My14 day cruise on the Holland America Oosterdam set sail from Ft Lauderdale and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Azore Islands, porting in Praia di Vitória and Ponte Delgada Portugal. Then on to Malaga and Cartagena Spain, ending in Rome. When I signed on to this cruise as a solo traveler, I had no idea what was in store for me. On the first night, I attended a Single and Solo Traveler cocktail event. What I found out was there were like-minded solo travelers who shared the love of travel, adventure and meeting new friends. By the end of the cruise, we had become good friends, collected contact infos and promised to keep in touch.
The Azores islands is known as the Hawaii of Europe. the first two port stops were Praia di Vitória and Ponta Delgada. The 9 islands are made of volcanic rock. It looks very similar to the Hawaiian islands. Praia di Vitória’s pop. is 55K and there are 90,000 cows. They specialize in dairy products, butter, milk and yogurt.
As we sailed further west, we came to our first port in Malaga Spain. Birthplace of Pablo Picasso, and home to Antonio Banderas. There was a 40 kilometer race going thru the city of Cartagena. Runners ran up and down the many hills and our tour group had to dodge them. This day there were 7000 people in the city, from cruise ships, runner’s friends and family.
My cruise ended in Rome. Other passengers were traveling on to Barcelona, Sicily, Norway, Egypt…It was a fun experience because I challenged myself to go outside of my bubble and meet new people. There was a lot of sea days and I took the time to read and exercise. The highlight was waking up at 3am, sailing through the Straight of Gibraltar and seeing the Rock. Not Dwayne, but the geological one. There wasn’t much to see because it was pitch black, but we knew it was out there. Going thru the strait, we leave the Atlantic Ocean and enter the Mediterranean Sea, with Morocco to the right and Spain to the left of the ship.
After disembarking, my trip continued westward to Korea then home to Honolulu. I went around the world in 16 days!
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It was so amazing meeting you on this transatlantic cruise! I have never experienced meeting so many people that I have become friends with on a cruise, and I have over 350 days of cruising in the last 12 years! I also found love on this cruise and we are still on our journey♥️ Val, you have a magical connection with words and descriptions of your travels, your photos are beautiful, and I am so blessed to call you my friend! Looking forward to reading through your trips, and hopefully will get to travel again together!