Saturday, July 31, 2010

Life-boat drill

This is always a blast. The louder of the loudmouths go around screaming "Oh-my-gooooooooosh!" and trying to hug their long-lost friends (that they met for the first time during the caviar and champagne welcome reception three hours ago). Very entertaining. If you have seen two people trying to hug each other while both wearing life-jackets, you know what I mean. When adding all the screaming, and a few Margaritas, it gets even better.

I only wish they would start making life-jackets for people with boobs soon. I always end up with the orange floating blocks pushed up into my face. Blah.

We will soon be sailing for our first destination on this itinerary. Things look good. We even got all of our luggage, although I was really worried at one point as I could not see my backpack, containing my make-up and my favourite shoes.

All aboard!



Cute, aren't they? Even in my size. It's me and the transvestites fighting for the same shoes, you know. Got these by courier from London last week. They were on sale, lucky me.

Anyway. Embarkation day. I have done this quite a few times now, so I know the drill. This is one of the most exciting/entertaining days of a cruise. At least if you go on one of the smaller ships, like we do. There are no fixed seatings at dinner on these ships, so - embarkation time is when you need to position yourself to establish any possible new relations for the next week. It is a bit like the first day of school. Terrifying. There will be close to a hundred passengers eyeing each other up and down to decide who they would like to be friends with - and most importantly - who they should try to avoid. Matches are very often made based on appearance, or the sound level of your voice. But - NEVER judge a book by its cover (or sound?). Some of the people I have secretly been rolling my eyes at on the first day, have actually turned out to be among the nicest people I have met. In spite of a face lift or two gone bad. So. I will try to be open-minded.

As you get closer to the pier, you will start to see an increasing number of gentlemen with their brand new tennis shoes, and shirts tucked into their trousers - trousers that they have yanked up under their arms (I wonder if this is why they are referred to as "yankees"...?). Now you know that you are in the right place. There are always mostly Americans on these ships. This means that there WILL be a lot of talking. No akward silence in the elevator on this ship, oh nooo! Even though the sound level may sometimes be a bit on the high side - it is always great fun. Americans are mostly very polite and conciderate, so they do make great travel companions. And the ones that do not, will end up among my travel stories - so they are not really a waste of space either.

Another distinct group are the Italians. The Italian women seem to FLOAT around the ship (I do not really know how to describe it, they just do not walk like other women). You will never see them eat a thing. At meals they just move a few green leaves around their plates, while continuing their 24/7 chain-smoking. They also take the art of looking unhappy to a whole new level.

The rest of the passengers (maybe around 10 or so) will be a very mixed group of people from a few select countries around the world. England, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, India, Germany, the Netherlands. And - finally - Norway. That's us! We have met other Norwegians at sea just ONCE (except for the captain, and that's a whole different story). This really is quite ok. Because this way you do not have to get into the whole "Oh, yeah - we come from this small country and we are accidentally on holiday in the same spot, let's spend the rest of our valuable vacation time together" business. My vacation is far too short for that.

Gotta go now, our driver is picking us up.

Friday, July 30, 2010

In transit


I LOVE these. Bought them especially for my dad's 60th a couple of weeks back. Nice excuse for buying shoes, right?

Finally. Vacation. Sometimes I think working is really overrated. But here we are. Spent Thursday night at the airport in Copenhagen to be sure we made the flight to Athens on Friday. Been here a couple of times before, so did not really feel like walking around the city. Ended up spending the evening gazing at the Acropolis from the bar. Amazing. Those old ruins do look amazing during the sunset.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

It´s official....

I am totally hopeless. Finished packing. 14 pairs of shoes for a 16 day vacation. This is an all time high. Or low. Depends how you look at it.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Decisions, decisions, decisions...


We are going away on vacation for two weeks. I just can't wait! Holidaaay - celebraaate...! Still, this requires quite some planning. As a former girl scout (I am still one at heart), I like to come prepared. One thing is packing clothes and all that other obvious stuff you need for two weeks in the sun with a glass of champagne in your hand. Picking the right shoes is a whole different story. If I do not bring the right ones, I will end up buying new ones. Very often quite similar to the ones I left at home. I have tried getting away with the concept of buying "souvenir shoes" before, but no. So - I will need to bring shoes appropriate for: flying and possibly running through airports, dinner at the (presumably) best hotel in Athens, hiking on Mount Etna, climbing the gangway at least twice a day, getting in and out of the tender when going ashore, exercising at the gym (we can always dream, can't we?), lounging on deck with a few drinks AND being able to walk down the stairs back to the cabin with some dignity, sightseeing in Pompeii and Delphi, climbing the stairs from the harbour in Sorrento, going on the funicular in Capri, and finally - having numerous dinners where I can play my favourite game of "dress up". And while I do all of this - I really would like to try to look ok and have a good time. Being a very typical Scandinavian, I have a tendency to melt when being exposed to what other countries refer to as normal summer temperatures. My hair gets limp, my skin looks like I have just been exercising, and my make-up keeps running. So if I try to draw the attention away from those parts by wearing amazing shoes, I figure that I might get away with it. We are getting close to the final cut now. It has taken some effort, but I have managed to cut the list down to 16 pairs. If it had only been flats, I would have been able to slip them into my suitcase. Easily. But recently, I have aquired this insatiable taste for platform wedges. I have some silly idea in my head that they might make my legs look longer. Here I must quote my fellow Norwegian - Ibsen: "If you take the life lie from an average (wo)man, you take away his (her) happiness as well." So. Stop. Don't. Even. Go. There. Only drawback is that these skyscraper shoes weigh a ton, and take up a lot of room in my luggage. And our 195 square feet cabin. Ouch. Last year I met this incredible 80 year old woman onboard the Seadream I. She had booked a separate cabin for her shoes. My hero.

Exercise by walking around


No. I don't believe in Santa Claus, really I don't. Still, I managed to buy these at the local mall during our holiday in France earlier this summer. Quite a scoop! Apparently, just by walking around in these, my legs and butt will suddenly start looking amazing. Sounds really good, since I will be spending the next two weeks mostly wearing shorts. In the meantime, I will pretend it really is summer here in Oslo, by working from home wearing flipflops and cut-off jeans. At least the calendar says it is summer, so I guess I should believe in that. Especially since I believe in other absurdities like the power of these shoes. I wonder whether I should be totally crazy and wear them when I walk over to the fishmonger to buy some dinner later on. I just hope I don't meet anyone I know.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Shoes, shoes, shoes...

I know. I do not need another pair of shoes. Really. To quote someone very dear to me: I have plenty of shoes, I dont' need another pair. Still, I can't help it - shoes are one of the many things in life that make me happy. They are always there for me, and they do not care whether my BMI has a life of its own. Taking an old pair of really nice shoes out of my shoe closet is like meeting one of those old friends that you do not see so often, but when you finally meet - it's like you saw each other yesterday. There is no awkwardness - and you end up having a great time.

Anyway - last year we renovated our apartment. And I had to pack all of my shoes into boxes to have them stored. I stopped counting when I got to 100 pairs. Just recently, my dear husband asked me whether I really use all of my shoes. Of course! Or?

So I decided to start writing this blog - remotely inspired by the "Julie/Julia Project". Seen the movie? I am not going to go through all the recipes of a well-known cookbook. My simple objective will be to try wearing all the shoes in my shoe closet - just to prove that I can. Even though I must admit - there are a few pairs that I do not really look forward to - as "comfort" is not always on the top of the list when I buy shoes. I will give myself a year to do this, as I live in a country with four quite distinct seasons - so that some shoes will need to wait for the right season. You will see my point when we get there. Along with my shoes - you will get everyday bits and pieces about my life in those shoes. So, here we go...