There came a time on the PeaceBoat journey for most of the teachers when they wanted to get away from the group, the boat and everything that was Peace Boat. For me this time came just around Amsterdam. I had just been part of organizing a huge project for all of the students on board. Was exhausted from all of the days in port and was rightfully tired of living on a boat with the same people every day. So in Amsterdam I took Kevin time. What did this mean? Renting a bike and riding all around Amersterdam just to be [View Full Entry]

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One of the Spanish teachers on the boat, Rocio, is from Spain and gave us the lowdown on what to do in Bilbao. She got all of us pretty excited for what Bilbao had to offer, being a pretty unique place that is just barely a part of Spain. When the ship docked it was a lovely day, early in the morning and I felt oh so ready to make the most of my day in what has since become one of my favorite small cities in the world! By this point in the trip we were all getting pretty used [View Full Entry]

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So by this part of the trip I am kind of into the swing of things. This is pretty much the heart of the trip where there is more time in port and less at sea. We were doing a port every day or every other day. I wasn't teaching classes and was soaking up the sun on the deck and sometimes hopping in the Mediterranean Sea-water filled pools. Life was good and I felt great stepping of the boat for a day in Sicily. After a quick walk through the town which did not have all that much to offer, [View Full Entry]

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After an overnight at sea we pulled into the port of Pirreus early early in the morning. Many of the crew members were very excited for Pirreus and others were dreading it. The ones who were excited had every right to be. We would be spending a day in their home city and they would get to see friends and family. The others dreaded the port because it is where the TSS Topaz did most of its purchasing and loaded on tons of stuff all day. The second group of workers would be lifting and loading all day. A few friends [View Full Entry]

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From Egypt we were onto a bit more familiar turf and a vacation within this round the world vacation, Mykonos. Going into it I had low expectations. We had already had so many excellent unique and extreme experiences that I did think that Mykonos was going to be nothing more than a day on the beach and for better or worse, that is what it was. An awesomely exciting and beautiful day on the beaches of Mykonos! The evening before arriving in Mykonos they told us that we were not going to be able to pull right up to the dock [View Full Entry]

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When I was applying for and got accepted by Peace Boat, I very naturally thought about which ports and parts of the trips would be the best. For months before embarking I looked forward to two parts of the trip, the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal. To get to our next port of call, Port Said, we traveled through the latter. On that day, there was nothing going on on-board. There were no classes to teach or events to attend. The pools were full of clean sea water and it was a sunny glorious day when I opened to door [View Full Entry]

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Yemen to Jordan was a quick trip. I think we were only at sea for a day and when I awoke and stepped up onto the top deck I was greeted by a huge Jordanian flag flowing in the breeze over the port city of Aqabah. It was hot, sunny and dry and I was just about to board an air conditioned tour bus that would take me around the very beautiful and complex country that is Jordan. The reasons that I decided to take the tour option in Jordan were A.- We were given a stipend which covered the cost [View Full Entry]

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When people ask me what my favorite port was on my trip, I answer, without hesitation, "Yemen." There are several reasons that Yemen appealed to me. Firstly was the people. They were the most welcoming and warm people that I encountered in any port that we visited. They were helpful, honest and genuine people, who were truly happy to share their culture with me. I also loved the land and city. It was not a beautiful place but was so foreign and dramatic that I could never, for an instant, forget the fact that I was in this place that few [View Full Entry]

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After a full day in Singapore and I crashed into bed and slept like a baby as I was getting used to the boat rocking. It was actually comforting by then. The next morning I woke up and headed to the Yacht Club for my usual buffet breakfast- some oranges, a hard boiled egg and some toast. After getting out onto the deck to eat my modest breakfast in the sun I was struck by how many ships there were all around us. There were five to seven ships well within a mile of us. This was strange to me as [View Full Entry]

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I was sad to have to get back onto the boat after having such an incredible time in Vietnam. Throughout my journey I would have this feeling many times as I had expected before I joined Peace Boat. You are given very little time in port. In fact, forty eight hours was the longest that we had in any of the ports we stopped at. But even in twelve short hours you can come into contact with a culture and have some great experiences. This was the case in Singapore where I had the opportunity to see several different cultures living [View Full Entry]

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