I live in Stanwood, Washington. I have just experienced the most amazing 16 days of my life.
It all started on November 19th when my friend, Nicole, told me that she and her family had been saving for a cruise to Singapore. Her sister wasn't able to go because of college exams so they had an extra ticket and they offered it to me! I was so excited! I could hardly stand it while the two moms talked about arrangements and plans, but when they were done, it was okay and I was going to Singapore!
Since I was leaving the next morning, Mom and I hurried and did shopping and packing to get ready. I didn't think that I would sleep at all, I was so excited, but I was also worn out from all of the preparations, so sleep did happen. Before I knew it, it was morning and time to get up and get moving!
My mom wasn't going to be able to go to the airport with us because she had to take care of my grandmother, but she did drive me south to Lake Stevens, where Nicole lives. After a lot of double-checking, and hugging, some crying and more hugging, I got into Nicole's family's van and we headed to Sea-Tac Airport.
After checking in for our flights to San Francisco and boarding the plane, I settled down and realized how long it was going to take to get us to the actual "cruise" part of this trip...about two days! We flew from Seattle to San Francisco, which took two hours, then had a seven hour layover waiting for the next leg of the journey. From San Francisco we went to Sydney, Australia, a 15-hour flight. After another two and a half hours, we boarded our last plane for that part of the trip and flew four hours to Darwin, Australia, where the ship was waiting. After 31 hours and 10,055 miles, my dream vacation was about to begin.
The ship set said the next morning. It was so cool watching it pull out of the harbor! I had never been on anything larger than one of our Washington Ferries, so this was pretty amazing. It was so big! I think that at least half of my town could have fit on this thing! There were lots of activities to keep us busy, shuffleboard, swimming, dance classes, movies and even a spa day.
When we started out on the ship, we were south of the equator, but as we sailed through, past and around all the hundreds of little islands, we crossed over to the Northern Hemisphere. It was kind of a big deal I guess, but I didn't really see any difference around me. The temperature seemed to be the same almost every day, and the sun was pretty much always shining.
We reached Singapore on the seventh day of the cruise, and spent most of a day ashore exploring the city. It was so different from any of the cities that I've ever been in. I was really glad that I wasn't alone and that Nicole's mom and dad were there! There were alot of monkey and birds and geckos. Geckos were everywhere! I guess they are good luck to the people. Good thing!
After passing on some really strange looking food and buying little doo-dads for my friends and family back home, it was time to board the ship again. I was really happy that there was pizza for dinner that night, because I was really hungry!
The ship left Singapore that night. It was pretty, looking at the city all lit up in the night. It was something that I will always remember.
The next day we had the opportunity to take a small boat out with a group to go snorkeling in some of the shallower waters around the islands. I had never been snorkeling, so I was really excited! I love to swim. After we got into the water and got our instructions, off I went. It was so amazing, looking at the fish and the turtles and the rocks and stuff. I think that I must have lost track of time and where I was, because when I got a little tired and looked up, I didn't know where I was. I couldn't see anybody else, I couldn't see the boat, I couldn't hear anything except the water and the birds and my heart thudding! I screamed and hollered, hoping that somebody would hear me, but nobody showed up or hollered back. Where was everyone??
I was getting really tired, so I looked around for a place to rest. There was a little island not too far off. I decided that with swimming and then floating on my back to rest that I could make it easily enough, so I started out. I don't know how long it took me to get there, but I was able to stand on the bottom of the water and walk onto shore. I dropped to the ground, wet, cold, hungry, and very, very tired. So there I was. Alone. Cold. Wet. Hungry. Tired. And apparently lost and stranded on an island in the middle of...where?
Would I ever be rescued?
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