over to say a final goodbye. If I could have stolen him I would have.
Skjolden is a nice little settlement with a population of approximately 200. It sits on the Sognefjord, which is the longest navigable fjord in the world, and the deepest in Norway. It is beautiful and surrounded on all sides by mountains which, whilst we were there, were shrouded in mist. It was like something from a fantasy story.
That’s all for now. We are back underway and heading to our next destination, Olden.