To me, cruising seems to be a love it or hate it kind of vacation. If that’s true, you can ink me into the hate column. This isn’t based on personal experience; I’ve never been on a cruise. And in truth, I know very little about them. When I talk to people who recently returned from a cruise, they always mention one or more of the following: binge drinking, binge eating and/or binge gambling. Back in the eighties, an acquaintance took a three-day cruise to the Bahamas and apparently snorted coke for seventy-two straight hours. Cruises seem to be about excess.
- A monstrosity
- A pile of decadence
- Should be called the Icon of Disease
- Intricately tacky and vulgar
- A floating Walmart
Those last two strike me as a little classist, but I get the point. Clearly this type of vacation doesn’t appeal to everyone. The deal-breaker for me is the ship’s capacity of ten thousand people. That’s almost fifty percent more people than my hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And sometimes Gettysburg is too crowded for me.
In the nineties, my coworker Eric seemed go on a cruise with his wife every seven or eight months. For the four or five years I worked with him, he came back with the same story every time. “We met the nicest couple, and we hung out with them the entire time.” His address book was littered with these lifelong friends he just met. I view his comment through two lenses. Part of me is envious that they can make friends so easily and forge what appears to be a lasting relationship over the course of five days. The other part of me cringes at the idea of spending my vacation, my annual opportunity to recharge in the throes of the arduous task of being nice to strangers. Susan and I don’t even vacation with our siblings.
Because CNN is an awesome news site and prides itself on balanced reporting, they consulted psychology professor Tom Davis for some insight on the allure of cruise ships. “For some, a vessel this size with so much packed on it likely represents a lot of fun with ongoing activities and freedom from boredom.” Freedom from boredom—that phrase is what prompted me to write this essay. What’s wrong with a little boredom on vacation?
Next week, my wife and I are going to Chincoteague Island on the Virginia coast for four days. Until this year, we’ve always taken a summer family vacation, sometimes flying across country with our Southwest credit card points, and sometimes driving to the Delaware beaches four hours away. I’m sad to say, it looks like those days are gone, at least for now. Sophie and Eli are simply too busy with their burgeoning careers this summer to take a break. You probably heard of Chincoteague when you were a kid. A series of books and a beloved children’s movie chronicle the adventures of a pony named Misty caught wild on the island.
Other than sighting the herds of wild ponies strolling around the island, nothing much goes on there. I googled the top ten things to do on Chincoteague Island and got a list of seven activities. Of course, the ponies were listed, as well as taking a chartered fishing trip, but the list rounded out with eat in a restaurant, go shopping, and watch the sunset.
We’ll travel with kayaks and bikes, and have an active part of each day, including epic walks around any neighborhoods we can find, but our primary activity will probably be reading. Of course, there’s a beach, but it’s part of a national wildlife refuge. No boardwalk, no boardwalk fries, no minigolf. Just trees and surf. The point of this vacation is to sit and chill, to sit and talk. The point of this vacation is to avoid hubbub, to recharge. I’m looking for a healthy dose of Vitamin D and to keep my feet buried in warm sand.
The world is populated by introverts and extroverts. I understand some people recharge through camaraderie and hullabaloo. That’s fine… for them. Solitude and introspection do this for me. Fortunately, Susan is the same way. For our trip to Chincoteague, I wouldn’t say we are running towards boredom, but freedom from it? We aren’t seeking that, either.
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Previously Published on jefftcann.com and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
OK, back from Chincoteague – the sunsets were pretty spectacular.