Cargo Ship Booked!

It's confirmed. I will be crossing the Pacific by cargo boat in the beginning of November from Busan, South Korea to Long Beach, California on board the Hanjin Boston. After a long struggle in trying to get the payment made by wire transfer and a lot of paperwork and correspondence, I opened a new bank account, transferred the funds, and made the wire transfer, which was the only means of payment accepted by the company. The payment finally went through and now I will be spending ten days on the ocean in a cargo ship, sailing homeward.

Why do this? A lot of people ask me this. Most people assume that travel by cargo boat is cheaper than flying. It's not. The voyage includes all meals and lodging for about ten days. I've heard that the chefs on cargo boats are excellent. I'll be dining with the captain and the crew and may even get to see how the vessel operates. As the primary function of the cargo ship is to ship cargo and not entertain tourists, it will be upon me to entertain myself. There may be from 5 – 10 other passengers like me aboard.

There's no real advantage to sailing over flying. I'ts not cheaper. It's not particularly entertaining. It's certainly not faster. So why am I doing this? I guess I'm doing this for the experience. How many people do you know that can say that they've crossed an ocean by boat?

Also it will give me a lot of time to read and think. I'll probably read a good deal of the Bible and I'm hoping that I'll be reunited with my Kindle by then.

People often ask me where I got this idea from. I couldn't say where it came from but I can say that it is on my bucket list. I feel as though Inception happened in my head. I really can't trace the genesis of the idea but once it took hold of me, I had to go through with it. Since several months ago I began researching. For any likeminded people, or if you're just curious, this is a good place to start: http://www.flightlesstravel.com/plan/cargo-ships/