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Talkback is a
regular feature in laterlife.com run by
journalist and author Helen Franks.
Welcome to talkback 79
Read Helen's views and ideas, then add
your own by emailing her on helen@laterlife.com.
Whatever your opinion on the subject under
discussion, Helen wants to hear it.
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CRUISE AWAY WINTER
I once knew an actress who went on cruises. She wasn’t a
wealthy or famous actress, so she earned money on them rather
than paid it out. She performed with a small theatre company on
the boat every night. Some of the stuff sounded rather ambitious
for a company of six: The Tempest (was that an omen?); some
Chekhov; but also a few musicals which may have been even more
demanding - South Pacific, Brigadoon. The mind can’t help
boggling.
When all the customers were safely tucked into their bunks,
she and the rest of the company danced and drank and
god-knows-what-else the night away, emerging bleary-eyed from
their cabins well after lunch, when the punters were either
taking their afternoon naps or had been decanted onto some
exotic shore.
My own experiences of cruising are rather more mundane.
There were four somewhat cramped nights on a trip round the
Greek islands. We chose a small ship run by a local company,
thinking that it would be more atmospheric and authentic. Maybe
it was, assuming that ‘authentic’ meant there was barely time to
explore an island before it was time to set sail again,
over-crowded meal times and absolutely no one else on the boat
who spoke a word of English. No theatre company either.
Our next trip was with an upmarket UK company, cruising up
the Nile. We flew down to Aswan first. ‘Sit on the left side
of the plane and have your camera ready 20 minutes before
landing,’ said our guide before we left Cairo. Following
instructions, I was able to take photographs from the air of the
temple before we landed.
Later we were bussed to our boat, which was heavenly. No
theatre again, but we played silly parlour games and took turns
to acquire the dreaded tummy bug despite cleaning our teeth with
bottled water, and never a square of ice in the gins and tonics.
It was undoubtedly worth it. Cruising along the river and
stopping at sites straight out of old Hollywood movies (Cecil B.
DeMille for movie buffs or those with long memories), was
peaceful, therapeutic, exciting, sociable and, curiously,
private. It was easy to get away from people and find a quiet
place on deck to read or dream or watch the reeds along the
river bank and wave to the children as we sailed serenely by.
We visited Egypt in February, giving ourselves a break
from the worst of the UK winter. Finances and other
practicalities permitting, I would be tempted by something
longer and grander, a trip up the Amazon maybe. So when I saw
that Voyages Jules Verne and Travelscope were advertising Amazon
Cruises, I sat up and took notice. Voyages Jules Verne and
Travelscope are both advertising on laterlife, so I won’t go
into details here.
You
can
see for yourself by clicking on
VJV or
Travelscope links to find out more. And remember
Travelscope also offer a 10% discount to anyone who is a
Laterlife Club member!
Helen would still like to hear your views
Don`t forget to take a look at Helen`s healthwise column
too
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