Transatlantic Odyssey on the Allure: TravelBlog - Week 1

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Week 1, Oct. 25 – 31, 2010

Travelblog: Day 1
(Mon.)

So trying just trying to get to the airport! Damn the MTA - service cutbacks have made taking the M60 to LGA an even longer nightmare ... Get to the airport 50 minutes before take off. Why isn't the security line moving??? The plane's an inferno, no a/c until take-off ... The row of Jewish grandmothers block the aisle, keep standing up during take off and landing as well, and scold everyone for everything from putting things in "their" overhead bin to wrinkling their sweater ... Arrive in Miami and it's hot-hot-hot –

Dinner with Michel, photographer to the cruise lines, who hired me for the gig -

Travelblog: Day 2
(Tues)

Morning in Miami - took a bike ride over the bridge, along the bay, through old Miami, South Beach ... e-business over a coffee on Lincoln Rd. People seem friendlier and more relaxed than in NYC. Wish I had more time to just "be" here - but we gotta pack up for take-off. Hope the strikes don't turn into more rioting in Paris!!! Or we'll never make it to Finland –

Late departure AA Miami-Paris due to “maintenance issues”, but we made our connection to Helsinki! Let’s hope the bags did as well … Forgot to mention Daniel, French Canadien living in Miami, has joined Michel and I en route as photog assistant.
Empty flight Miami-Paris, got to stretch out but still didn’t manage to get any sleep ... Tomorrow Paris-Helsinki, Helsinki-Turku … 4 flights in 36 hrs. Disrobing and unpacking for security 4 times. I need a shower and a toothbrush. Air travel ain’t what it used to be …

Early arrival in Finland, the “best country in the world” according to a 2010 Newsweek survey … Nice airport! Next: Helsinki-Turku – hope the bags and camera equipment arrive with us …

Empty flight Miami-Paris, got to stretch out but still didn’t manage to get any sleep. Paris-Helsinki, Helsinki-Turku … 4 flights in 36 hrs. Disrobing and unpacking for security 4 times. I need a shower and a toothbrush. Air travel ain’t what it used to be …

TravelBlog: Day 3 (Wed.)

Early arrival in Finland, the “best country in the world” according to a 2010 Newsweek survey … Next: Helsinki-Turku – hope the bags arrive with us …

Not really Scandinavian, Finland is an entity onto itself. Its language uses more vowels, h’s, k’s, and p’s than Hawaiian, but it shares linguistic roots (Magyar) with Hungary of all places … it may be the best, but doesn’t appear to be the happiest place on earth. Certainly one of the most pleasant, though -

Boarded the ship in Turku. Identical twin to sister ship Oasis, but in much better shape at first encounter. Enormous, a floating city with several “neighborhoods” and 17 decks, which took 18 months to assemble. (Check out http://www.oasisoftheseas.com/video.php?ship=allure for details.) She and her twin are the largest cruise ship in the world. Nice cabins. A balcony! Finally, a shower. Really, it’s the little things … I’ve got to get some sleep -

TravelBlog: Day 4 (Thurs.)

Jet-lagged and exhausted but awake most of the night … up by 6:00am; 8:30 am and the sun has yet to rise … We’ll be getting the day off to visit Turku, one of UNESCO’s two 2011 European Capital of Culture (the other: Tallin, Estonia). Until 1809, Turku was Finland's capital. With the completion of Allure, this town loses 8,000 jobs, as the shipyard has no new projects on deck … After shooting the check signing ($1.7 billion; yes, billion) ceremony, where Royal Caribbean officially buys the ship from STX Europe, we’re off –

Turku has some nice old sections with typical wooden houses. Despite the overcast and cold day, it just felt good to stroll in Europe … We shoot the big theatre tonight. Guillaume (Michel’s 2nd) and Julien (virtual tour photog) may not make tomorrow’s 6am departure: their Lyons-Paris train was late due to the strikes in France, and they missed their flight to Finland. If they encounter more delays flying Stockholm-Turku, they’re f*ucked. But so are we – we’ll have to shoot the entire ship without them!

Simple shot of the theatre complicated by rigid time restrictions and scheduling conflicts … fortunately, Guillaume and Julien arrive, knocking on my door at 11:10. Wasn’t sleeping – didn’t manage to drift off until after 1:00am – and need to get up at 6:00am. Oh, joy.

TravelBlog: Day 5 (Fri.)

And we’re off! Set sail a bit late … passing through a maze of tiny islands as we leave Finland and cross the Baltic … Our first day of shooting. Allure is much more advanced and together than her older sister Oasis at this age: she’s not in pieces, a complete construction site. Should be relatively easy to find things to shoot (famous last words …) –

Working through a jet-lag haze in French and English has my head spinning … still not able to get a decent night’s sleep -

TravelBlog Day 6 (Sat.)

A frenetic day of shooting whatever looks presentable. We’ve got 2 teams doing 2 different types of photography: Michel, Guillaume and Daniel doing architectural; Julien shooting 360 virtual tours. Both have different, specific scheduling and other needs. Most of the magic happens just before sunrise or just after sunset. At the moment I’m coordinating both teams, while assisting Julien … Got a great deal done, a miracle considering that I’m working without coffee since boarding the ship. (The brown liquid they’re calling coffee being served at meals and in the cafes has no taste or caffeine, a real problem . 2.5 weeks of caffeine abstinence? I’ll die.) We just made it under the bridge at Malmo between Denmark and Sweden, literally clearing by what appeared to be inches. It really looked as though the smokestacks wouldn’t make!

TravelBlog Day 7 (Sun.)

Happy Halloween! Shooting staterooms, bars, restaurants … nothing terribly exciting. Got my first decent night’s sleep last night, which has me loopier than ever. A few of us attended the big Halloween party on board. No costumes, but I did ride the Rising Tide bar dancing with a beer in hand –

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