Well, it’s actually a 6 day trip, if you include the travel days. I’m writing this from the bar at the hotel I’m staying in… this is the only place that they have an internet connection, so I’ve been stuck drinking beer and surfing the net.
I’m in Setubal, which is about 30 minutes south of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. I spent the first three days working on the Wind Spirit, which is currently in dry dock just outside of town. The Spirit is one of 3 motor sail yachts that make up the Windstar Cruise line of ships. The ship on their home page is either the one I was on, or it’s sister ship, the Wind Star. There is also the Wind Surf, which has one more deck which more than doubles the capacity for passengers. The company I work for just bought the Windstar Cruise company. Our cruise division is growing fast, and that means I’ll be traveling a lot more than I have been.
On the ship, the previous owner, Holland America Line, had already planned on upgrading the systems. So, I got to assist in racking all of the new equipment (new servers and a SAN) to prep it for the new software being installed soon. Each of the three Windstar vessels as well as 6 of our other (Majestic America Line) vessels are getting the software.
With the work done, and no flights home until my scheduled flight on Monday, I spent the day photographing the sights. When I say I spent the day, I really mean the whole day. At 8AM I was in downtown Setubal shooting, and then went into Lisbon and spend 4 hours there, then back down to the docks of Setubal. I got back to my hotel at 8PM, so that’s a solid 12 hours of photography… oh yeah, and lots and lots of walking. I’m guessing I clocked in a good 12-14 miles of walking today. My legs can testify to that, they’re aching. And I’m guessing that excluding work-related photos of the systems on board the ship, I have about 350-375 photos to sift through when I return home.
So, I fly back tomorrow morning… and I can’t wait. I really miss Melanie, especially when I was walking through Lisbon constantly amazed at how beautiful everything is. Whenever I saw something spectacular, I thought to myself … “I wish Melanie was here with me to see this.”
And, Lauren’s soccer team “Black Magic” had their 3rd win of the season. I missed the game since I’m traveling, but Melanie and her mom went to the game to support the team.
Stay tuned for links to the photos that I deem fit for keeping. Just give me a few days or so to process them… I can’t just take photos and upload them, I have some special processing I do to them to make them super special.
