Off the Coast of Morocco - Transatlantic Crossing - Day 20

Each passing day, the voyage grows more languorous. L'Austral's dwellers have long slipped into their routines by now: reading in the observatory on deck six; walking the treadmill on deck five; lounging outside by the saltwater pool; maybe catching up with a movie in a stateroom; or dozing by the bar with a cappuccino or cocktail on deck seven as the ship seesaws over the broad wind-tossed sea. Each lives, as we all do, in the mind of his or her own language and culture, thoughts and memories in French, Aussie, Kiwi, German, Malagasy, Swiss, Irish, American.

I do my writing either in our stateroom, or the observatory, scratching down my notes, tapping away on a dispatch or post, struggling, with marginal success, to keep track of the thousands of photos, jottings and thoughts swirling around me, attempting with my literary dribs and drabs to capture our journey across the seven continents the world has to offer. The planet is big and brimming with ideas and conflicts and possibilities.

The more we talk with our new friends, the more we learn about the exotic and unusual places they have visited. Rose says when we make it to Japan we must visit Shikoku, the smallest of its four islands. Here she says we can stay in small homes and explore the natural hot springs, carefree, Zen-like.

Christian reminds us once more not to miss Patmos, the southern most of the Greek islands, a stones throw from Turkey. "It is a throwback to the old Grecian isles before tourism took hold in places like Santorini and Mykonos." And he insists we visit him in Lausanne, Switzerland, his home, where he promises to show us all around.

Clara provides us with a detailed map of Madagascar along with the names of friends who can arrange for us to go anywhere we'd like; into the heart of the great, jungled island and along its beguiling coastline.

Francis tells us that we must visit Madura, India. He says it's off the beaten path, and that once there we can enjoy the finest massages in the world.

Excited by these places, I noticed a National Geographic book in the ship's library entitled The World's Best Travel Experiences. Between its think covers it promises to deliver 400 extraordinary places from Angkor Wat in Cambodia to Zaire's Virunga Massif. I page through it: Jerusalem; Milford Sound; New Zealand; Greenland's Tasermiut Fjord; the reefs of Koh Lipe, Thailand, Tibet, Bhutan, the Hindu Kush. They all beckon, and I want to explore them all.

I'm surprised at how many places in the book we have already visited: Morocco's Rif and Atlas Mountains, the Sahara, Chefchaouen, Tangier, and Marrakesh; Newfoundland's L'Anse aux Meadows; the Islands of Vancouver; Torres del Paine, Patagonia; Cape Horn, South America; Antartica; Baja; Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and Buenos Aires.

And then a surprise: along with New York, Vancouver, Chicago and New Orleans, I see Pittsburgh, our home, between the book's pages as one of the world's great cities to visit. A little twinge of home sickness. It beckons too.

But for now we are steaming north into the heart of Lisbon, and soon it will be time to re-explore that fascinating country.

Oh, the places we’ve been: